Bite Me Harder, Alpha

Most people in Harrowgate know better than to mess with werewolves.Not me.They dominate my hometown. The packs control all illegal activities. If something illegal happens in Harrowgate, you can bet a werewolf is behind it or getting a cut.Some people pretend not to see it. Others complain that they have too much power. Me? I want to understand them.Modern anthropology has been most intrigued by werewolves since the emergence of the supernatural world twenty years ago. They recover from fatal injuries, transform quickly, and are inherently dangerous.Unlike humans, werewolves resort to violence. They struggle for dominance, control, and partners.And I am obsessed.My study of them is similar to how others study civilizations. I am familiar with pack hierarchy, rankings, and Alphas. I'm writing about post-Exposure integration and its mythological roots. My advisor believes I'm brilliant. My family believes I'm crazy.And the Revenant Pack? They're the apex predators of this city.

The music dies mid-beat.I push up on my toes, trying to see. People are running for the exits, others frozen in place, their wide, horrified stares fixed on the back of the club.Oh God.A werewolf, torn apart mid-shift. The body is caught between forms, human limbs twisted at wrong angles, fur matted with blood, bones exposed like someone ripped the wolf out from the inside. Werewolves don't die like this. They're not supposed to. They heal, survive, and are untouchable.This one isn't.Something stole that from him, and I've seen this before.Not in person, but in my mother's secret notebooks. Wolves torn apart by something that shouldn't exist, something that could make them weaker and less strong than they are. She called it Project Fenrir, and she died three days after writing that name.Kieran steps between me and the body, blocking my view like a wall of muscle and menace. His eyes aren't on me; they're fixed on the corpse, glowing faintly, gold bleeding through the dark.He i

Where the hell did that car come from?One second, I'm laughing at the barista's dumb joke, stepping off the curb without looking. Suddenly, I felt the headlights blinding me, the engine roaring, and the tires screeching as the car swerved.Then him. Kieran's body slams into mine from behind, hard enough to knock the air from my lungs. All that coiled strength pressed against me,Jesus, it's overwhelming. He's not letting go.My heart's pounding so loud I swear he can hear it. Being this close to him does things to me, the way his breath comes steady and controlled even now, those golden wolf eyes flashing.God, he smells insane, like leather and something wild."You smell amazing," I blurt before I can stop myself.He goes rigid against me. I can feel it."Careful, girl," he growls right against my ear, his breath hot on my skin. "Say that again and I won't let you walk away."It's a threat and a promise. My pulse goes wild.I should be scared. This is Kieran Byrne. He is the leader

The territory is nothing like I imagined.I expected cold, fortified labs. Instead, there are forest clearings, lantern-lit paths, and sleek, modern buildings. Wolves move through the twilight like they’ve always belong.It’s… beautiful and wild.Everyone goes still when Kieran’s car rolls past. They bow to him, but their eyes stay glued to me.The human in the Alpha’s passenger seat.I try to fold into myself, but Kieran’s hand finds mine without warning.“Don’t look at them,” he mutters.“They’re staring at me like I’m a threat.”“You’re not.” His thumb slides over my hand, steady and warm. “You’re just new.”“That is not a friendly look.”He glances their way, and every wolf immediately snaps their gaze aside.“They’ll adjust,” he says quietly.The certainty in his tone wraps around me like a shield, and my chest tightens. He says it like a promise, like he’s already decided where I belong.With him.The car stops in front of a massive modern lodge carved into the hillside. Glass w

The hall empties the way a storm clears, leaving everything changed.I watch the last wolf disappear through the carved wooden doors, and then there is nothing. Just me, the vast silence of the Revenant Pack's meeting hall, and Kieran Byrne.He exhales. It's a long, slow sound, like a man releasing something he has been holding for hours. His shoulders drop.He doesn't look at me."You should be terrified," he says flatly, like he's stating a weather forecast and not talking to me about my own survival.I think about lying. I think about straightening my spine and giving him the fearless version of myself I've been performing all evening."I am," I say instead.That surprises him. I see it in the slight tension at the corner of his jaw."But not of you."He finally turns to look at me, and there is something in his expression I can't name. Not softness. Not quite. But something cracked open underneath all that iron.He doesn't answer. He just looks at me for one long, suspended moment