An Empty Territory

POV: Malia

"You know my brother really likes you." Vesper smiled across the small breakfast table, spreading a thick layer of butter on her crumpet.

My eyes snapped up from my plate, the warm toast in my mouth suddenly tasting like dry ash. Rafe had left early this morning to run the errands he mentioned last night, putting his sister on strict babysitting duty. I had not asked where he was going or what he was doing. Asking questions only earned me a bruised jaw or a locked door in my old life.

"You are prettier than the last girl," Vesper muttered, chewing her food without a care in the world.

I choked on my orange juice, coughing violently into my napkin as my chest seized. "Last girl?"

Vesper tilted her head, giving me a strange, calculating look. "You are his contracted mate, right? Did you really think you were the first?"

I stared at her, my heart hammering against my ribs. It had not crossed my mind. My only concern since arriving in this territory was waiting for the inevitable abuse to start. He had not made a single aggressive move on me. He had not forced a hand between my thighs, nor had he demanded I sleep naked in his bed. He just held me against his chest while we slept. The unknown terrified me far more than a raised fist, because I knew a powerful man like him would not wait forever.

"Hopefully, you will stick," she added, reaching for another sugary pastry.

"Stick?" I repeated. The casual way she spoke felt so foreign. I only understood barked orders, insults, and the cold snap of a leather belt.

Vesper sighed, her playful expression turning serious. "I probably should not be the one telling you this, but you need to be prepared. My brother has searched for his mate for a long time. He is twenty-eight. He needs an heir to secure his legacy. The other girls... they stay no more than a few weeks. Some run. Some are killed."

She shrugged her shoulders like she was discussing the incoming weather, oblivious to the panic rising in my throat.

My blood ran cold. "Because they refuse to give him an heir?"

She shook her head. "Because he loses interest."

I shrank back in my wooden chair, wrapping my arms tight around my waist to protect my healing stomach. "Why are you telling me this?" I whispered. I would rather not know if my expiration date was rapidly approaching.

"There is something about you," Vesper said, pointing her silver butter knife at me. "He looks at you differently. I saw it at the pack hospital yesterday."

Her words offered zero comfort. People always looked at me differently because of my weird, pungent scent and my lack of a shifting wolf.

"Your biggest concern will be if he ever finds his true mate," she warned, taking a slow sip of her steaming coffee.

I flinched hard at the word mate. Beta Vance had been my true mate. The very second I turned eighteen, he barged into my dark basement in the middle of the night, reeking of alcohol and blind rage. He pinned me against the cold cement floor, screaming his rejection right in my face. He punched and kicked my fragile body until I choked out my acceptance, severing our bond. The physical beating was nothing compared to the agonizing sensation of my soul tearing in half. After that, my brother Brant bound me again, and my natural ability to heal vanished for good.

"You have a mate, do you not?" Vesper asked softly. "I can tell by the way your eyes just flickered."

"Had," I whispered, staring down at my lap so she could not see my tears. "He rejected me."

Vesper set her ceramic mug down. Her sharp gaze softened into something resembling genuine pity. "I know what that feels like. Mine rejected me too."

I looked up, stunned by her confession. "He did?"

"The moment he found out what pack I came from and who my ruthless brother is, he wanted nothing to do with me," she sighed, leaning back in her chair. "Anyway, like I said, my brother seems to like you more than he liked any of the other women."

I stayed quiet, chewing on the inside of my cheek until it bled. Was I supposed to feel grateful? Knowing Rafe might keep me around like a shiny new toy until he grew bored and discarded me?

Later that morning, Vesper dragged me along to the pack hospital. She had a shift to cover, and Rafe had given strict orders not to let me out of her sight unless I needed the bathroom. He probably thought I would bolt like his past brides. As if my bruised, broken body could make it past the front porch without collapsing.

The hospital was a ghost town. Sterile white walls, polished linoleum floors, and the sharp, burning stench of bleach. No one ever came here. Wolves healed their own wounds. Vesper spent the first two hours counting rolls of bandages, organizing rows of painkillers, and checking expiration dates on antiseptic bottles just to kill the heavy silence.

"Hey," she said, walking over to the waiting area where I sat in a plastic chair. "I have a lot more inventory to do. I brought you some trashy magazines to read."

She dropped a stack of thick, glossy pages onto the table in front of me and smiled warmly.

I stared down at the colorful covers. Bright pictures of women with perfect hair and white teeth smiled back at me, surrounded by blocks of black symbols. The letters looked like tangled spider webs. They meant nothing to me. I just stared at the sharp angles and curves, my hands resting still and useless on my lap.

"Not your thing?" she asked, leaning against the reception counter.

I shook my head, keeping my eyes glued to the table. I did not want to reveal another broken flaw. Another reason for them to throw me out into the woods.

Vesper tilted her head, her eyes narrowing to slits as she studied my frozen face. "You cannot read, can you?"

My cheeks burned like fire. Heat rushed to my face, and I wanted the floor to crack open and swallow me whole. I shook my head again, fighting the thick lump forming in my throat. What twenty-two-year-old woman never went to a single day of school? What kind of person could not even read her own name on a piece of paper?

"Does my brother know?" she asked, her voice dropping low.

"No," I mumbled, waiting for the harsh mockery. Waiting for her to call me stupid or useless.

