Chapter 1 CHAPTER ONE

JULIET

“I need your help, Juliet.”

For some unknown reason, my stomach twisted when I heard Ruth Mercedes, the only female elder in my pack, speaking to me with such desperation and urgency. She was one of the fiercest women I knew, second only to the late Luna, yet she looked like she was on the verge of breaking down in tears in my living room.

“Of course,” I said, gesturing for her to take a seat on the couch so we could talk properly. “What do you need me to do?”

Ruth lowered herself into the seat across from me, her fingers tightening around her hot chocolate as if she were searching for the right words. After a brief silence, she finally spoke.

“Look, I know you've only been the pack’s healer for a month, so it may be unfair of me to ask for such a difficult favor. But there’s no one in the pack with healing abilities…”

I nodded, eager to help her. “I completely understand. Just tell me whom you want me to heal.”

Ruth’s tense shoulders relaxed slightly after hearing my reassurance. She gave me a grateful look and cleared her throat lightly.

“I need you to visit Head Elder Valdez tonight.” She glanced at her wristwatch to check the time. “In an hour, to be precise.”

My brain short-circuited at the mention of his name.

“You mean Zane Valdez?!” I exclaimed, my voice uncharacteristically louder than before. “Why? What’s wrong with him?”

Ruth’s expression turned questioning when she saw my weird behavior. It was my turn to clear my throat while mentally chiding myself for the embarrassing slip-up. But I just couldn’t help it. She didn’t seem to understand the severity of mentioning that man’s name.

Head Elder Zane Valdez was a living legend and the powerhouse of the Nykaris Pack. Every child in the Nykaris Pack grew up hearing stories about him. At just nineteen, he defended our pack from the joint invasion of the two most powerful packs in the region and slew their alphas. He built the pack defenses and trained half of our current sentinels.

There were even rumors that his wolf had an alpha’s dominance, but it had never been confirmed. He was also the constant topic of the ladies’ daily gossip when they came to my house, always complaining about his single status at the age of 30. Some speculated that he was waiting for his fated mate, while others said he had a male lover and was ashamed to admit it.

I forced my thoughts to the current situation when I noticed Ruth was staring at me. “I mean, is his illness really serious enough to require a home visit?”

“You don’t know what happened?” Ruth’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

I shook my head.

Truth was, I wasn’t the most social person in the pack. My work as the pack healer required me to stay indoors tending to patients or concocting medical tonics. I even tended to my private herb garden because those plants were very expensive at the market, and my salary was barely enough to cover my basic needs.

Hopefully, things were going to get better now that Frank had succeeded his late father as our new alpha. I had submitted a petition for him to open a pack clinic and also appealed to him to let me go to college to further my knowledge of medicine. So now, I had my fingers crossed.

Ruth shifted in her seat before explaining. “He was arrested for a very serious crime, and he’s in a terrible condition right now.”

I frowned.

“What crime has he been accused of?”

Ruth paused for a moment. The way she avoided my eyes made my hackles rise, like she was about to tell me something very important.

“He’s being accused of orchestrating the explosion of the pack nursery and the death of three wolf pups,” she confessed. “And he’s been sentenced to exile into the Forbidden Forest.”

A soft gasp escaped my lips before I could stop it. The pack nursery’s explosion had been the most tragic incident the Nykaris Pack had ever endured in recent years. My mentor, the previous healer, retired after that day. She never recovered from losing the three pups rescued from the collapsed nursery.

But…

“There's no way Head Elder Valdez could have done that. A man who spent his life protecting this pack wouldn't murder its pups,” I said, my voice filled with disbelief. “How could anyone believe that?”

Ruth sighed wearily as she leaned back on the couch. “The pack is still suffering from grief, Juliet. The judgment has already been passed, and the guards won’t let anyone visit him. Except a healer.”

I remained silent and processed everything she had told me. If Head Elder Valdez was really in a bad condition, then I was definitely going to help him.

The color drained from Ruth's face as she glanced down at the wristwatch strapped around her wrist. Her eyes widened ever so slightly before she shot to her feet, nearly spilling the remains of her hot chocolate onto the wooden floor.

"We have to leave now," she said urgently, already reaching for the shawl draped over the back of her chair. "They're carrying out the exile tonight. If we waste another minute, you'll never get the chance to see him."

A chill crawled down my spine.

Without another question, I grabbed my medical satchel and hurried after her. The evening air bit at my skin as we made our way through the winding paths of the Nykaris Pack. The deeper we ventured toward the pack boundary, the louder the noise became until the distant murmurs of hundreds of wolves blended into one restless roar.

My steps slowed the moment the crowd came into view.

Nearly the entire pack had gathered in a wide circle before the towering stone gates that marked the entrance to the Forbidden Forest. Torches illuminated the darkness, casting long shadows across grim faces twisted with grief and resentment. I could almost taste the hostility hanging in the air.

Ruth gently nudged me forward.

"They're over there."

I followed the direction of her gaze, and my breath caught painfully in my throat. The man being dragged between six armed guards barely resembled the legendary Head Elder Zane Valdez I had grown up admiring.

His once imposing frame had been reduced to a shell of itself. Messy black hair fell over his face in tangled strands, unable to hide the lifeless blue eyes that stared blankly at the ground. His entire upper body was exposed, revealing countless whip marks across bruised flesh from his shoulders to his waist. Several wounds had split open again, fresh blood trickling down his chest and soaking the waistband of his trousers before dripping onto the dirt beneath his bare feet.

He wasn't even walking. The guards were practically dragging him.

A wave of horror crashed over me.

"Stop!"

The word escaped my mouth before I even realized I had spoken. I shoved through the stunned crowd until I stood directly in the guards' path.

"I need to heal him first."

Captain Sam stepped in front of me with an apologetic expression.

"Lady Juliet, the council ordered us to proceed immediately."

"I'm the pack healer," I replied firmly, refusing to move. "By pack law, no prisoner is to be sent into exile while suffering life-threatening injuries. My authority as healer outranks yours in matters concerning a patient's condition."

Sam's jaw tightened as murmurs rippled through the crowd.

Some glared at me with open disgust while others exchanged resigned looks, silently accepting that healers often extended compassion even to the worst criminals.

After a long pause, Sam finally stepped aside.

"You have five minutes."

Relief washed over me as I closed the distance between us.

Zane never lifted his head.

My heart ached as I reached toward him, placing my trembling palm against his bloodstained chest. Warm healing energy flowed through my fingertips, spreading into his battered body in shimmering waves.

Then everything stopped.

An overwhelming warmth exploded deep inside my soul, so powerful it stole the air from my lungs. An invisible thread wrapped itself around my heart before pulling taut, awakening a bond I had never felt before.

No...

My wide eyes slowly lifted to meet his as the world around us disappeared.

He was my mate.