As I sat with Max in his small cabin in the forest, cleaning his wounds, my feelings for him kept growing.

It felt like I had known him for years, not just a few hours.

I smiled without realizing it.

Max looked at me and asked, "What's funny?"

"I just met you," I said softly, "and this is already the second time I'm cleaning your wounds."

Max laughed quietly.

"Yeah," he said, "it seems like from the moment I saw you, getting beaten up is all I can do."

"I'm sorry," I whispered.

Then I added, "But I think what William said is true.

"Your wounds... I think they're healing. I've never seen anyone heal that fast before."

Max smiled, a playful look in his eyes.

"Well," he said, "I guess I'm getting really good at being beaten up."

Then he looked at me and asked,

"Why are your friends standing outside?"

I answered nervously, "William and Samar?

It's nothing... maybe they just want to talk alone."

Max smiled.

"Or maybe they want to give us some privacy."

My heart skipped.

I felt heat rush to my face, and I tried to hide it.

"Come on," I said quickly, trying to sound normal.

"Get dressed. Your wounds are taken care of."

Suddenly, Samar rushed inside, looking terrified.

She was whispering unclear words.

"Samar, slow down," I said. "I don't understand. What's wrong?"

She snapped in panic, "Your father.

He's outside... talking to William."

My heart dropped.

"My father?" I whispered.

"How did he know we are here?"

Before Samar could answer, my father walked in.

William followed behind him, calling his name, trying to calm him down.

Max stood behind me, confused, quickly putting on his clothes.

My father stopped for a moment.

His eyes scanned the scene in complete silence.

No one spoke.

No one dared to.

Then my father finally spoke, his eyes never leaving Max.

"William," he said calmly, "take Samar and Nora back to the village."

"Yes, sir," William answered quietly.

He grabbed my arm and started pulling me toward the door, taking Samar with us.

"Father, wait," I said, struggling.

"Let me explain."

I tried to resist, but my father looked at me.

It was a look I had never seen before.

Cold. Final. Terrifying.

It froze me in place.

I stopped fighting as William pulled me outside,

Samar walked beside me in silence.

The moment we stepped outside the cabin, I pulled my arm away from William in defiance.

"William, I can't just leave Max and go," I said firmly.

"I need to know what my father is planning to do."

Samar turned to me, her voice sharp with panic.

"Nora, please. Don't make this more complicated than it already is.

Listen to them. Let's just go back."

Meanwhile, inside the cabin, Max(POV)

So this is Alpha Steve...

I had heard a lot about him, but this was the first time I ever saw him.

The anger on his face was impossible to miss.

I tried to speak, keeping my voice respectful.

I said, reaching out my hand,

"It's an honor to meet you, sir."

But Steve surprised me with a hard kick before I could say anything else.

The force sent me down to the ground.

Steve asked in a low but terrifying voice.

"Who are you?".

"And what do you want from my daughter?"

He leaned closer.

"I'm warning you. If you lie to me, today will be the last day of your life."

I answered calmly as I tried to stand up.

"i don't want anything from your daughter I was only trying to help."

I didn't get to finish.

Steve's fist slammed into my face with brutal force.

Throwing me to the ground again.

"I told you not to lie to me," he growled.

I clenched my jaw.

A strange feeling burned inside me-anger, tension, something wild rising fast.

I forced it down and spoke through my teeth.

"Sir... I am... not... lying."

But just as I finished the sentence, Steve's hand wrapped around my neck.

With one hand, he lifted me off the ground and slammed my back against the wall.

My legs dangled in the air, unable to touch the floor.

I grabbed his arm with both hands, trying to free myself.

But his grip was impossibly strong.

I couldn't breathe.

My chest burned.

My vision started to blur.

I couldn't even speak.

Then suddenly-

I saw Nora.

She shoved her father away with all her strength and screamed,

"Let him go! Please!"

Steve stepped back from the force of the push.

He stared at his daughter in shock, unable to believe she was defying him... for me.

I collapsed to the ground, coughing hard, struggling to catch my breath.

"Nora's voice softened,

"He is my soulmate," she said.

"I can feel it.

In silence, Steve walked toward his daughter.

There was nothing in his eyes but anger.

He didn't say a single word.

The back of his hand came down hard across Nora's face.

The force of the slap sent her flying several steps back, until she crashed into the wall beside me.

At that moment,

The anger I had been holding back exploded out of control.

And I lunged at Steve.

In a fight I could never win-

me, just a normal human,

against Alpha Steve, an Alpha feared across all tribes.

It was the first time my father ever hit me.

Tears poured from my eyes like rain as I lay on the ground, unable to do anything.

I kept screaming, begging them to stop.

In front of me, my father was fighting Max in a deadly battle.

