Melissa’s pov

Two days later, the fever finally broke. My body was still frail, trembling whenever I tried to stand, but the haze that clouded my thoughts had lifted. Clara fussed endlessly, feeding me with broth and bread, but for the first time since Leon’s visit, I asked her to leave me alone.

She hesitated, searching my face. “Melissa, you still look pale.”

“I will be fine,” I murmured. “Please. I just need a little time with my own thoughts.”

She pressed her lips together but obeyed, leaving the room with a reluctant glance back. When the latch clicked shut, silence settled, broken only by the slow crackle of the fire.

That was when the memory resurfaced, an echo of my father’s voice, low and serious.

“One day, Melissa, there may come a time when you stand alone. When you cannot trust Marcel. When you cannot trust the council. Not even the Beta. On that day, you must remember Eden’s Gold.”

The words returned like a lightning strike, sending a shiver through me. I had been a child when he first spoke them, too young to grasp their weight. Later, on the eve of his death, he had shown me a single parchment, sealed with the Alpha’s crest, its contents marked “For Alpha Eyes Only.” He had whispered of treasures, of danger, of something older than the pack itself. Then, as though fearing betrayal even from his own blood, he had hidden it away.

My heart pounded. Leon’s venom still rang in my ears, his confidence, his smug certainty that Marcel and Linda had secured their hold. But if my father’s warnings were true… then there was a weapon yet hidden in my hands.

Weak as I was, I forced myself from the bed. My legs wobbled, nearly buckling beneath me, but with sheer will, I crossed the room and dropped to my knees before the small chest I had kept hidden beneath the floorboards. My fingers shook as I pried the wooden plank loose, heart hammering. Dust rose in a faint cloud. And there it was, the bundle, bound in black cord, untouched.

I lifted it as though it were a newborn child, carried it to the bed, and carefully untied the cord. The parchments inside smelled of age and pine, my father’s scent clinging faintly still. Tears blurred my vision before I even read the words.

“To the Alpha of Pack, bearer of my bloodline or rightful successor,” the letter began in my father’s strong, slanted hand. “Within these pages lies the truth of Eden’s Gold. Guard it, for it is the root from which our strength and ruin alike may grow.”

My throat closed. I traced the ink with trembling fingers-Eden’s Gold.

The letters told a story older than my family’s rule. Centuries ago, when our ancestors first carved into the wilderness, they had discovered veins of gold buried beneath the mountain’s roots. But this was no ordinary metal. The shamans had named it Eden’s Gold—not merely because of its brilliance, but because it carried an energy that strengthened wolves who carried the Alpha’s blood. A gift from the earth, they believed, placed in our hands by the Moon herself.

But it was volatile. Tainted or misused, Eden’s Gold became poison, corrupting wolves, turning them half-feral, half-mad. Battles had been fought over it, secret wars waged in shadows. To protect the pack, my ancestors had sealed the treasure in a cavern deep beneath the northern cliffs, warded with blood-runes that only the Alpha could unlock.

My father’s words, “Should the veins be disturbed, should greed outweigh wisdom, the pack will fracture. Beware those who would see it mined for power, for riches. Eden’s Gold binds us together, but tampered with, it destroys all it touches.”

A chill swept over me.

Leon.

Of course, he knew of it. He had grown up alongside my father; perhaps he had guessed at the treasure even if he was never shown the letters. And Linda, if she were carrying Leon’s child… what better way to secure power than through both heir and gold?

My hands trembled as I turned another page. My father had drawn a map, cryptic, sketched with mountains, rivers, and an X marked in faded ink. The northern cliffs. He had even marked the path: “Enter by the river’s mouth at twilight; follow the echoing song of stone.”

I pressed the parchment to my chest, fighting the tears that threatened to fall.

Father… you knew this day might come, didn’t you? You left this not for Marcel, not for Leon… but for me.

The thought struck deep, igniting both grief and strength. He had believed in me, even then, when I was young and uncertain. He had prepared me, entrusted me with this terrible knowledge.

I remembered the last thing he had told me that day, in hushed tones, his hand on my shoulder.

“If ever you are cornered, Melissa, if darkness rises from within our own walls, Eden’s Gold is both shield and weapon. But beware-its light burns as easily as it saves. Choose wisely, daughter. Choose with the heart of a true Alpha.”

I curled forward over the papers, my shoulders shaking with quiet sobs.

But I was not broken. Not yet. My body was weak, my soul scarred, but inside me, I knew I had to keep moving.

I pressed my lips to the parchment, as though it were his hand. “I will guard it. I will rise, even if I have to crawl from this bed inch by inch.

Leon thinks that I am broken, Linda believes that I am outplayed, and Marcel feels he has nothing to fear from me.

But thankfully, my father had left me the truth.

I wiped my tears and whispered into the silence, “You tried to bury me. But I am still here. And with this… I will rise again. For my father, for myself, for Eden pack, and for every wolf who calls this pack home.”

The wolf inside me lifted her head, a low growl rumbling in the corners of my soul.

The smoldering fire I had felt two nights ago now roared, alive again. Weak though my body remained, my spirit had awakened.

I folded the letters carefully, retied the cord, and put them back into the chest and under the floorboard for safekeeping. Tomorrow, perhaps, Clara would help me walk to the cliffs. Tomorrow, perhaps, I would stand again.

But tonight, with the secret pressed close to my heart, I lay awake, staring into the fire, whispering my father’s words to myself until they became a vow.

And the vow carried me into the night:

I will not fade. I will not wither. I am Melissa, daughter of Alpha Roran. And I will reclaim what is mine.