Coming Back as Enemy's Luna

4.Hunch

= Mikael =

It was nothing new—the weight of their stares, heavy with curiosity, fear, and something far colder. I had grown accustomed to it over the years. Every time I returned to our territory—whether from a hunt, an alliance council, or simply from making my rounds—those eyes followed me. Watching. Judging. As if my very existence broke some sacred law.

It hadn’t always been this way. It began the day I claimed the title of Alpha of the Veyrath Pack.

They had all opposed me. The Elders. My half-brother. Even my own father. Their disapproval was sharp, spoken in words that cut as deeply as claws. Who was I, they demanded, to even dream of leading Veyrath? I was just a bastard in their eyes—an outsider born of a mistake, a shadow that should have stayed on the fringes.

But blood was blood. And Veyrath blood ran through my veins whether they liked it or not.

So I fought for my right.

I challenged my father. I challenged the heir they all wanted. And when victory was mine, I took the power I needed—nothing more. I never cared for their praise or their acceptance. Recognition meant nothing to me. If half the pack refused to bow, then so be it. I didn’t claim the title for them.

A murmur flickered through the clearing as I strode past.

“What… is that?” someone whispered, faint but sharp enough for my senses to catch.

“That’s not a deer. He always brings back a deer.”

“Wait—is that… a woman?”

A chorus of gasps rippled around me.

I didn’t bother to look their way. Like I said, it was nothing new.

“Lorne,” I called, my voice cutting through the tense air.

“Yes, Alpha.” He straightened immediately, alert and waiting.

“Get our best medics. All of them. I want every resource we have focused on treating this woman,” I ordered, not allowing room for question or hesitation.

“As you wish, Alpha.” With a swift bow, he launched himself in the opposite direction. I turned the other way, heading toward my cabin—because for reasons I couldn’t yet explain, the idea of leaving this woman in the pack hospital felt… wrong. Dangerous, even. As if the safest place for her, inexplicably, was within my watch.

I carried her into the cabin next to mine. It was dim and quiet. Gently, I lowered her onto the bed. I took the blanket wrapped around her, piece by piece.

She’d been half-dead when I found her. It was a miracle she survived the journey back to Veyrath at all; the medics traveling with us had done only the bare minimum to keep her tethered to life. Now that we were home, close to real resources, real treatment… she owed her continued heartbeat to me.

I found myself staring.

There was something familiar about her face—too familiar but I couldn’t quite grasp. I knew I had seen her somewhere, but the harder I searched my mind, the more it slipped away.

And then there was the other thing.

The most unsettling thing.

The frenzy… the wild, feral burn in my veins… had vanished the moment her blood touched my tongue.

Why? What in the Goddess’s name was she to me that a single taste could silence the beast inside?

For the past three days, my mind had been circling the same two possibilities—obsessing over them, really. Either she carried the blood of an ancient lineage believed to have vanished centuries ago… or there was another explanation entirely.

But the first option was absurd. Impossible. That bloodline was dust and legend, erased from the world long before my time.

I was still digging through the remnants of old memories—faces, stories, warnings told to young heirs—when the medics finally rushed into the room.

“Alpha,” they greeted in unison, bowing their heads in respect.

“Treat her,” I ordered, stepping back to give them space. “Notify me the moment she wakes.”

They nodded quickly and moved around her with practiced precision. I allowed myself one last glance at the unconscious woman—pale, fragile-looking, but carrying a presence that shouldn’t belong to someone who appeared so breakable.

Then I turned and left. Lorne fell into step behind me.

“How’s the investigation? Any leads about who she is?” I asked as we strode down the hallway.

Three days ago, right after I found her on the verge of dying in the depths of the Lawless Forest, I’d told Lorne to assign someone to dig up everything—her identity, her origins, the reason she had been there of all places. Judging from the state she was in, it was clear the rogues had been after her.

The Lawless Forest was a death trap infested with them. If you didn’t know its paths, you didn’t make it out. That woman clearly hadn’t known… unless something else had forced her inside.

“The man I sent hasn’t returned yet, Alpha,” Lorne replied. “But I expect he’ll finish the task within a day or two.”

“Good. Report to me the moment he’s back. I want every detail,” I said firmly.

We went our separate ways the moment I finished giving him a few instructions. I didn’t bother lingering; my body was begging for heat, for silence, for anything that could wash away the weight of the day. I headed straight to my cabin and stepped into the shower, letting the hot water crash over me.

As I ran my fingers through my damp hair, my thoughts drifted back to that woman.

There was something about her I couldn’t shake. I needed to know who she was and where she came from. If she had any value to me at all, then I’d make sure she understood exactly what was required of her. A little pressure, a little fear—it always got results.

But if she turned out to be nothing more than a dead end, if my instincts were wrong… then she was nothing to me. I can just toss her back where I found her.