Nicholas's POV

Weekends meant nothing to me.

While the rest of the world slowed down, I stayed in motion, routines polished to precision. Saturday morning began at five. A five-mile run along the Thames. A silent gym session before most of London was awake. No distractions, no calls. Just the rhythm of movement and control.

Breakfast was black coffee and silence. The rest of the day bled into meetings I didn’t need to attend but chose to,just to keep everything sharp. My staff knew better than to suggest “time off.” Time was currency, and I never wasted it.

But even as I moved through the motions, something felt... off.

I found myself staring at my office wall longer than necessary. Letting reports sit untouched for minutes instead of seconds. I stood by the window more often, eyes drifting toward a skyline that felt unfamiliar, almost… distant.

Emberpine kept surfacing in the quiet moment, ike a whisper under my skin I couldn’t shake.

I hadn’t thought of home in years. And now, I couldn’t stop. By Sunday night, the Morriston file was still sitting on my desk, unsigned. But I knew the truth, i would sign it. Because something was pulling me back.

And I couldn’t ignore it anymore.

I signed the Morriston file the next morning, pen steady, hand cold.

No hesitation, no questions. On paper, it was just another acquisition. A clean merger. A hospital tucked in a quiet town with profitable potential. But I knew better, i knew this wasn’t business. Not really, this is personal.

“Make arrangements,” I told Anna. “We’re going to Emberpine.”

Her brows rose, but she didn’t ask why. She knew better than to pry. “Understood. I’ll notify the Emberpine estate staff to prepare the house.”

“I want the medical director at Morriston scheduled for a meeting within seventy-two hours. I want full access to their archives, partnerships, and all research affiliations.”

“Of course.”

As she turned to leave, I added, “And reach out to Beta Bryan. Quickly. Let him know I’ll be back in Highfang territory by the weekend.”

She paused, just for a second, then nodded.

The moment she left, I stood at the window again.

Emberpine.

Even the name sounded like a memory best left buried. But something had shifted. I could feel it in my bones, a slow stirring beneath the surface, like an instinct awakening after a long sleep. I hadn’t set foot there in over a year

But the pull was back, not just to the land, To the legacy. The curse, the same one that made me leave the town

The ink on the Morriston contract was barely dry when I boarded the jet.

The cabin was sleek, dark leather, polished wood, and silence. Just how I liked it. High above the clouds, the world was quiet, stripped of its noise and distractions. Up here, everything obeyed.

I reviewed the remaining proposals, one by one, on the touchscreen embedded in my armrest. A Dubai expansion. A failing biotech startup worth salvaging. A legal dispute in Seoul needing settlement.

Each task required less than five minutes of thought.

My mind moved fast. My decisions were clean, But even as I worked, my thoughts kept drifting.

Home.

I hadn’t called it that in years.

Emberpine was still hours away, but something in me was already shifting. My wolf, long silent, stirred faintly beneath the surface. Not a growl, nor a warning. Just a presence. A quiet pulse I hadn’t felt in over a decade.

I ignored it.

I didn't return because of sentiment. I returned because something required my attention.

Anna’s voice came through the intercom. “We’ll be landing in Emberpine in forty-five minutes.”

I closed the last file and leaned back in my seat. The past I’d abandoned was waiting.

And this time, I was ready to face it.

The moment I stepped off the plane, the air hit different.

Cooler and Thicker, Scented with pine, damp earth, and something older. Something very familiar.

Emberpine hadn’t changed much. The roads were still narrow, flanked by dense trees that rose like sentinels. The forest pressed in from all sides, alive with a silence that buzzed beneath the surface.

I slid into the backseat of the black SUV waiting on the tarmac. The driver, a young wolf I didn’t recognize nodded respectfully but said nothing. I preferred it that way.

The ride was long, winding, and shadowed. I stared out the tinted window, watching the woods pass in a blur. Every mile brought memories I didn’t want but couldn’t ignore, running through these trees at thirteen, my father’s voice echoing behind me. The full moon rising above the hills. The weight of a legacy settling on my shoulders too soon.

We were five minutes from the estate when the wolf inside me jerked. Tensed and alerted

I leaned forward. “Stop the car.” But it was too late

A blur of silver shot from the trees, it was too fast and too precise. The driver swerved hard.

Metal screamed. Tires left the ground. Glass shattered. The world spinning

When it stopped, we were upside down in the ditch, steam rising from the hood.

I tasted blood in my mouth, and just before every where went blank, I heard footsteps, deliberate, approaching and then blackout