CLAIMING MY SUNSHINE

KANE

The moon climbed high,flooding the clearing with silver light. Every wolf in the Brim Pack stood attentive, a ripple of anticipation running through the crowd. My nephew, Mike, was at the center, ready to take his Alpha vows. Tonight was supposed to be about him, his strength, his future. 

I had rehearsed this moment a thousand times. I had been custodian for years, keeping the pack stable, keeping everything in its place. I was Kane Rivers, the legendary bachelor, the man who ruled with precision, who carried every responsibility without complaint.

At first, I didn’t notice him. The ritual drew my attention: Mike’s posture, the priests’ chants, the rising tension of the pack, the fire snapping against the night. My wolf twitched beneath my skin.Then, through the corner of my vision, I caught movement. Just a human boy, leaning against the edge of the clearing, too casual.

Shawn Miles.

My nephew’s human best friend.

The priest called for the vows, his voice strong, steady. Mike lifted his head, ready to declare his oath to the pack, to the wolves, to the forest itself. But my eyes were fixed. My wolf growled low, inside my chest - a demand, a need I hadn’t felt in decades.

Shawn shifted. Just slightly—a laugh, brushing a strand of hair behind his ear. My pulse slammed. The world narrowed until it was just him and me. No fire. No pack. No ceremony. Just Shawn. And then it hit me with the force of unrequited longing.

He was mine.

My wolf screamed the truth, claws tearing at the chains I had so carefully forged around my heart. Emotions long abandoned. Buried under years of solitude and control. And now it was awake, screaming at me with the inevitability of a storm.

I froze mid - ceremony .The priest’s words blurred into background noise. Mike’s vow teetered on the edge of my awareness, and yet I couldn’t deny what was happening.

The boy looked up and our eyes met. For one heartbeat, the clearing stilled. The firelight danced in his brown eyes, bright, fearless, and utterly human. The wolf inside me flared, baring teeth I didn’t even realize I had shown. My chest tightened, my breath caught and I felt the marking— I had never felt before, a heat beneath my skin.

I should have turned away. I should have reminded myself that humans didn’t bond to wolves like this. That Shawn wasn’t meant for me, that this was wrong, that everything I had built would crumble if I let myself feel.

Shawn smiled. A careless movement, a light in his eyes . My wolf snarled, craving him, claiming him, marking him, even as my mind screamed for restraint.

Mike’s voice rang out, final words of the Alpha vow, and the pack erupted in cheers. Wolves howled, firelight bounced off faces and still I couldn’t move. I couldn’t hear.

My wolf lashed, claws digging at my restraint. My heart thundered. My body reacted before I even realized it. My hands twitched. My chest heaved. And I did the only thing I could.

I lunged into the moment - a reaction that terrified me as much as it thrilled me. And then the world erupted. Shouts, gasps, the crackling of the fire, the sudden rip of tension snapping across the clearing. My wolf howled, my human side reeled, and for a heartbeat, everything I had controlled for decades was gone.

Shawn stumbled back. His gaze stayed locked on mine . My body reacted again, muscles taut, senses flaring. My chest burned. My mind screamed at me to stop.

The marking blazed beneath my skin, hot and relentless, pulsing with a certainty I could not deny. The crowd’s cheers faded. Mike’s coronation, the pack, the moon, the fire—it all vanished.

There was only Shawn. And my wolf.

I had spent decades denying myself. Guarding my heart. Pretending that desire was a weakness. But now it didn’t matter. Not when he was here. Not when he had been born to be mine.

My chest heaved, my wolf growled, and my heart thundered against my ribs as I realized I had no control. And that’s when Shawn smiled again.

The moment he did, the air shifted. The marking flared brighter. My wolf’s teeth sank deeper into the raw edge of instinct.The ground beneath my feet trembled.

Would I survive this?