Chapter 10 THE TOUCH

The walk back from the border felt like it took forever. My legs were shaking so bad I could barely keep up. The injured wolves were being carried on stretchers made from branches and torn shirts. Blood dripped onto the pine needles with every step.

The air smelled like gunpowder and silver and fear. I stayed right there with them, helping carry one end of a stretcher even though my arms burned from training earlier. The wolf on it was Elias... the younger guy who had growled at me the first day I got here. He was groaning, a silver bullet wound in his side still smoking like it was eating him from the inside.

I kept my eyes on the ground. My wolf was whispering again, clearer now. "Help him. Touch him." I ignored it. I wasn’t ready for whatever that meant. I didn’t even understand what was happening to me.

When we finally reached the healer’s cabin, the place turned into chaos. Wolves were shouting orders, the healer was running out with bandages and herbs, and the injured were being laid on the ground outside because there weren’t enough beds inside. I helped lower Elias down, my hands brushing his arm as I let go of the stretcher.

The second my fingers touched his skin, something flared hot in my palm.

Silver light flickered under my skin for half a second...soft, warm, like moonlight trapped in my veins. Elias gasped loud. The smoking wound on his side stopped bleeding. The edges started knitting together right in front of my eyes, the silver poison burning out like smoke. The hole closed until it was just a faint pink scar.

Elias stared at me, eyes wide with shock. “You… you just healed me.”

The whole camp went dead silent.

Then the whispers exploded.

“She healed him.”

“Did you see that light on her hands?”

“She’s the one the hunters want. She’s dangerous.”

Jax pushed through the crowd, face twisted with fear and rage. “I fucking told you! She’s not normal. That moon shit from the border... she’s gonna get us all killed!”

My heart slammed against my ribs so hard it hurt. Shame flooded me so strong my face burned and my eyes stung. I yanked my hands back like I’d burned him. “I didn’t mean to. I swear. I don’t even know what I did. I was just helping carry him...”

Elias sat up slow, touching his side where the wound had been. For half a second he looked almost grateful. Then the fear won. He scrambled back from me on the ground. “Stay the hell away from me.”

The pack started moving closer, voices rising fast.

“She’s cursed.”

“She brought the hunters here and now she’s doing witch shit on our wolves.”

“Ronan needs to send her back before she kills us all.”

I stood there frozen, tears burning my eyes. The shame from the rejection ceremony crashed over me again...kneeling in the gravel, the whole pack watching me get dragged out like I was trash. Now it was happening all over again. I was the monster. The stray who brought trouble. The girl no one wanted no matter where she went.

My wolf whispered, sharp and urgent. "We helped. We saved him."

It didn’t matter. The pack was looking at me like I was poison. Jax was yelling louder now, pointing at me. “She’s the reason they came! She’s the moon thing they’re hunting! Get her out before they come back with more guns!”

A couple of the older wolves nodded. One of them stepped forward, face hard. “She’s not one of us. She never will be. Ronan made a mistake bringing her here.”

My chest squeezed so tight I could barely breathe. I felt so small again, so worthless. I wanted to run. I wanted to scream that I didn’t ask for any of this. That I used to have a pack, a life, a mate who said I was his. But the words stuck in my throat. All I could do was stand there with my hands shaking, tears slipping down my cheeks.

Ronan pushed through the crowd then. He was still bleeding from the graze on his shoulder, but he didn’t seem to care. He stepped right in front of me, shoulders tense, green eyes dark. The pack went quiet the second he moved.

“Enough,” he said, voice low but carrying. “She didn’t ask for the hunters. She didn’t ask for any of this. Elias is alive because of her. You want to throw her out for saving one of our own?”

Jax spat on the ground. “She’s dangerous, Alpha. You saw the light. The hunters know about her. They’ll keep coming until they get her...or until they kill all of us trying.”

Ronan’s jaw tightened. He didn’t look at me, but I felt him tense like he was holding himself back. “She stays. She trains. She heals. If anyone has a problem with that, they can take it up with me.”

The pack muttered, but they backed off. Slowly. Reluctantly. Jax gave me one last hateful look before he turned away. Elias stood up on shaky legs, touching his healed side again, looking at me like he didn’t know what to feel.

I couldn’t take it anymore. I turned and walked away from the crowd, heading toward my cabin, tears blurring everything. My wolf whispered again, softer this time. "We helped… they’ll see."

But all I could feel was the shame burning in my gut and the fear that this power...whatever it was...was going to get me thrown out again. Or worse. Get these wolves killed because of me.

Ronan caught up to me a few minutes later. He didn’t touch me. He just walked beside me, quiet for a long moment.

“You okay?” he asked finally.

I shook my head, voice cracking. “No. I healed him and now they hate me even more. I don’t know what’s happening to me, Ronan. I don’t know what I am anymore.”

He stayed quiet for a few steps. Then he said, “This isn’t normal. The light. The healing. It’s not something I’ve seen before. But it saved Elias. That’s what matters right now.”

His words didn’t fix anything, but they didn’t dismiss me either. He was just… there. Steady. No big promises. No lies. It made the fear in my chest loosen a little, but it also made the loneliness feel sharper. I wanted to believe this place could be different. I wanted it so bad it hurt. But the last time I believed somewhere was safe, I ended up on my knees in the gravel while the whole pack watched me get thrown away.

We reached my cabin. I stopped at the door, hand on the handle, tears still slipping down my cheeks. “What if they’re right? What if I really am the reason the hunters keep coming? What if I’m the danger here?”

Ronan looked at me for a long moment. His green eyes were serious, almost soft for half a second. “You’re not the danger. The hunters are. And the pack is scared. They’ve lost too many already. But you saved one of them today. That counts for something. Give them time.”

He didn’t say anything else. He just stood there for another second, like he was fighting the urge to say more, then stepped back. “Rest. I’ll make sure no one bothers you tonight.”

The door clicked shut behind me. I sank onto the cot and let the tears come for real this time. Not loud sobs. Just quiet ones that slipped down my cheeks and soaked the pillow. I cried for the girl who used to forgive Lucifer every single time he hurt her. I cried for the pack that threw me away like I was garbage. I cried for the version of me that thought belonging somewhere meant letting people treat me like dirt as long as they kept me around.

But I also cried because for the first time since the ceremony, I felt something besides shame.

A tiny, stubborn spark of hope.

The camp was still against me. The whispers were still there. The hunters were still out there somewhere. My wolf was still waking up. But I had healed someone today. I had done something good, even if they hated me for it.

My wolf whispered one last time before I drifted off.

"We fight… together."

I didn’t know if I believed her yet.

But I wanted to.

I fell asleep with my hand pressed to my chest, holding onto that faint silver warmth like it was the only thing keeping me together.

The dream didn’t come back that night.

But I knew it would.

And when it did, I would be ready.

Or at least I hoped I would.