After I Lost My Memory, I Stopped Loving My Alpha

The soft knock on my hospital room door came just as I was struggling to make sense of the pregnancy pamphlets Dr. Martinez had left behind. The words swam on the page—prenatal vitamins, folic acid, morning sickness—all foreign concepts for a woman who couldn't remember her own life.

"Come in," I called, grateful for any distraction from the medical jargon that felt like reading instructions for someone else's existence.

A petite woman with warm brown eyes and shoulder-length auburn hair peeked around the door. She wore scrubs decorated with tiny cartoon wolves, and her face lit up with a mixture of relief and concern when she saw me.

"Ivy! Thank goddess you're awake." She rushed to my bedside, her eyes immediately filling with tears. "I've been so worried. When I heard about the accident..."

I studied her face, searching for any flicker of recognition. Nothing. Just another stranger who seemed to know me intimately.

"I'm sorry," I said softly. "I don't... the doctors said I have amnesia. I don't remember anything."

Her face crumpled. "Oh, honey. It's me. Mila. Your best friend since high school." She pulled a chair close to my bed, her voice gentle but determined. "I'm going to help you remember who you are."

Mila. The name stirred something faint, like an echo in an empty room, but I couldn't grasp it.

"Tell me about myself," I said. "Who was I before the accident?"

Mila's expression grew complicated, a mixture of love and pity that made my stomach clench. "You were... you were sweet, Ivy. Too sweet for your own good. Always putting others first, always believing the best in people even when they didn't deserve it."

She reached for my hand, her touch warm and familiar in a way that made my chest ache. "Especially when it came to Ryker."

At the mention of his name, that presence in my mind stirred, but remained silent.

"What happened between us?" I asked. "I can feel him in my head sometimes, but he seems... angry."

Mila's jaw tightened. "He should be ashamed, not angry." Her voice carried a protective edge I hadn't expected. "Ivy, you need to know the truth about what kind of man your mate really is."

She took a deep breath, as if steeling herself for what came next. "You found out you were pregnant eight weeks ago. You went to tell him at Eclipse—that's the pack's VIP club. But when you got there..."

Mila's voice trailed off, her eyes filled with the kind of pain that comes from witnessing a friend's heartbreak.

"What did I find?" I pressed, though part of me dreaded the answer.

"He was with Vanessa. His ex-girlfriend. She'd just come back from Paris, and there they were, all over each other like you meant nothing." Mila's hands clenched into fists. "You tried to tell him about the pregnancy, but he humiliated you in front of the entire pack. Called what you had 'temporary.' Said you were 'forgettable.'"

The words hit me like physical blows. Forgettable. Even without my memories, I could feel the devastation that word must have caused.

"He rejected you publicly, Ivy. Made you look pathetic in front of everyone. And you were carrying his twins." Mila's voice cracked. "You left that club heartbroken, and then..."

"The accident," I finished quietly.

"The accident." She nodded. "And now he has the audacity to act like the victim? To be angry with you?"

I stared down at my hands, trying to process this revelation. The man whose voice echoed in my mind had publicly humiliated me while I was pregnant with his children. The father of my babies had chosen another woman.

"Tell me about Vanessa," I said, my voice steadier than I felt.

Mila's expression turned venomous. "Vanessa Sterling. Alpha's daughter from the neighboring Crescent Moon pack. Model, socialite, everything you're not." She paused, seeming to realize how harsh that sounded. "I mean, everything the old you thought you weren't."

"What do you mean?"

"You always saw yourself as plain, ordinary. Just an omega who got lucky enough to catch an Alpha's attention. But Ivy..." Mila leaned forward, her eyes intense. "You were never the problem. He was."

As if summoned by our conversation, I felt Ryker's presence strengthen in my mind. *Ivy, we need to talk.*

I ignored him, focusing on Mila instead. "Where is she now? Vanessa?"

"Still around, unfortunately. Acting like she's already Luna of the pack." Mila's lip curled with disgust. "Prancing around town like she owns the place."

Something cold and sharp crystallized in my chest. This woman—this Vanessa—had stolen my mate while I carried his children. Had watched him humiliate me and done nothing but gloat.

The old Ivy might have accepted that. Might have believed she deserved it.

But I wasn't the old Ivy. I was someone new, someone forged in the white-hot crucible of forgotten pain and present clarity.

"I want to see her," I said suddenly.

Mila blinked in surprise. "What?"

"I want to see this woman who thinks she can take what's mine." The words came out harder than I intended, carrying a strength I didn't know I possessed.

*Ivy, what are you planning?* Ryker's mental voice carried a note of concern.

I smiled, and even I could feel how different it was from whatever expression the old Ivy might have worn. This smile had teeth.

"I'm planning to introduce myself," I said aloud, knowing Ryker could hear me. "The real me."

Mila stared at me with something approaching awe. "Who are you right now?"

"I'm the woman I should have been all along." I pushed myself up straighter in the hospital bed, ignoring the protests from my healing body. "Mila, I need you to help me get out of here."

"The doctors said you need at least another week—"

"The doctors can say whatever they want." My voice carried an authority I'd never heard from myself before. "But I have twins to protect and a conversation to have with the woman who thinks she can chase other women's husbands."

Mila's grin was fierce and proud. "Now that sounds like a plan I can get behind."

*Ivy, don't do anything rash,* Ryker's voice pleaded in my mind.

I closed my eyes and spoke directly to that mental connection, my thoughts sharp as broken glass. "I want to see you, Ryker. Face to face. It's time we had a real conversation about our future."

The silence that followed was deafening.

When I opened my eyes, Mila was watching me with something like reverence. "I don't know who you are now, Ivy, but I like her a hell of a lot better than who you used to be."

So did I. And it was time everyone else met her too.