Heather's POV
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Light.
That was the first thing I felt.
Not warmth. Not pain. Just… light. It was everywhere—inside me, around me, pressing gently against my skin like a second breath. I didn't remember breathing before. Had I?
I blinked. Once. Twice.
And then my eyes opened.
I was lying on soft grass, the smell of wildflowers and pine clinging to the air. Above me stretched a wide sky, painted with lavender clouds and the golden hues of early dawn. It should have felt foreign.
It didn't.
It just… was.
I sat up slowly, muscles aching like they hadn't been used in years. My palms sunk into the soil beneath me, grounding me to a world I didn't recognize but instinctively knew was mine.
A forest. A border. A gate of woven silverwood behind me hummed with power. I didn't look back.
Ahead, a small village spread out across a green valley. Stone cottages, trails of smoke curling from chimneys, the sound of a blacksmith's hammer in the distance. And people.
Shifters.
I knew that word.
How?
I stood, shaky but upright. A soft breeze danced around me, pulling loose strands of hair across my face. My fingers brushed them away, catching on something smooth against my neck.
A scar?
My heart fluttered with a pang of uncertainty. There were shadows in my mind. Empty rooms. Locked doors. Names tried to form—but never finished.
Marcus.
Darrian.
I blinked.
The words didn't mean anything.
They didn't hurt. They didn't heal. They just… passed through me like smoke.
A pair of young wolves saw me from across the field and raced toward the village, yipping with excitement. Not fear. Not suspicion. Excitement.
"Alpha! She's back!"
Alpha?
Me?
The word echoed in my bones, but I didn't understand why. The wind seemed to pause. The trees quieted.
Then more people came—rushing from their homes, eyes wide and stunned. Some fell to their knees. Others clutched each other in disbelief. An older woman covered her mouth with her hands, tears running freely as she whispered, "Heather,our alpha is back."
My knees buckled.
They caught me before I fell. Hands guided me gently, like I was glass. Soft voices murmured reassurances, but I didn't understand them. I didn't understand anything.
Not their joy.
Not their sorrow.
Not my name.
Heather.
Was that me?
I wanted to ask, but no words came.
Instead, I was carried—past blooming fields and stone archways, through a manor wrapped in ivy and crowned with towers that felt like they'd been mine once.
A room waited for me.
White. Clean. Familiar.
Too familiar.
I curled into the bed without resistance. A warm blanket was pulled over me, and a kind nurse pressed a kiss to my temple before leaving me in silence.
That night, I stared at the ceiling, feeling the rhythm of a heartbeat inside me that didn't quite feel like my own. Like something was missing. Or someone.
But I didn't know who.
I didn't remember the pain.
I didn't remember the love.
I didn't remember the war.
Or the man who once burned for me.
Only the void remained. Peaceful. Cold.
A clean slate.
And somewhere far away, beyond the veils and broken memories, I felt a tether snap so quietly, I barely noticed it at all.
The wind carried the scent of pine and rain as I stepped into lands that felt both foreign and familiar.
I didn't remember crossing a border. I didn't remember the faces that greeted me, their eyes wide with disbelief, some with tears, others with quiet hope. I didn't even know my own name when they whispered it with reverence.
Alpha Heather.
The title tasted strange in my mouth. Heavy. Ancient. Right.
I had no memory of how I earned it. No memory of the pain I'd survived or the name of the man whose voice still haunted my dreams in muffled echoes. Only fear lingered in my bones. A phantom ache, unplaceable.
But one thing was certain—I had come back changed.
They said this land once suffered. That the last Alpha was cruel. That he ruled through fists and silver chains. And that when he vanished, the people prayed someone would rise—not just to lead, but to heal.
And somehow… that someone was me.
The packhouse stood tall, strong and warm against the dusk. I moved through the halls like a ghost, trying to find pieces of myself in the portraits, in the books, in the rooms filled with soft linens and sharp memories I couldn't grasp.
I paused in front of one particular door. Something clawed at the edge of my mind when I touched the handle—something sharp and ugly.
I didn't open it.
Whatever it held inside, I wasn't ready to see. Not yet.
A woman named Elora met me in the council chambers. She was tough, silver-haired with a spine of iron and the loyalty of a soldier. "You were born to lead this pack," she said. "Even if you don't remember, your soul never forgot."
I didn't know if I believed her.
But when I stepped up to the council table and stared down at the crest carved into the wood—two wolves circling a full moon—I felt a pull in my chest.
Not memory.
Instinct.
By morning, the whole pack gathered. Word had spread quickly—Alpha Heather had returned.
They lined the stone circle near the training grounds. Wolves of all ages and ranks knelt, one by one, waiting for my voice.
I didn't give them a speech. I didn't pretend to remember what they needed from me.
But I said this:
"I don't know where I've been. I don't know what I've lost. But I know who I am now. I am yours. And I will not fail you."
Their howls shook the valley.
I didn't feel like an Alpha.
But they already saw me as one.
So I would become her.
Later that day, Elora showed me a file—sealed, ancient, full of records. One name was burned out of every document. Blacked out in every registry. The man who once ruled before me.
The one they said hurt me.
The one they said was my father.
The truth made my stomach turn, even without the full memory. I didn't need details. I felt the stain of his blood in my veins. The bruises he'd left beneath my skin. The way people flinched when his name was spoken—even by accident.
Marcus.
He wasn't spoken of anymore.
He didn't deserve to be remembered.
I closed the file. "Erase the rest," I told her. "Completely. The past dies with him."
She nodded, eyes gleaming. "As you wish, Alpha."
That night, I stood beneath the moon, high atop the watchtower. My fingers gripped the stone railing, eyes scanning the land now under my rule.
The bond I'd once had—whatever it was—had been severed.
My memories might be gone, but my instincts remained. And they told me this: I had suffered. I had survived. And now, I had power.
No one would ever chain me again.
No man.
No past.
No ghost.
I wasn't just Alpha Heather.
I was the end of his legacy.
And the beginning of something greater.