Chapter 7
Leo stared at Aria, his voice low and shaking.
“You know what you’re saying, right? You swore you’d fix me. You told me I’d walk again.”
“I took your medicine. I trusted you. And now you’re saying I need to lose my legs?”
Aria faltered. She couldn’t meet his eyes. Her fingers curled tightly around the bedrail, face locked in a mask of guilt and fear.
Leo’s expression darkened with disbelief. “Scarlett was right, wasn’t she? You did this. You ruined me. Why, Aria?”
“I didn’t!” she cried. “I never meant to hurt you!”
But the panic in her voice betrayed her. Desperate, she turned and pointed a trembling finger at me.
“It’s her! Scarlett must’ve tampered with my herbs–she can’t stand that I’m the one you chose! She’s jealous because she was never even considered for Luna!”
“Scarlett, how could you? Just because Leo doesn’t love you, you’d… you’d do this to him?”
I stared at her, almost amused.
“Aria, that’s rich. I’ve been with Lunarcrest Pack since the day the bet started. Exactly when do you think I had the time to sabotage your so–called miracle?”
“And for the record–I never wanted to be Skyclaw’s Luna. That’s your fantasy, not mine.”
But she wasn’t finished.
“You hide away in the wild like some mysterious recluse. You cover your face even when you heal. But the second you heard Leo was paralyzed, you showed up here. Don’t act like you weren’t trying to steal him!”
A humorless laugh escaped my lips. When I was a child, Leo once saved my life. That was why, in my past life, I tried to heal him–to repay a debt. But that debt? I paid it–with my blood, and my life.
In this life, I owe him nothing. Let Aria bear the weight this time. I was done bleeding for his mistakes.
I looked her dead in the eye.
“As a healer, I help those who come to me with honesty. Leo’s suffering? That’s on you, Aria. Your incompetence did this–own it.”
Aria’s lips twisted, fury radiating from every inch of her.
“You sabotaged me! You destroyed his legs!”
“Enough!” Leo’s roar stopped her cold.
His head dropped, fists clenched into the sheets.
“Just stop. What’s the point in arguing? What’s done is done.”
“I’ll do the surgery.”
Mrs. Russell rushed out to get the doctors.
As they prepped Leo for the operating room, Lucian stepped forward. Without a word, he reached down and yanked the bond necklace from Leo’s neck.
Leo snarled, hatred flaring in his eyes. “Don’t get smug, Lucian.”
Lucian didn’t even flinch.
“Just returning what you stole.”
I stared at the necklace now resting in Lucian’s hand. My blood went cold.
Could it be?
When I was six, I was attacked by rogue wolves in the forest. A boy–no older than twelve–saved me. Wounded, bleeding, but fierce. He stood between me and death.
“Run,” he’d said, voice ragged. “I’ll hold them off.”
Chapter 7
2.21/%
I’d shaken
my
head. “You don’t have to. We don’t even know each other.”
He’d wiped blood from his brow, grinning through the pain.
“I’m an Alpha. It’s what we do. Now go!”
I had no choice. I pressed my bond necklace into his palm and fled.
For years, I returned to that forest, hoping to find him. But he was gone.
I never even saw his face–just remembered that he was brave, kind, and strong.
And then, years later, Leo appeared in the papers. Wearing that necklace. I thought he was the boy who saved me.
But I was wrong.
It had always been Lucian.
In my last life, I made the wrong choice–and it cost me everything.
Lucian’s gaze sharpened as he looked at the necklace. His voice was low, steady–but there was heat behind it.
“You took something that wasn’t yours.”
