My body burned like it was being roasted from the inside out.
It started with a headache that pulsed behind my eyes, sharp and relentless, then spread to my throat, my chest, my limbs. Every breath felt heavier than the one before. I could barely sit up, my body trembling with exhaustion. Sweat soaked my clothes, yet I shivered like it was winter.
"Ellie, you’re burning up," Elara whispered, her voice trembling as she pressed a damp cloth to my forehead. "You need to see the pack doctor. This isn’t normal."
Joan was pacing near the door, wringing her hands. "If she collapses, we’ll be blad. You know what Elizabeth said every oga is responsible for herself."
Elizabeth.
Just hearing her na made the fire in my chest twist into sothing darker. The Head Oga, the one who ruled over us with an iron smile. I could still rember the faint smirk on her face when she’d said, ’If she can’t handle the Alpha’s attention, she’s useless to this pack.’
My fingers tightened in the blanket. My vision blurred. I could taste bile in my throat.
"I’m fine," I managed to whisper, though my voice ca out thin and broken.
But my body betrayed . The mont I tried to sit, my knees buckled, and I fell forward.
The world tilted, then went black.
When I opened my eyes again, the first thing I saw was Elizabeth’s pale, perfect face leaning over . Her perfu sharp, floral, suffocating filled my nose.
"Finally awake," she said, her tone flat. Her hands were folded neatly behind her back, like she was speaking to an object instead of a person. "Your fever’s getting worse. The Alpha can’t have a useless oga collapsing in his quarters."
My tongue felt too heavy to move. "I... I can still work—"
She silenced with a glare. "You’ll be taken to the pack clinic. I’ve already sent word. You’ll rest until the doctor says otherwise. Do you understand?"
I didn’t. Not really.
Because resting ant being useless. And useless ant being discarded.
Still, I nodded weakly, because that was what she wanted.
Elara and Joan helped into a loose robe and wrapped in a blanket. I barely noticed the cold floor beneath my feet as they half-dragged through the narrow hallway of the oga’s quarters. My surroundings spun in and out of focus flickering lights, gray walls, murmuring voices.
"Hold on, Ellie," Joan whispered. "We’re almost there."
I tried. I really tried.
But by the ti we reached the courtyard, my legs gave way again.
"Move."
That voice deep, cold, commanding made my heart seize in my chest.
The ogas froze. So did I, though my body was too weak to move anyway.
Alpha Zach stood at the entrance, his tall fra outlined by the pale morning light. His expression was unreadable, but his eyes those sharp, storm-gray eyes locked on .
A shiver passed through my fevered skin.
Without a word, he stepped forward and scooped up as though I weighed nothing.
Gasps echoed from the other ogas. I could hear the sound of their footsteps retreating, scattering like frightened birds. No one dared to speak when the Alpha was present.
My cheek brushed against his chest as he carried . His heart beat steadily beneath his shirt, unbothered, powerful. The warmth of his body clashed with the fever in mine until I couldn’t tell where my heat ended and his began.
I wanted to say sothing
anything but my throat refused to form words. My vision blurred again, the edges of the world lting into light and shadow.
When I woke again, I was surrounded by the sterile sll of dicine and the soft hum of machines. The ceiling above was white and cracked in one corner the pack clinic.
"You’re awake," a soft voice said.
It was the pack doctor, a kind-faced woman nad Mira. Her eyes were gentle as she checked my pulse. "You’ve been out for nearly a day, Ellie. Fever, dehydration... exhaustion. You’re lucky the Alpha brought you here when he did."
The Alpha. My heart skipped painfully. "He... brought here?"
"Yes." Mira smiled faintly. "He waited until your fever broke before leaving. Quite unusual for him."
Unusual was an understatent.
Alpha Zach didn’t wait for anyone. Not for ogas. Not for .
I turned my face away, pretending to sleep again. But inside, my mind wouldn’t stop spinning. Why had he done that? He didn’t care if I lived or died. He never did. He only looked at like a puzzle — sothing to be studied, not protected. Or was that changing?
No.No, it couldn’t be.
I couldn’t afford to think that way.
The next morning, I was well enough to sit up. Mira brought soup and ordered to stay in bed for another day. Joan and Elara visited, their eyes wide with a mixture of relief and gossip.
"Elie," Joan whispered, glancing around as if the Alpha might appear from the shadows, "the entire pack is talking about it. The Alpha himself carried you here. People saw him. No one can believe it."
Elara giggled nervously. "They said he looked angry. Like soone had hurt his favorite toy."
"Stop," I muttered weakly. "Don’t say that."
But my face was burning and not from the fever.
The Alpha didn’t have favorites. He had possessions. And if I was one, it wasn’t sothing to feel flattered about.
That night, sleep wouldn’t co. The clinic was silent except for the faint ticking of the clock. My mind wouldn’t stop replaying the feel of his arms, the sound of his steady heartbeat against my cheek, the way the other ogas had looked at with a mixture of envy and terror.
Why ?
I wasn’t beautiful or strong or useful. I was just... there. A fragile oga who’d stumbled too close to sothing she didn’t understand.
I closed my eyes, trying to push the thoughts away.
That’s when I heard it.
A whisper faint, taunting, familiar.
"Wildflower... you still don’t know what you are, do you?"
I froze. My pulse pounded in my ears. That voice his inner voice.
The one only I could hear. The one he didn’t know reached .
"You’re fragile... breakable. And yet, when I look at you, I want to see how far I can push you before you shatter."
I pressed my hands over my ears, shaking my head. "Stop," I whispered to no one.
But it didn’t stop. It grew softer, almost tender.
"I should have stayed away. I should have left you to burn. But when I saw you fall... I couldn’t."
My breath hitched. My chest ached.
It was madness. Maybe I was hallucinating from the fever, or maybe the witch’s words were true that my connection to him ran deeper than I realized.
Either way, I couldn’t let him know.
If the Alpha ever found out I could hear the voice inside his mind I wouldn’t live long enough to regret it.
By morning, I looked pale but stable. Mira released from the clinic with strict orders to rest for the next few days. Joan and Elara t outside, but before we could even start walking back to the oga’s quarters, a shadow fell across the ground.
He was there again.
Alpha Zach.
The ogas beside stiffened. Joan grabbed Elara’s wrist. "Let’s go."
And then they were gone just like before, leaving alone with him.
He didn’t say anything for a long mont. He just watched .
His eyes moved over my face, down my trembling hands, back up again.
"Walk with ," he said finally.
I wanted to refuse. Every nerve in my body scread to run, to hide. But I couldn’t. My feet moved on their own, obeying his command like they always did.
We walked through the quiet paths behind the clinic, the air heavy with mist. The world was gray and still. He didn’t speak, and his inner voice the one that usually flickered through my mind like static was silent too.
For so reason, that silence terrified more than anything he could have said.
When we reached the edge of the forest, he finally stopped. He turned to face . For a second, I thought he might speak. But he didn’t. His eyes softened, almost imperceptibly, before he looked away.
And then, just like that, he was gone.
No goodbye. No explanation. Just gone. I stood there, heart racing, watching his shadow disappear into the trees. My legs were trembling, but I couldn’t move.
The silence he left behind pressed against my chest like a weight I couldn’t lift.
That night, I couldn’t sleep again. The whispers ca back faint, fragnted, crawling beneath my skin.
"You shouldn’t have been born in this world, wildflower."
"And yet I can’t stop thinking about you."
Each word tangled itself around my thoughts until I wasn’t sure what was real anymore.
I wanted to scream, to make it stop but a small, broken part of didn’t want it to.
Because when he spoke, even inside my head... I didn’t feel alone.
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