Chapter 1 - Waking Up

10 DAYS AFTER THE ACCIDENT. 

AMBER.

My head was throbbing, so I remained lying down with my eyes closed. My head pain was getting manageable compared to how I felt when I woke up two days ago. 

I was told it had been a week since the accident, and before I woke up, I kept drifting in and out of consciousness after I had blood transfusions. I lost too much blood, and without a wolf, my body was as frail as a human.

It had been a week, but it felt like it was just a moment ago when I was cramped up in the crashed car and 

Zach passed out in front of me. I was hysterical while talking to Dad on the phone. He tried to pacify me while getting information until he passed the phone to Cyrus, my twin brother. 

Cyrus then told me Dad was calling people to locate us. I heard Cyrus, and it made me cry more. I kept begging him to save Zach.

I was terrified. There was blood everywhere. I could also smell smoke and gas—the idea of the car blowing up was terrifying, like waiting for death to happen. 

Eventually, I was able to push my car door open and my lung was filled with somehow fresh air. Despite feeling dizzy, I knew I could walk away, but I also knew I couldn’t leave this car without Zach. 

Cyrus asked me to walk or crawl away and said that he was sure someone would come for Zach. 

I didn’t. I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t risk losing him this way. It took a while before my brother understood I had no plans of saving myself without Zach. 

It felt like waiting forever, and nothing was happening. I was losing hope. I could hear sirens, but no one was coming for us. 

My head felt like exploding, and I was having a hard time breathing. I thought that was it. 

I told my brother I loved him and that he should tell our family I loved them—that I felt blessed I was born into this family. I also confessed that when we were younger, I would always bribe the people around us with sweets and hugs so they would choose me whenever we had competitions because I could never match up with him. I used my charm while he used his skills. He told me he was aware and didn’t mind that I always won. 

I told Cyrus I hated him when I didn’t shift into my wolf. I confessed I cried to Selene and asked why she gave all the Alpha genes to him—allowed him to shift at fourteen while I was left with the Omega genes and was still wolfless at eighteen. He told me he hated himself more and wished he knew what to do so I could get my wolf out. And that he was wishing more than ever that I had my wolf with me today. 

I was crying hard. And so was my brother. 

Cyrus told me to hang on, and he promised me that if I got away from this alive, he would make sure I would always win against him. I would get to decide where he would get married or what the name of his first pup would be. I told him his Luna would probably not like that, but he said his Luna needed to understand that I was half of him—that life wouldn’t be the same without me. 

My brother never told me he loved me. He showed it all the time but never said it out loud. So when he asked me if I knew he loved me, I knew this was the end. 

Nobody gets an “I love you” from Cyrus. But I did. He said he loved me from the very moment he held my hand in Mom’s womb. 

And then I heard nothing more because darkness took me away. 

I thought that was the end of it, but I was lucky to be given another chance. I was lucky to survive. 

I still had no idea what happened after or how I got here, as my doctor suggested we take it one at a time. 

But I haven’t seen Zach. I knew he was alive. Aside from that, nothing more. 

When I woke up, I asked the nurse about him. She didn’t answer. Instead, she pressed the intercom and told someone I was awake.

Mom and Dad rushed to my room, and ten minutes later, Cyrus and our younger sister, Eva, came. My whole family was there. I could see the relief and happiness in their expression. I should be happy, but the man I wanted to see was not around. 

I asked about Zach, and they told me he was also resting in their territory. Like me, he has not been allowed to go out yet. I asked if I could visit him, and they said I should rest for a few more days. I asked to call Zach, and they said they would check on that as Dad had just hung up the phone with Uncle Riley, so they knew Zach was asleep at the moment.

I told him Zach wouldn’t mind if they woke him up. That I was sure he was worried about me. 

They said I should rest, and they would let him talk to me soon. 

But the call never came. 

I should have known better that something was wrong because Zach would never let a day pass without talking to me. 

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“Amber, get up!” Eva, my youngest sister, gave me an order as soon as she entered my hospital room.

Her voice startled me. “What?”

“Can you get up? Can you walk, or should I get a wheelchair?” She asked.

“What’s going on?”

She didn’t answer but instead went back to the door and peered outside.

“Eva!” I called out to her, but she was already on her way out, causing my eyebrows to furrow in confusion. It didn’t take long before I heard a sound outside the room, and she appeared, pushing a wheelchair. “What’s going on?”

“Zach found out you’re awake!” she said.

“He did? Is he coming to visit?” I was excited. My heart was so happy with what she said that I failed to recognize the anger in her voice and in her expression.

“No!” She said in a slightly louder voice. “He’s leaving!”

“What do you mean? Can you be direct? Leaving where? Is he leaving his territory to visit me?”

“No, Amber! He’s leaving this hospital because you woke up!”

“What do you mean, this hospital? This hospital?” I pointed down. “Is he here? But Mom said…”

“They’re all lying to you, and I don’t think that’s fair…” Her eyes watered, and her lips quivered. Eva was tougher than me, and it takes a lot to make her cry, so this confused me more.

“They might hate me, or you might hate me too, but you have the right to know.” She added.

My hands went to my bandaged head as my head pain intensified. “I’m confused, Eva…”

“You and Zach were brought here after the accident, as this was the nearest territory near the crashed site. He was recuperating on the third floor.”

“Here?” My tears fell as I watched Eva nod her head. “In this hospital?” I kept repeating the same question to make sense of everything.

He was here, but no one told me. I couldn’t believe this. He was just within reach.

She nodded her head again. “He’s leaving. They’re taking him back to the Silver Moon territory.”

“When?”

“Now. As in, right now. I saw him being taken down to the main floor.”

“Take me to him!”