Chapter 5

“Hello?” Nova snapped. “I’m sitting right here. Can someone explain to me what the hell is going on?”

Both men looked at her Then the big Alpha sighed heavily and dragged a hand down his face.

“It’s not good,” he admitted.

Nova gave a dry laugh despite the fear twisting in her stomach. “Yeah, I figured that out from the expressions you two are making. So what is it? Am I going to die?” Her voice tightened. “Or am I going to turn into one of those things?”

“No,” the doctor said immediately.

Then after a short pause, “And yes.”

Nova stared at him.

“…What?”

The doctor rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. “You are not dying.”

“But you are infected,” Kael finished grimly.

Nova’s pulse pounded loudly in her ears.

“No.”

Kael held her gaze steadily. “The Hollowfang infection is inside your system.”

Nova immediately shoved herself off the bed despite the pain shooting through her leg. “No. No, absolutely not.”

“You need to calm down,” the doctor warned carefully.

“Calm down?” Nova barked out a laugh that sounded dangerously close to panic. “You’re telling me I’ve got monster rabies crawling through my veins and you want me to calm down?”

The blackened veins around the wound seemed darker now Nova’s stomach churned violently She had seen this before People infected during the early outbreak.

The fevers.

The screaming.

Bones breaking apart while bodies twisted into monsters She remembered the sounds more than anything.

“Am I going to become a Hollowfang?” she whispered.

The room fell silent.

Nova’s breathing quickened instantly. “Answer me.”

Kael stepped closer slowly. “No.”

“How do you know that?”

“Because the infection is moving too slowly.”

Nova frowned.

The doctor nodded carefully. “That’s what’s unnatural about this. Hollowfang infections spread rapidly through humans. Within an hour most victims are already deteriorating mentally and physically.”

“But you’re not,” Kael said quietly.

Nova looked down at her hands.

The doctor continued studying the dark veins spreading beneath her skin. “Your body is resisting the infection somehow.”

“That’s impossible,” Nova muttered.

“Yes,” the doctor agreed softly. “It should be.”

Kael’s silver eyes never left her face.

“There were stories after the Red Moon,” he said carefully. “About people who survived bites.”

Nova looked up sharply “Survived?”

“They didn’t fully turn,” the doctor explained. “Most packs thought they were myths. Human-wolf hybrids. Immune carriers. Failed evolutions.”

Nova stared at them both like they’d lost their minds “You expect me to believe that?”

Kael’s expression hardened slightly. “I expect you to believe what’s happening to your body.”

Nova opened her mouth to argue again before pain suddenly ripped through her leg She gasped sharply, grabbing onto the side of the bed as dizziness slammed into her.

Kael reached her instantly Strong hands caught her before she hit the floor.

Nova tensed immediately against his chest The warmth coming from him was ridiculous.

“Easy,” he said quietly.

“I don’t…” She swallowed hard as another wave of pain hit her. “I don’t understand.”

Kael looked down at her for a long moment Neither did he Because five years ago Nova Reyes was supposed to be dead.

Instead she was standing in front of him alive, infected, and somehow surviving something no human should survive.

His wolf whimpered painfully beneath his skin as he stared at the girl he thought he’d lost the night the outbreak began.

The memory still haunted him.

Fire swallowing the city.

Humans screaming in the streets.

The first transformations ripping through the population like a nightmare come alive.

And Nova disappearing into the chaos before he could reach her.

Kael had searched for months afterward.

Long after everyone else gave up.

Long after they started calling him insane for chasing ghosts through infected territories.

Yet here she was.

Breathing in his arms.

And looking at him like he was a stranger.

Kael forced the emotions back down before they could surface on his face.

“Doc,” he said roughly, “do you have anything that can help her for now?”

The doctor hesitated.

That hesitation alone made Kael’s wolf immediately uneasy.

The older man rubbed his jaw thoughtfully before finally speaking. “I’ve been working on something.”

Kael narrowed his eyes. “Working on what exactly?”

“A suppressant.”

Nova blinked weakly against Kael’s chest while the doctor crossed toward his medical bag.

“It was originally meant for early-stage infection cases,” the doctor explained. “Something to slow mutation before it fully spread to the brain.”

“And it works?” Kael asked sharply.

The doctor gave him a tired look. “If it worked properly, do you really think this world would still look like this?”

Silence.

The doctor sighed heavily and pulled a small metal vial from his bag. Dark silver liquid swirled inside it

“I’ve only tested it on infected wolves,” he admitted carefully. “Never a human.”

Nova immediately stiffened. “Absolutely not.”

Kael looked down at her. “Nova.”

“No.” She shoved weakly against his chest. “You are not pumping mystery chemicals into me.”

“You’re already infected.”

“That doesn’t mean I want to become somebody’s science project!”

The doctor exhaled slowly before tightening his grip around the metal vial.

“Alpha,” he said carefully, “you’re going to have to hold her down.”

Nova’s eyes widened instantly.

“The hell you are!”

She twisted sharply out of Kael’s grasp and stumbled backward across the room. Pain shot through her injured leg, nearly sending her crashing into the wall, but panic kept her upright.

“No!” she snapped, breathing hard. “Absolutely not. I survived this long without being tied to some damn table.”

“We’re trying to help you,” the doctor said.

“You don’t even know what that thing will do to me!”

“We also don’t know what the infection will do if it keeps spreading.”

Nova opened her mouth to argue again before another violent wave of pain tore through her body.

She cried out sharply, gripping the side of the table as her knees nearly buckled.

Nova gasped in horror as dark veins crawled briefly higher along her throat before fading again.

Kael moved toward her instantly.

“Nova.”

“Don’t touch me,” she hissed through clenched teeth.

But her body betrayed her immediately when her legs gave out.

Kael caught her before she hit the floor again.

This time she struggled harder.

Panic crashed through her chest as she shoved against him weakly.

“Let me go!”

His arms tightened around her carefully, not enough to hurt, just enough to stop her from falling apart completely.

“You need to stay still.”

“I said let go of me!”

Her heartbeat was spiraling now.

Kael could smell her fear saturating the room.

His wolf snarled viciously beneath his skin at the scent alone.

“Kael,” the doctor warned quietly.

Kael looked toward him sharply.

“If her heart rate keeps spiking like this, it’ll accelerate the mutation.”

Nova heard that.

The pure terror that crossed her face nearly shattered something inside him.

“No…” she whispered.

Kael looked down at her trembling form in his arms.

His mate was infected.

And he had no idea if he was about to save her…

Or lose her all over again.

Kael closed his eyes briefly before making the decision.

“Do it.”

Nova immediately started fighting again.”don’t you dare”

“I’m sorry.”