Chapter 1High Elder Thorne's sire was dying. And I was the only healer in the pack who could save him.
But my mate, Alpha Dorian Ashford, blocked me. Told me to let his first love, Mallory, try the heart-wire first.
Last turn of the moon? She couldn't even thread the damned thing right - punctured his heart and sent it into spasms.
I had to jump in. I saved his life.
And Mallory? Her wolf couldn't handle the pack's whispers. She threw herself off the healing den's roof.
Dorian blamed ME.
My own mate sent me to heal a rogue Alpha. Halfway through the rite, he stalked into the waiting cavern and told the rogue's enforcers I was trying to murder their leader.
They kicked the den door down. Grabbed a silver scalpel off my tray. Buried it in my chest.
Even while I bled out, Dorian wasn't done.
"Mallory's a gifted healer, you know. She just needed time."
"But YOU? You couldn't stand her shining. You RUINED her."
"So rot in the Moonless Lands."
When my eyes snapped open again, I was back.
Same healing den. Same dying Elder. Same cursed mess.
But this time?
I set the silver scalpel down.
Let's see how YOU clean up this bloodbath, you mangy bastards.
...
"He's crashing! His left heart-vein's shredded - crack his chest NOW!"
Healer Reed, the senior healer on my flank, had already snarled that same warning five times.
But all we got back was Alpha Dorian's voice through the den speaker, colder than silver frost.
"Shut your muzzle, Reed! My healing den, my laws. Don't like it? The door's right there."
"Mallory just returned from Moonfall. She's pulling techniques you old wolves have never even scented."
Reed's face went purple. His wolf flashed hot behind his eyes. He stood right over the Elder, watching the disaster unfold.
"That wire's about to tear straight through his artery! Does she even know which end to hold?! If he dies, it's on YOU!"
Dorian didn't even twitch. "Escort him out. I'm Alpha here. Done talking."
Then he turned to me.
"Sloane. Stand with me."
I let the scalpel drop. My voice stayed flat.
"Your call, Alpha."
A beat of silence. Then his voice returned, smug as a fed wolf.
"See? That's how you handle a pack."
"Alright, listen up - nobody touches a damn thing till I give the word. Clear?"
I glanced at the polished silver above the healing stone and caught Mallory's reflection -
She was sweating buckets, panting like a hunted doe, hands shaking so hard she could barely hold the wire.
And she was whispering to herself like she was reading off a scroll. Meanwhile, the Elder's life-force was dropping fast.
This was the "top talent" my Alpha had been shielding?
The patient was High Elder Thorne's sire. And Dorian was letting this girl practice on him like he was a dead rogue.
Last time, I panicked. I shoved her aside, cracked his chest open myself, and dragged him back from the Moonless Lands.
That turned Mallory into the pack's joke. Everyone called her "the Moonfall expert" with enough venom to poison a rogue.
Her wolf couldn't take it. She leapt from the sixth-level cliff ledge.
And me? I was one breath away from being named Second Healer of the pack.
Then Dorian sent me to heal the Bloodmoon rogue Alpha, told his enforcers I was there to kill him, and watched them cut me down on the healing stone.
Right before I died, I heard my mate whisper, "That's for Mallory."
This time, I'm not saving a single one of them.
Let's see how you clean up this bloodbath.
Chapter 2
The life-rune above the Elder's chest kept screaming. His blood-song was dropping like a stone into a black river.
Every wolf in the healing den had stopped breathing.
Except Mallory. She was getting angrier by the second.
"Moon above, what the hell is wrong with his veins? Everything's a MESS!"
"Oh my gods - his arteries are like wet bark. I touch one and he bleeds everywhere!"
Her whining came through the pack-link loud and clear. Every healer in the den heard it.
The mutters started.
"Is she for real right now?"
"Does she even know what she's doing?"
"Yeah, because every Elder's heart is straight out of a Moon-Blessed healing scroll, right?"
"She's blaming the patient? You've gotta be kidding me."
"Fuck this. Alpha, pull her out!"
Mallory heard every word. And instead of shutting her muzzle, she whimpered into the den-speaker.
"Doriannnn, everyone's being such a bunch of rogues! I don't wanna do this anymore!"
Her voice cracked. Like she was one breath from shifting and bolting.
The whole den went dead silent.
One of the young healers finally snapped.
"Yo, this is a HEALING DEN, not a pup's playpen - what is WRONG with you?!"
A couple others jumped in.
"Is she serious right now?"
"She's having a meltdown mid-rite!"
"Alpha, get her OUT!"
Mallory's wolf flashed in her eyes. She tore off her gloves, threw the wire down, and made a break for the den door.
"LET ME OUT! I'M DONE!"
The scrub healer blocked her path.
"You can't just walk out! The heart-rune's still IN him! He shifts wrong and he's DEAD!"
Dorian's voice exploded through the den-speaker. Alpha command rolled off every word.
"SHUT IT! Let her out! Anybody else wanna talk? GET OUT!"
And Mallory? She actually giggled.
"Gods, Dorian - you're the best."
The sleep-healer finally lost it.
"What is this, your little mating getaway? Should we give you two some privacy?"
Dorian didn't even pause.
"Sloane - get in there and clean this up."