Instead, Vesper smiled. She pulled up a chair beside me and dragged the top magazine closer. "Well, at least now I have something to do other than counting."

She pointed to the largest letter on the page. She started with the alphabet, breaking down the sounds with infinite patience. Hours slipped by. My brain ached from trying to connect the alien shapes to the noises, but she never raised her voice. She never called me dumb.

Suddenly, Vesper stopped talking. She grabbed the magazines, shuffled them into a messy pile, and shoved them into a nearby drawer.

"My brother is back," she announced, standing up and smoothing her scrubs.

"How do you know?" I asked, looking toward the empty hallway.

"A pack thing."

Seconds later, the heavy double doors swung open with a loud, violent crash. Alpha Rafe marched into the room. The air temperature dropped in a matter of seconds, growing thick and heavy with his suffocating anger. His heavy combat boots slammed against the white tiles, each step echoing like a gunshot. His crimson eyes were darker than midnight blood, blazing with raw, unchecked fury. The veins in his thick neck stood out against his skin. His gaze locked onto me, pinning me to my plastic chair like prey.

"I need a word with my mate!" he snapped, his deep voice bouncing off the sterile walls.

"Sure," Vesper muttered. She did not argue or hesitate. She slipped out the side door, leaving me alone with the incoming storm.

Rafe waited until the door clicked shut before turning his full wrath on me. "Where has Brant gone?" he rumbled.

I blinked, my mind going completely blank. "Huh?"

"Do I need to repeat myself?" he snarled, stepping closer until his shadow consumed me.

I opened my mouth to tell him I did not understand, but he cut me off before I could form a word.

"There was no one there, Malia. No one." His glare burned into my skin, hot and unforgiving.

My brow furrowed. That made no sense. How could there be no one at the Moonscar pack?

"Homes empty. The packhouse is empty. Where have they gone, Malia?" He threw his massive arms out, his frustration vibrating through the small room.

I shook my head, shrinking back into my seat. "You... you went to see my brother?" I whispered, dropping my gaze to his heavy boots.

"Was this all a lie?" he demanded, pacing in front of me like a caged predator. "A set-up so you could get some dirt on me? What does Brant want?"

The sheer volume of his voice triggered every survival instinct I had built over the years of living under my brother's cruel reign. I squeezed my eyes shut, curling my shoulders forward. It was always easier if I did not see the fist coming. I braced myself for the strike, waiting for the blinding pain to explode across my face.

"MALIA!"

His thick fingers clamped around my chin, forcing my head up.

"I said you would never have to fear me," he growled, his grip firm and immovable, holding me in place but refusing to crush my jawbone. "But that was when I believed I was helping you. Open your fucking eyes and look at me!"

Tears leaked from my closed eyelids, sliding down my pale cheeks and over his rough thumb. Vesper was wrong. This was the end. He was going to kill me right here in this empty hospital.

I forced my eyes open.

Rafe towered over me, his crimson eyes blazing. But as he stared into my face, watching the tears track down my skin, the harsh lines around his mouth began to soften. The blazing fury in his broad chest faltered. He saw my raw, unfiltered terror, and he realized I was not playing a game.

"You do not know what I am talking about, do you?" he asked, his voice dropping an octave.

"No," I mumbled through my tears, my bottom lip quivering.

He let go of my chin, taking a half-step back to give me air. "The pack is empty."

"Abandoned?" I whispered, wiping my wet cheeks with the back of my long sleeve.

"No. Nothing is missing. Everything is still present in the houses, but there were no wolves anywhere. It was like they just disappeared into thin air. And trust me, my men searched everywhere. You said they do not do pack runs, but they clearly do something."

"I do not know," I gulped, trying to process the bizarre news. "I have never left the pack until yesterday. I... I never went further than the gardens." I frowned, searching my scattered memories. "But sometimes, the house would go dead silent. If my brother forgot to lock my basement door, I would sneak upstairs to steal bits of food."

Rafe narrowed his eyes, tracking my every movement. "How often?"

"Every couple of months, I think." I looked down at my shaking hands. If it were not for those strange, quiet days when the house sat deserted, I probably would have died of starvation years ago. The stolen scraps kept me alive.

"No one talks about it?" he asked.

I shook my head.

"Are you sure, Malia?"

"They might," I replied softly. "Just not when I am around. They do not talk to me."

Rafe studied me in silence. His massive chest rose and fell slowly as he processed the strange behavior of the Moonscar pack. The silence stretched between us, thick and heavy, until the tension in his broad shoulders finally cracked.

He reached out his large, calloused hand.

"Come, we are going home."

I placed my small hand in his. The second our skin touched, he hauled me up from the plastic chair. Instead of leading me toward the door, he yanked me straight into his chest. His thick arms locked around my waist, crushing me against his hard torso and squeezing the breath from my lungs in a grip that felt both threatening and fiercely protective.

"You better not be lying to me, Malia. I do not tolerate liars," he warned, his voice rumbling deep within his chest, vibrating against my own ribs.

"I promise," I whispered back.

I tried to ignore the dull ache blooming from the bruised wound on my stomach, but being pressed this close to him shut down my rational mind. Instead of averting my gaze like a good, submissive omega, I found myself staring up into his face. Even without my wolf to guide me, I felt the heavy, suffocating weight of his alpha aura wrapping around me. It flooded my senses, washing away my fear and leaving me utterly intoxicated by his raw, undeniable power.