Chapter 3
I lunged for the door, my body moving on pure maternal instinct. Emma needed me. My daughter was bleeding, dying perhaps, and nothing else mattered. Not Ryan's betrayal, not the pack's mockery, nothing but reaching my child.
My fingers had barely grazed the brass doorknob when an invisible force slammed into me like a concrete wall. My body flew backward, crashing against the marble countertop. Pain lanced through my spine, but it was nothing compared to the suffocating pressure suddenly constricting my chest.
"STAY IN THE PACK HOUSE."
Ryan's Alpha command thundered through my mind, his voice dripping with cold authority even from miles away. The words wrapped around my limbs like steel chains, invisible but unbreakable. My arms locked rigidly at my sides, fingers splayed and trembling with the effort to move them.
Grace howled in fury, thrashing wildly against our shared consciousness. *Our pup! Our pup is dying!*
I tried again, dragging myself toward the door inch by excruciating inch. The Alpha command tightened, squeezing the breath from my lungs. Black spots danced before my eyes as I collapsed to my knees.
"Please," I whispered to no one, tears streaming down my face. "She needs me."
Through the bay window overlooking the training grounds, I watched in helpless agony as Jason carried Emma's small body toward the healer's cabin. Even from this distance, I could see the dark crimson staining her silver fur, her limbs hanging limp and lifeless. Pack members rushed around in panic, some shifting to pursue the remaining rogues, others gathering the frightened pups.
But all I could see was my daughter's blood. All I could feel was the crushing weight of my failure to protect her.
*This is my fault,* the thought sliced through me like a blade of ice. *I should have been down there. I should have been faster. I should have been stronger.*
The glass of the window fogged with my ragged breath as I pressed against it, straining against Ryan's command. Each heartbeat felt like a countdown, precious seconds of Emma's life trickling away while I remained trapped by my own mate's power.
"I am her mother," I whispered, my voice breaking. "I am her mother!"
Something deep within me shifted then—a low, resonant rumble like distant thunder. Heat spread from my core outward, pulsing in time with my frantic heartbeat. I pressed my hands against my temples as pressure built inside my skull, a power I'd never felt before stirring to life.
Grace went suddenly still within me, her presence changing, expanding. *Victoria,* she whispered, her voice different somehow. *It's time.*
"Time for what?" I gasped, doubling over as the pressure intensified.
*Time to remember who you are.*
Memories flashed behind my eyelids—my mother, the former Luna of the Silver Moon Pack, showing me how to brew healing salves. My father's proud smile as I mended my first broken bone. The ancient texts I'd studied before meeting Ryan, before abandoning my healer's path for a mate who promised to cherish me forever.
The rumble grew louder, no longer just in my mind but vibrating through the floorboards beneath my knees. The chandelier above me swayed, crystal pendants tinkling like wind chimes. Picture frames rattled against the walls.
"I am Victoria," I whispered, feeling something crack inside me—not breaking, but awakening. "Daughter of Alpha Alaric and Luna Serena of the Silver Moon Pack."
The invisible chains around my limbs began to tremble.
"I am a healer."
The pressure in my skull intensified, a blinding white light building behind my eyes.
"I am a mother."
The chains constricted one final time, cutting off my breath completely.
"And I am NOT your prisoner!"
Something ancient and powerful surged through me, a tidal wave of silver light that shattered Ryan's Alpha command like glass. The force of it blew outward, shattering the bay window in an explosion of glittering shards.
As the glass rained down around me, I felt Grace's presence merge with mine completely. For the first time in years, we were truly one—not Luna and wolf, but a single entity of pure, maternal rage.
I shifted in an instant, my silver wolf larger and more powerful than she had ever been. With a howl that shook the very foundations of the pack house, I leaped through the shattered window, my only thought the desperate need to reach my daughter before it was too late.