A Warrior’s Second Chance novel Chapter 343

ROMAN

The moment Alpha Alexander’s body began to change, something inside me snapped.

One second I was watching him.

The next-

My chest tightened violently.

Air refused to fill my lungs.

Bone shifted, and fur erupted across his skin. A massive wolf now faced me.

My vision tunneled.

The world tilted.

A sharp, crushing pressure exploded inside my head.

Something was wrong.

Very wrong.

My heart slammed against my ribs as panic surged through my body without warning.

The wolf.

The sight of it.

Something about it felt horribly familiar.

My hand flew to my head.

A violent ringing filled my ears.

Then the images came.

Fragments.

Running.

Branches whipping against my face as I forced my legs to move faster.

The sound of paws behind me.

Many of them.

Closing in.

My breathing became ragged as the sensation returned so vividly it felt like I was there again.

I could hear them.

Snarling.

Growling.

Hunting.

My heart pounded harder.

No.

No, no-

The forest closed in around me in the memory. Shadows moved between the trees–shapes I couldn’t fully see but knew were there.

Wolves.

They were chasing me.

I could feel it.

The terror.

The certainty that if they caught me-

My stomach twisted violently.

My knees buckled.

“No-”

Then darkness swallowed everything.

The first thing I noticed when I woke up was the pounding in my head.

A dull, relentless ache that pulsed behind my eyes.

I groaned softly and shifted, the movement sending another wave of pain through my skull.

My eyelids felt heavy, but I forced them open.

The ceiling above me slowly came into focus.

My room.

Confusion settled in immediately.

How did I get here?

The last thing I remembered was standing in the training ground, watching the Alpha shift.

After that-

I pushed myself up slightly, wincing as the motion made my head throb harder.

Something had happened.

I knew it had.

I just couldn’t remember what.

I pressed a hand against my temple, trying to force my mind to cooperate.

Think.

What happened after the shift?

The moment I asked the question, something cracked open in my mind.

A sharp breath left my lungs.

Images flooded in.

The forest.

Running.

The sound of wolves behind me.

My fingers tightened in the sheets as the fragments grew clearer.

They had been chasing me.

I was sure of it now.

The fear I had felt earlier hadn’t been imagination.

It had been memory.

Real memory.

My chest tightened again as more pieces forced their way through.

Claws.

Teeth.

Pain exploding through my body as they slammed into me from behind.

I could almost feel it again–the weight of them, the violence of the attack.

They had dragged me down.

Torn into me.

Left me bleeding on the forest floor.

My breathing quickened as the realization settled heavily in my chest.

That was how I ended up here.

At Blood Crescent.

I had been running.

Running for my life… trying to survive.

But where did they come from?

I tried to push the memory further-

Everything went blank.

Completely blank.

No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t see what had happened before the chase.

Why they were after me.

Who they were.

Or where I had come from.

It was like the memory had been cut cleanly in half.

I exhaled slowly, my head spinning.

Then the door opened at that exact moment.

Luna Faye stepped inside.

She paused the instant she saw I was awake.

Concern flashed across her face as she moved toward the bed.

“Roman,” she said gently. “How are you feeling?”

My heart hadn’t fully slowed yet.

I looked at her.

“I remember,” I repeated quietly.

Her expression shifted immediately.

“Remember what?”

I swallowed hard, trying to steady my breathing.

“The woods,” I said.

My voice sounded strange to my own ears.

“They were chasing me.”

Faye’s brows drew together slightly.

“Who was chasing you?”

I shook my head slowly.

“I don’t know. But they were werewolves.” I was sure of that now.

The frustration in my chest returned instantly.

“I can see them clearly. But there were many of them.”

I paused, forcing myself to push through the memory again.

“They weren’t just chasing me,” I said.

“They were hunting me.”

Faye remained silent, letting me speak.

“I ran,” I continued quietly. “Through the forest. I kept running, but they were faster. And I was

outnumbered.”

My fingers tightened again as the sensation returned.

“They caught me.”

My voice dropped lower.

“They attacked me.”

For a moment neither of us spoke.

Then I exhaled slowly and shook my head again.

“But before that…”

I pressed my fingers against my temple.

“It’s blank.”

Completely blank.

“I don’t remember where I came from.”

My voice softened.

“I don’t even know why they were after me.”

I looked up at her again, unease settling in my chest.

“But I know one thing.”

Faye waited.

“It wasn’t random… they knew who I was.”

The certainty of that feeling sat heavily in my stomach.

“They wanted me dead.”

STONEVALE PACK

Darren had never liked uncertainty.

Control was the foundation of power. Every step toward the Alpha seat had been carefully arranged–every

Darren turned.

His daughter leaned casually against the doorframe, arms folded loosely across her chest.

Lina.

She had inherited much of Darren’s sharpness–both in mind and in tongue.

“How long have you been standing there?” Darren asked.

“Long enough,” Lina replied with a shrug. “Long enough to hear about my poor cousin Roman again.”

A smirk tugged at her mouth.

“I always wondered how long he’d last outside the territory if he ever stepped outside Stonevale… pathetic.”

Darren’s gaze hardened slightly.

“He should have lasted zero days,” Darren muttered.

Lina pushed herself away from the doorway and wandered further into the room.

“You’re assuming he lasted longer even after your wolves finished him,” she pointed out lightly. “Which isgenerous of you.”

Darren said nothing.

Lina tilted her head.

“Even if–by some miracle–Roman survived that attack,” she continued, her tone dripping with amusement, “what exactly would he do?”

She laughed softly.

“He was barely a werewolf to begin with.”

Her eyes gleamed with mockery.

“No wolf. No strength. No allies.”

She waved a dismissive hand.

“He was pathetic.”

Darren exhaled slowly.

“And even if he somehow crawled away,” Lina continued, “he still wouldn’t remember anything.”

She glanced back at her father.

“The council made sure of that.”

Darren’s eyes flickered.

The ritual.

The spiritual severing.

Roman’s ties to Stonevale had been cut completely.

Memory. Identity. Pack bond.

All gone.

Lina’s smile widened.

“So tell me,” she said lightly, “how exactly is Roman supposed to come back and challenge you?”

Darren didn’t answer immediately.

Logically, she was right.

Even if Roman had survived-

He wouldn’t remember Stonevale.

He wouldn’t remember his parents.

He wouldn’t remember being the Alpha’s son.

He certainly wouldn’t know Darren was responsible for any of it.

And yet…

That nagging feeling still remained.

Darren walked slowly back to his seat.

Something wasn’t right.

He could feel it.

And he had learned long ago that instincts were rarely wrong.

Behind him, Lina yawned lightly.

“You should stop worrying,” she said. “You already won.”

Darren’s jaw tightened.

No.

Not yet.

Victory wasn’t real until it was sealed.

Until it was recognized.

Until no one could question it.

Enough waiting. Enough hesitation.

The elders had delayed long enough.

The pack had already begun treating him as Alpha.

Now it was time to make it official.

“Lina,” Darren said.

She looked up.

“Yes?”

“Send word to Janet,” Darren instructed.

A slow smile spread across Lina’s face. She knew what it meant whenever her father sent for the pack witch.

Lina smirked, finally understanding.

Darren’s fingers clasped loosely together on his lap.

“Before the full moon rises,” he said quietly, “Stonevale will no longer have an acting Alpha.”

Lina’s grin sharpened.

“Say it, Father.”

Darren’s lips curved faintly.

“Instead,” he said, “Stonevale will have its rightful leader.”

Alpha Darren.