One of the senior healers shot back.
"Oh, so Sloane's gotta fix her mess? And when this Elder dies, Sloane takes the blame. That the game plan?"
That's when the life-rune started screaming. Blood-song dropping. Heart-beat under forty.
If he went into moon-death now, he was gone.
I didn't think. Just grabbed the wire and checked the imaging-rune -
The heart-rune had slipped completely off the wire and was now stuck in his kidney artery.
Every wolf gasped.
The senior healer next to me straightened up, eyes going wide.
"Oh fuck. It's stuck - wedged in there. We can't pull it."
Another senior healer shook his head.
"That's the worst position. No way we're getting to it."
I didn't say anything. Just grabbed a balloon catheter.
"Balloon."
The scrub healer slapped it into my hand. I fed it through the wire, inflated it, and crushed the heart-rune flat against the artery wall.
The den went crazy. Clapping, fist-bumps, somebody even let out a howl.
I cut through it.
"Apprentice - close him up. Everyone else, open-chest prep. We're outta time. Move your asses!"
Chapter 3
Mallory barely stumbled into the tunnel before her voice came crawling back through the den-link - all shaky, all pathetic.
"Doriannnn... I'm like, totally useless, aren't I?"
Dorian's voice flipped from ice to warm honey in half a heartbeat.
"What? No, babe. You were amazing. First time running a rite this big? Most wolves would've shifted and bolted."
She wasn't done. Of course she wasn't.
"No, I have to prove I can do this. I don't wanna be dead weight. Let me back in - I'll do the heart-bypass. Please?"
Dorian caved instantly. Like always.
"Okay, okay. I got you. Get scrubbed back in. You're leading this."
Then his voice snapped back to Alpha sharp.
"Alright, everyone - Healer Voss's doing the bypass. Nobody touches a damn thing without my say-so. Are we clear?"
Silence.
Not a single wolf wanted to waste their breath anymore.
I kept my eyes on the life-rune. The Elder's blood-song was barely holding on. One wrong move and that line would go flat forever.
"Sloane! I'm baaaack!"
Mallory kicked the den door open, still wearing the same blood-smeared gown from before, and swaggered right up next to me like she owned the place.
The scrub healer tried to block her path.
"Wait - you just came from outside! You're not cleansed!"
Mallory shoved right past her.
"Hey Sloane, how do you do the chest-bone thing again?"
I didn't take my eyes off the life-rune.
"I don't have time for this shit."
She didn't like that. Shouldered me hard, almost sent me into the instrument tray. Then she plopped her tray right in my way, blocking me completely.
"Come on, Sloane, don't be stingy! Just tell me!"
That hit hurt. My side was on fire. But I couldn't deal with her right now. The Elder was dying.
She grabbed my arm and started shaking it like a pup throwing a tantrum.
"Come onnnnn, Sloane!"
I've trained for years to keep my hands steady during a healing rite. There's no way some flailing apprentice is gonna mess that up.
I didn't move.
But my wolf? She was clawing at my ribs, teeth bared, begging me to shift and put this bitch in her place.
I finally lost my shit.
"Mallory - if you wanna throw a fit, get the fuck out of my healing den."
She immediately started sniffling into the den-link, voice all shaky.
"Doriannnn, Sloane's being so awful... I was so nice to her and she won't even help me... she totally thinks I'm an idiot..."
Dorian's voice came back, ice-cold and vicious.
"What, you gatekeeping now, Sloane? Your dad died when you were what, five? Guess your bone-picking mom was too busy sorting scraps to teach you how to share."
He knew exactly where to hit me.
I grew up with a single mom who collected scrap metal and discarded moon-silver to put food on the table. Pups at the training grounds used to bully me relentlessly. Their parents even tried to get me expelled from the pack's healer school.
"We're not letting our pups sit next to some bone-picker's daughter. It's disgusting."
After I graduated, I never told anyone about my past. Except Dorian.
He used to hold me and say, "I don't care if your mom picked scraps. I don't care if you picked scraps. I love you."
And now he was using it to destroy me.
I was so angry I thought my teeth were gonna crack. My wolf was howling inside my chest, desperate to break free and tear his throat out.
But I knew this wasn't the time to blow up. I'd settle this with him later. Under the moon. In blood.
I forced myself to look back at the life-rune - and my stomach dropped.
The Elder's heartbeat was almost a flat line.
And Mallory was adjusting the overhead light because it was "too bright."
Her gloves were filthy. She'd been touching gods-know-what out in the tunnel, and now she was waving her hands all over our cleansed circle.
She had no fucking clue about staying pure.
She just contaminated the entire field.
The sleep-healer shouted, "He's crashing! Charging to 120!"
"Beeeeeeeep - "
The life-rune flatlined - that single, endless tone filled the den like a death howl.
Everyone started moving at once.
I didn't even breathe. "Everyone back!"
But Dorian's voice cut through. "Wait. Mallory's the lead. Let her do it."
"Mallory, don't be scared. You got this!"
She lunged at me, trying to grab the shock-runes.
"Dorian said I could do this! Why are you stealing my fucking moment?!"
I shoved her back - and that's when I saw the dial. Cranked all the way to max.
"Are you out of your fucking mind?!"
