Chapter 9
Claire’s POV
“Ethan Blaine?” The name hung in the air like a ghost from the past, echoing louder than the harsh desert wind outside our canvas tent.
After five years, the sound of his name felt strange, almost unreal. I looked down at the kettle in my hands, the hot milk swirling in soft plumes against the cold. I was miles away from any life I’d once known, stationed here in Shadow Sand–a desolate, merciless stretch of land few dared enter.
And here I was, an omega doctor working as a rogue volunteer on this remote frontier, hoping to remain forgotten by the world that once seemed determined to shape my destiny.
The heater crackled in the corner, radiating a thin warmth that barely reached the edges of the tent, where shadows pooled thick as ink. There were ten of us crammed into this temporary refuge, two vehicles parked outside, half of us huddled together in silence, too exhausted to talk. I forced my voice to steady as I responded. “You know him?”
A man sitting across from me, bundled in layers of gray wool, looked up and grinned, the firelight making his face seem older than his years. “Alpha of the Nightwish Pack,” he replied, a strange reverence creeping into his voice. “His influence has spread like wildfire these last two years. Nearly half the packs are under his control now. Who doesn’t know him?”
I forced myself to nod, though inside, I felt a prick of annoyance. I hadn’t expected Ethan’s name to reach me all the way out here. After our time together, after everything, I’d assumed he’d disappear as easily as he’d once left me. But apparently, the opposite had happened.
He leaned forward, watching me curiously. “But you? I don’t remember you. I know nearly every healer the packs have sent to these parts, and this is the first time we’ve met.”
I shrugged nonchalantly, hoping to deflect his curiosity. “I’m on a volunteer mission. Moved around a lot, mostly on the fringes.”
Chapter 5
“Doctor for rogues, huh?” The man’s laugh was skeptical, though he nodded respectfully. “Well, good luck, Claire.”
Before I could respond, Kelly, another medic in our group, leaned over and added, “Apparently, there’ve been strange deaths among the border werewolves lately. They say Ethan himself is coming to investigate.”
Her tone had the edge of a gossip, and her eyes sparkled with an enthusiasm that unsettled. ne. “The packs are buzzing. I hear the Nightwish Alpha is like no other–some folks call him
a legend.”
I stayed silent for a moment, letting the words settle around me like the sand swirling in the night wind. It had been so long since I’d seen him, and in truth, I could barely remember his face anymore. Time had softened the edges of my memory, blurring the emotions that
had once ruled me.
So much had changed. I wasn’t that same vulnerable omega who used to look at him with hope and expectations, trusting in a bond that turned to ash.
Kelly kept talking, oblivious to my discomfort. “A few years back, Ethan disappeared off the radar–rumor has it, he lost his mate.” She paused, sighing dramatically. “Some said he almost destroyed himself. He came back though. Tough as nails, that one.”
I tilted my head, a bitter smile tugging at the corner of my mouth. “I wouldn’t have expected
that…”
It was true. I’d never imagined him as the kind to collapse over a loss. But then, I had been wrong about him before.
Kelly’s voice dropped to a whisper. “They say he left her–an omega, too. During a landslide. She begged him to stay, pretending to have a heart attack, and he just left her to die.“She shook her head with a mixture of disbelief and fascination. “Cold–hearted, that one.”
My heart thudded once, loudly, against my ribs. The rumor stung, but a small voice inside. laughed bitterly. If they only knew.
But my life now had no place for Ethan or memories of him. I turned to Kelly, mustering a casual tone. “Let’s talk about something else. What about you?”
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2
She looked surprised but shrugged it off with a grin, sharing hare heat “Stor machi she admitted, but her tone was light, seating my discomfor
I smiled tightly, pretending to listen as she prattled on but my thoughts was
wandering outside to the endless stars that dorted the cold, wky sky Somering or teng here, surrounded by the silence of the desert night, made me costless Shares at memories seemed to press in closer, whispering things I didn’t want to heat
As I listened to the others exchange stories and plans, I made my way to the sige of the tent, peering out into the pitch black desert.
We’d be moving out again soon, leaving this desolate des ace we’d resupplies Statio Sand was treacherous, and none of us had plans to finger longer than necessary by gre drifted to our vehicles, half–buried in mud after last night’s rain.
One wrong move in this terrain could be disastrous; the sharp fluctuations between tey and night temperatures only made things worse. But I felt oddly at home in the wilderness–perhaps because, like me, it hid its secrets well
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