Monster's Second Chance

POV: LUCY

I had learned a long time ago that desperation had a smell.

Sometimes it was the stale smoke clinging to the curtains of our cabin because I had been trying to make the last bundle of firewood last another week. Sometimes it was the faint sourness beneath my own skin after counting the same handful of coins three times and pretending the number might somehow change. Lately, though, desperation smelled like medicine. The bitter scent of crushed herbs and expensive tinctures that had become part of our kitchen, our clothes, our lives.

Today, it smelled like wet earth, pine, and the enormous black gates of the Thornback Pack.

I stopped in front of them and tightened my fingers around the strap of my worn leather bag.

For a moment, I considered turning around.

It was an absurd thought. I couldn’t go back. Not really.

There was barely enough food in the cabin for another few days, and my mother’s medication was almost finished. My sister had been trying to stretch what little we had left, cutting tablets in half when she thought I wasn’t looking, as if that would somehow make the medicine last longer. I had pretended not to notice because I didn’t know what else to do.

I’d taken every job I could find since the old wolf I had been caring for died. I cleaned houses. I washed clothes. I helped in kitchens, carried supplies, watched children when someone needed an extra pair of hands. I had even spent two miserable weeks scrubbing the floors of a tavern until my back hurt so badly I could barely sleep.

None of it was enough.

My training as a physiotherapist should have given me options. In another life, perhaps it would have. But the packs close enough to our cabin weren’t hiring, and the ones farther away expected me to relocate. I couldn’t. My mother couldn’t travel easily, and my sister was still too young to be left alone with her.

So when I saw the position at Thornback, I applied.

There was only one problem.

The patient was Aldric Thornback.

I had heard the stories.

Everyone had.

Once, Aldric Thornback had been one of the most respected alphas in the region. Strong, fair, intelligent. His pack had prospered under him, and people spoke about the future of Thornback as though it were something inevitable and bright.

Then came the war.

And afterward, there was the Monster.

I didn’t know how much of the stories were true. I only knew that every person who had spoken about Aldric seemed to lower their voice when they reached that part.

He was bitter.

Cruel.

Impossible.

He had survived injuries that should have killed him, and apparently he had spent the years afterward making everyone around him regret that he had.

Wonderful.

Exactly what I needed.

I took a breath and walked toward the gate.

The smaller entrance opened after the guard checked my name against the appointment list. His eyes moved over my clothes, my worn boots, and the bag at my side before returning to my face.

“Physiotherapist?”

“Yes.”

“You’re young.”

I almost smiled.

“And you’re observant.”

His mouth twitched before he caught himself. “Beta Ambrose is expecting you.”

“Thank you.”

I stepped through the gates.

The difference between the Thornback territory and the rogue lands where I lived was immediate. There was order here. Marked paths, well-maintained houses, people moving with purpose. Somewhere deeper inside the territory, children were laughing.

It was almost painfully normal.

I had expected the territory of a monster to look darker.

Instead, it looked like a place where people belonged.

I followed the directions the guard gave me until I reached a large stone-and-timber house overlooking the valley. It wasn’t a castle, despite the way some of the stories had made Thornback sound, but it was impressive enough that I stopped at the bottom of the steps and looked up.

I reminded myself why I was there.

My mother.

My sister.

The medicine.

The pantry.

Then I climbed the stairs and knocked.

The door opened almost immediately.

The woman standing there looked enough like the photograph I’d seen in the pack records to make me certain she was Ambrose Thornback. She had dark brown hair falling over her shoulders and green eyes, the same striking color I had seen in pictures of Aldric. Her features were similar too, though softer, and there was something warm in her expression that I hadn’t expected.

“Lucy Beckett?”

“Yes.”

“I’m Ambrose.”

She smiled and stepped aside.

“Come in. You’ve been standing outside looking like you’re considering running away.”

“I was considering it.”

She laughed.

“I like you already.”

I followed her inside.

Warmth surrounded me immediately, along with the smell of coffee, cedar, and something savory cooking somewhere deeper in the house. I tried not to stare as she led me into a sitting room with tall windows overlooking the forest.

There were photographs on the walls.

A family.

An older man I assumed had been the previous alpha.

A younger Ambrose.

And then him.

Aldric.

I stopped without meaning to.

He stood beside his father in the photograph, younger than he was now, his dark hair shorter and neatly styled. His shoulders were straight, his expression calm, and there was something almost startlingly gentle in his eyes.

He didn’t look like a monster.

He looked like a man who believed the world had given him something worth protecting.

Ambrose noticed where I was looking.

“That was taken shortly after Aldric became alpha.”

“He looks happy.”

Her expression changed.

Only slightly.

