Chapter three: Blood On The Border

The pack house was deathly quiet at three in the morning, but the lamps in the Alpha study were still burning.

Kadence stood behind the heavy mahogany desk, staring down at a map of the Thornwell territory. The phantom pain in his chest hadn't faded. It had settled into a low, throbbing burn, like a hot ember lodged under his ribs. Every time he took a deep breath, his wolf snarled in the dark corners of his mind, refusing to settle, refusing to obey.

You threw her away, the beast whispered repeatedly. You left our female in the dark.

"Shut up," Kadence muttered, rubbing his temples.

The door to the study swung open without a knock. Elder Tobias stepped inside, his expression sour, holding a stack of leather-bound financial and border reports.

"You're home late," Tobias said, sweeping a sharp, critical gaze over Kadence's disheveled suit jacket and dark eye circles. "Ronan said you went out to 'clear your head.' I hope you weren't following in Garrison's footsteps."

Kadence’s jaw locked. The insult hit the fresh wound of his guilt like salt. "Watch your mouth, Tobias."

"I am watching this pack bleed," Tobias countered, stepping up to the desk. "Three rogue sightings near the eastern border tonight alone. The Silvercrest border strip is decaying because we lack a full Alpha pair to reinforce the territorial wards. And you have twenty-nine days left."

"I am well aware of the calendar," Kadence growled, his voice dropping an octave into Alpha authority.

"Seraphine’s father called me an hour ago," Tobias continued, ignoring the dangerous shift in the air. "He is willing to overlook your... hesitation. If you announce the match by Friday, the Castellane pack will merge their border patrols with ours. It solves the rogue issue overnight. Stop chasing a fairy tale, Kadence. Your fated mate isn't coming."

Kadence’s hand slammed onto the desk, cracking the polished wood right down the middle.

"Get out," Kadence breathed, his irises flashing pure gold.

Tobias stared at the crack in the wood, sneered, and turned on his heel. "Friday, Kadence. Or the council calls a vote of no confidence."

The door clicked shut. Kadence fell back into his leather chair, burying his face in his hands.

Friday. He had four days to accept a political union that would lock him into a loveless, hollow bond for the rest of his life. And deep down, he knew why he couldn't bring himself to say yes to Seraphine.

It was because a pair of dark, defiant human eyes and the scent of crushed lilies were burned into the back of his eyelids.

Meanwhile, five miles away at the edge of the border district, Asha was trying to survive the night.

The pain in her chest had eased from an agonizing stab to a dull, strange ache, but her nerves were shot. She stood in the alleyway behind The Velvet Hide, throwing a heavy bag of trash into the dumpster. The night air was unnaturally cold, thick with a strange, heavy fog that smelled faintly of rotting leaves and ozone.

She pulled her thin jacket tighter around her shoulders, shivering.

"Two more weeks," she whispered to herself, trying to focus on the numbers. "Two more weeks of tips and I can clear the back rent. Just keep your head down."

A twig snapped at the edge of the tree line bordering the parking lot.

Asha froze. "Who's there?"

No answer. Only the sound of heavy, uneven breathing coming from the shadows of the woods.

"Look, if you're a customer, the club is closed," Asha called out, her hand instinctively dropping to the small canister of pepper spray in her pocket. "Security is right inside."

A deep, wet growl vibrated through the fog, a sound far too massive, far too animalistic to come from a dog.

Out of the tree line stepped a creature that made Asha’s blood run completely cold.

It looked like a wolf, but it was the size of a small car. Its fur was matted with dried blood and dirt, its teeth yellow and dripping with foam, and its eyes burned with a mindless, feral red light. It wasn't natural. It was a monster straight out of a nightmare.

Asha’s brain stalled. That’s impossible. That’s not real. It can’t be real.

The rogue wolf lowered its massive head, fixating its crimson eyes on Asha. It caught her scent in the air, and suddenly, its ears pinned back. The monster let out a strangely sharp, curious whine. It didn't just smell a human.

It smelled the lingering, silver trace of an Alpha's mark broken upon her skin, and beneath that, something far older, far sweeter, dormant in her very blood.

The rogue lunged.

Asha didn't think. Her survival instincts took over. She turned and bolted for the back door of the club, screaming at the top of her lungs.

"TRINA! SAM! OPEN THE DOOR!"

Her fingers slapped against the heavy metal crash-bar of the door, but before she could throw her weight into it, a massive, fur-covered mass slammed into the wall right beside her head. Bricks shattered, showering her in dust. A giant, clawed paw swiped across her back, catching the fabric of her denim jacket and ripping her off her feet.

Asha hit the asphalt hard, rolling onto her back, her heart hammering violently in her ears.

The giant monster loomed over her, its jaws snapping inches from her face, saliva dripping onto her cheek. Asha pulled the pepper spray from her pocket and sprayed it directly into the beast's glowing red eyes.

The rogue howled in rage, thrashing its massive head, its tail whipping around and smashing the alley light. The alley went pitch black.

Asha scrambled backward on her hands and knees, terror choking her throat, backing up against the chain-link fence. The monster recovered instantly, its yellow teeth bared as it stepped closer, pinning her against the wire.

She closed her eyes, raising her hands to protect her face, realizing with sickening clarity that she was going to die in a filthy alley behind a border club.

Kadence.

The name slipped out of her subconscious before she could stop it, an instinctual, desperate call through the broken thread of a bond she didn't even understand.

Five miles away in his study, Kadence suddenly bolted upright in his chair.

A sharp, agonizing shock tore through his chest, not a dull ache, but a sheer, electrifying flare of terror that didn't belong to him.

His wolf slammed against his ribs, roaring so loudly his desk lamps flickered.

OUR MATE IS IN DANGER.