The difference in power was clear.

My father was killing him, deep wounds tearing into Max's body.

But Max acted as if he couldn't feel pain at all.

With every hit, he struck back harder.

Stronger.

As if against all logic, the injuries didn't weaken him.

They made him stronger.

I tried to step between them, but their brutal force threw me aside the moment I got close.

I hit the ground hard, staring at them in shock.

Max was fighting back now.

His strength... his speed...

They were almost on the same level as my father's.

No-

He was even faster.

How? He was just a man without an inner wolf, facing an Alpha.

And not just any Alpha.

This should have been over in seconds.

Suddenly, my father released a part of his wolf, allowing only his eyes to turn.

They lit up with a glowing amber color.

The pupils stretched and sharpened, turning into a wolf's gaze-

Then landed a deadly blow.

His claws pierced Max's torso.

I gasped.

But Max didn't even cry out.

He didn't step back.

Instead, he grabbed my father's wrist and forced it out-

slowly, firmly-

Then he twists it to the side with unnatural strength.

Is Max... getting bigger?

Taller?

Are his muscles getting larger?

Something wasn't normal.

For a moment, I could swear one of his eyes was glowing silver-

just for a second-

before fading back to deep black.

My father noticed it too.

He stared at Max in shock-then caught his wrist mid-air, halting the strike before it could land.

"Who are you?" my father asked, his voice filled with disbelief.

Max pulled his arm back, confused by the sudden change in my father's reaction.

My father started at Max for a moment, then turned to me and said,

"Help him stop the bleeding.

I'll send William now to escort you both back to the village."

And just like that...

He turned around and left!

The moment he was gone, Max collapsed-

as if his body had only been holding on until it was safe to fall.

I ran to him in panic and dropped to my knees beside him.

Blood was soaking through his shirt.

"No, no, no..." I whispered.

I pressed my hands against the wound, trying to stop the bleeding, my fingers shaking.

"Max... stay with me."

A weak, breathless laugh escaped him between coughs.

"Are you... laughing?"

Max spoke through a smile that slowly turned into a pained expression.

"I just can't believe it," he said, "you're taking care of my wounds for the third time in a row."

Before I knew it, I laughed too.

I didn't understand my father's sudden change.

I don't understand anything anymore.

I was laughing, crying, confused-

all at the same time.

Then Max called my name in a faint voice.

"Nora..."

I leaned closer to him and forced a small smile.

"Yes. I'm here. I can hear you."

He smiled back, but his voice was soft and tired.

"I've never had a place in this world," he said slowly.

"My whole life, I moved from one village to another.

Rejected.

Unwanted."

His breathing was uneven, but he kept talking.

"The loneliness... the feeling that I don't belong anywhere...

It was killing me a little more every day."

My chest tightened as I listened.

"But believe me," he whispered, his eyes fixed on mine,

"even with everything that happened...

since the moment I saw you...

I enjoyed every moment with you."

Suddenly, Max closed his eyes.

His body went slack in my arms.

"No... no, Max," I whispered in panic.

"Open your eyes. Stay with me."

I quickly pulled his shirt aside to see the wound clearly.

Blood was pouring out.

I pressed harder, trying to stop it.

"You're going to heal," I said desperately.

"You always do.

Your wounds close fast... right?"

But this time,

The blood wouldn't stop.

"Max!" I screamed.

And then the cabin door burst open.

William stood there, his face pale with terror.

"Nora, run!" he shouted.

I ignored him.

"William, help me!" I cried. "Max is dying!"

"Run!" William screamed again. "Now!"

"You don't understand!" I shouted back.

"My father isn't against this anymore.

He told me to take Max back to the village."

William cut me off.

"Your father is dead."

For a moment, my mind went completely blank.

I couldn't speak.

I couldn't breathe.

William grabbed my arm, trying to pull me up.

"Draven and Jax gathered their men," he said urgently.

"They ambushed your father on his way back... and now they're coming for you, We have to run..."

But it was too late...

Jax appeared out of nowhere behind William.

His eyes were full of pure evil.

"Shut up," Jax said coldly.

In one sudden movement, he twisted William's head back.

There was a sickening crack.

William fell to the ground, his body lifeless.

I didn't even hear him hit the floor.

All I could hear was my own heartbeat-

slow, loud, unbearable.

My vision blurred, tears flooding my eyes.

Through the haze, I could barely see Jax walking toward me.

He grabbed me by the hair and dragged me outside.

"No!" I screamed in pain.

"Max!" I cried out.

Jax lifted me by my hair and slammed my head hard.

Darkness rushed in, pulling me away from the pain.

The last thing I saw...

was Max lying on the cabin floor,

his blood spreading across the wooden boards-

before everything went black