But I noticed.

“He was.”

I looked away.

Ambrose gestured toward one of the chairs. “Sit.”

I did, placing my bag beside my feet while she sat across from me with the folder containing my application.

“I’ve read your qualifications,” she said. “They’re impressive.”

“Thank you.”

“You trained as a physiotherapist?”

“Yes. Rehabilitation and mobility injuries were my primary focus. I also worked with nerve damage, chronic pain, post-traumatic recovery, and long-term neurological injuries.”

Her eyes sharpened with interest.

“Silver poisoning?”

“Some experience.”

“Most healers don’t know how to treat it.”

“Because they focus on removing the silver.”

“And you don’t?”

“Removing it is only the beginning.” I folded my hands in my lap. “The body can keep reacting long after the poison is gone. The nervous system can remain damaged. Muscles compensate for injuries. The wolf does the same thing. If one side of the body isn’t functioning properly, the other side starts carrying too much of the load. Eventually, everything hurts.”

Ambrose watched me for a moment.

“You really know what you’re talking about.”

“I do.”

“And you understand that my brother is difficult.”

“I was told.”

“By whom?”

“Everyone.”

She laughed again, but there was sadness beneath it this time.

“That’s fair.”

I looked down at my hands.

“I don’t need him to like me.”

Ambrose raised an eyebrow.

“I need him to let me do my job.”

That seemed to surprise her.

“My brother doesn’t want rehabilitation.”

“I gathered that.”

“He doesn’t want help.”

“That’s unfortunate.”

“He doesn’t want anyone touching him.”

That made me pause.

Ambrose’s expression softened.

“The silver damaged more than his muscles. One side of his body was affected far worse than the other. His nerves, his balance, his ability to shift properly. He has chronic pain. Some days are better than others. Some days he can’t stand for long at all.”

I listened carefully.

“Then he needs rehabilitation.”

“He needs a miracle.”

“No.” I shook my head. “He needs time.”

Ambrose stared at me.

“And patience,” I added. “Though I’m guessing he doesn’t have much of that.”

“He doesn’t.”

Neither did I.

Not anymore.

I thought of my mother’s medicine waiting in a half-empty bottle at home. I thought of my sister pretending everything was fine. I thought of the old wolf whose house I’d cleaned for months after his health declined, because caring for him had been the only reliable money I’d had.

Then I thought about the salary attached to this position.

It was more than I had made in months.

I could pay for my mother’s medicine.

I could buy food.

I could keep the cabin.

I could keep my family together.

“I’ll take the position.”

Ambrose blinked.

“You haven’t met him.”

“I don’t need to.”

“You may change your mind.”

“I won’t.”

“You’re very confident.”

“No.” I looked at her. “I’m desperate.”

The honesty seemed to catch her off guard.

I didn’t apologize for it.

“My family lives close to the border,” I explained. “I need to stay nearby. My mother isn’t well, and my sister takes care of her when I’m working, but she can’t do everything. I can’t relocate, and I can’t spend hours traveling every day.”

“You could find work somewhere else.”

“I’ve tried.”

That was the simplest answer.

Ambrose studied me for several seconds before slowly closing the folder.

“I think you’ll do well here.”

I wasn’t sure whether she meant it.

Then she stood.

“One more thing.”

I rose too.

“My brother may try to make you leave.”

“I won’t.”

“He may insult you.”

“I’ve been insulted before.”

“He may threaten you.”

I hesitated.

“That would be new.”

Ambrose smiled faintly.

“He won’t actually hurt you.”

“I hope not.”

“He’s angry. He’s in pain. And he doesn’t know what to do with either of those things anymore.”

Something in the way she said it made me look at her.

For the first time, I wondered what Aldric Thornback had been before the war.

Not the Monster.

The man in the photograph.

The one who had looked like he had a future.

Ambrose walked toward the hallway.

“Come on.”

I picked up my bag.

“Where are we going?”

“To meet your patient.”

My stomach tightened.

I followed her through the house, past quiet rooms and long windows that overlooked the forest. The farther we walked, the quieter everything became.

Then I felt it.

Not recognition.

Not attraction.

Nothing I could name.

Just a strange awareness of pain.

It seemed to hang in the air around the closed double doors ahead of us, heavy enough that I almost felt it beneath my own skin.

I swallowed and adjusted the strap of my bag.

Ambrose stopped beside the doors.

“He knows you’re here.”

I nodded.

“And he’s furious.”

Of course he was.

I thought about my mother’s medicine.

My sister.

The cabin.

The empty pantry.

Then I took a breath.

I had come too far to turn around now.

Ambrose reached for the handle.

The doors opened.

And I stepped inside to meet the Monster.