Raina's POV

"Fiona." The small voice in my head made me gasp. It was Lia, Samantha's wolf. I had totally forgotten about our telepathic communication.

"He needs help," Fiona whimpered.

"What are you talking about? Where are you?" Her voice shot out. I could hear her clearly, but I had no idea where we were.

I turned to look around, still holding onto my mate. There was nothing.

Well, except…

"I fell… I fell from the cliff just outside of our fences." I let Fiona relay the message.

"Near the forgotten realm?" I could hear the restrained panic in her voice.

"There's not much time. Send for help. Someone is ill," I said, and I could feel the connection dying slowly.

I closed my eyes, praying she had heard my last statement.

He was ill, not dead. He couldn't possibly be. He still felt warm against my hand, even though he lay impossibly still.

I hovered above him, whimpering softly. He had to survive. He couldn't leave so soon, the way my father and brothers had.

The way a mother I'd never gotten to know had. Tears rolled down my eyes and fell onto his face. I reached to touch it when

I noticed the way the moon turned a darker shade.

I shivered and was about to rub my arms when I felt a hand touch me. The beginning of a scream was just forming in my throat when I realized he was the one holding me.

I froze.

His eyes…

His eyes were bloodshot. Just like the moon itself.

"Finally, I met you, my star," he whispered, and just like that, his hand slumped and his head rolled back.

I would have screamed out my lungs and run if I wasn't near the edges of the forgotten realm.

Who was I kidding?

Fiona wouldn't have let me leave.

Some moments of squirming and fidgeting later, footsteps were coming closer to where I sat.

"We are here. Where are you?" I heard Lia.

"Come forward, I can hear you," Fiona said.

It took a lot of time to get help. Samantha claimed I hadn't told her that I was with a naked man.

"Well, surprise," I said to her.

He was in Mama Rita's hut, getting steamed. The poison would evaporate with the steam, but it would take a while for him to recover.

Meanwhile, Samantha hung around with that suspicious look of hers.

"Raina, you…"

"Speak to your Alpha with respect," I said to her, but we both knew my words carried no weight.

She rolled her eyes.

"Aren't we below Omegas in other packs?" she asked, and I shrugged. It was true.

"What were you doing with a naked man in the woods?" she asked, a serious scowl on her face.

It was my turn to roll my eyes.

"I stumbled upon him. Leave it at that," I sighed and walked back to my hut. She was tagging along, no doubt.

I sat down and looked around the camp. Small huts here and there covered the land. It was just a survival camp. We didn't have a home. We were always building fences and running from danger.

And yet… My mate was in one of these huts, fighting for his life.

It felt so surreal and too uneasy to handle.

My whole life, I'd looked forward to finding my mate. Maybe then we could finally be seen as wolves, not just mundane because we couldn't shift. Not just prey. I'd preferred to be mated to someone powerful, an Alpha like me.

Maybe then my pack would be saved. Or what remained of it.

We were already detested, but then came the prophecy—something I believed was just made up to finish us off.

The star goddess would be reincarnated in the mundane pack. She would be powerful, bring balance to the world, and restore healing to the blood-red moon. She would be the greatest ever seen.

That was bullshit, dogshit, and whatever other animal shit existed.

Werewolf shit.

But that was not all.

Other packs hated us.

They hated the fact that the prophecy stated that the Star Goddess would be reincarnating amogst us.

I mean we were weak wolves and we never deserved greatness.

We couldn't even shift, and then what?

A reincarnation?

But of course, it brought more envy to us. Why us? So we died—a lot—because they wanted us to.

We bled.

We were bruised.

We were broken.

Still.

"What are you thinking about? “

“Mama Rita said your stranger has regained consciousness."

I looked up to see Samantha peering down at me.

My brows shot up.

"He's…"

"Asking to see you," she said and shrugged.

I swallowed hard and stood up, making my way to Mama Rita's hut. It would be too hot for me there, but I went anyway.

I saw him lying flat on his back, his eyes staring blankly up into the thatch roof.

He turned ever so slightly, his eyes landing on me. I looked down, shifting my weight nervously from one leg to the other.

"Did you get treated?" His voice was weak but firm, low and raspy.

I shot him a look.

"Why?" I asked, a little surprised.

"You fell off a cliff," he said.

"How… did you know that?"

"The scratches on your arms and the tear just at the corner of your lips…" he was saying when a commotion was heard outside.

The sound of unmistakable galloping horses and the footfalls of men.

Warriors.

I swallowed hard, my heart slamming loudly.

They were here for us. To end us.

Samantha ran in just then, looking as terrible as I felt.

"What do they want?" I asked.

"Oh, they always make up excuses to end us…" Her voice was shaky and breathless.

I was terrified, but I couldn't let her see it.

"Exactly, what is the excuse this time?" I asked her.

"We kidnapped the King," she said, and I furrowed my brows.

Were they nuts? What kind of a sorry excuse was that?

"How is that even possible?"

"They sent a runner ahead of them. They said the King was wounded and we kidnapped him."

"That's a bunch of non…" Suddenly, I stopped, my eyes widening like saucers.

I turned to the stranger lying on the wooden bed. His eyes were already closed, probably back to being unconscious.

It couldn't be… that this stranger I had found wounded, a target for killing, and who turned out to be my mate, was the King of the Wolverine Kingdom?

Alpha of the Blackfang Dynasty?