MasukSHAWN "Tell him I’ll be there by dawn!" The words tear out of my throat, raw and breathless, echoing off the walls of my dark bedroom. "Shawn?" Mike’s voice crackles through the speaker. In the background, I can hear the distant, haunting howl of a wolf piercing the night air. It makes the hairs on my arms stand up. "Are you driving? It’s a four-hour trip from your hometown. You won't make it by dawn if you're just starting now." "I'll drive like hell, Mike! Just stop him!" I yell, my hands shaking so badly. "Tell him to put the dagger down. Tell him I’m coming back to the pack house. Just... don't let him break it." "He's not listening to me, Shawn," Mike grunts. "He’s locked himself in the clearing by the old ritual stone. His Alpha aura is so volatile right now that the younger pack members can't even get within fifty yards of him without choking. I’m trying to bridge the gap, but he’s blocked me out." "Tell him anyway!" I grab my car keys off the nightstand, sprinting
SHAWN I stared at Mike’s contact name. He is my best friend, but he is also the new Alpha of the pack. Calling him right now feels like crossing a line. Either way, I press dial. "Shawn? Hey, man," Mike’s voice finally cuts through the line. "Everything okay? It's late." "No," I choke out. I press the heel of my palm into my forehead, trying to steady my breathing. "No, Mike, everything is completely messed up. Your uncle is out of his mind." "What did Kane do?" Mike’s tone dropped. "He gave me an ultimatum," I say, the words tasting like copper in my mouth. "One week. He sent a text saying that if I don't come to the pack house in seven days, he’s going to reject the bond. Mike, can he even do that? Can he just break it?" "Yeah," Mike says quietly. "He can. It’s rare, and it tears a piece of your soul out, but an Alpha has enough willpower to sever a fated bond if the rejection is absolute. Shawn... he’s completely miserable." "So he's punishing me?" I shouted at absolu
SHAWN I'm still fuming as I stare at Kane's message. A part of me wants to lash out, to tell him he has no idea what I've been through. But another part... another part remembers the way he looked at me, the way he made me feel like I was the only person in the world. I take a deep breath, trying to calm down. It's been a month since I asked for time. A month since I walked away from the pack, from Kane. I've been trying to process everything, to wrap my head around the fact that I'm mated to a werewolf – a man who's decades older than me. Kane's 40, I've just turned 25. He was a pack alpha, a leader. And I'm... well, I'm just a human, trying to figure out my place in this crazy world. I glance back at my phone, at the messages we've been exchanging. It's been a rollercoaster of emotions, but being apart from Kane... it's been hard. My thumb hovers over the screen as I type out a response. "So what did you mean?" I ask, my tone softer now. The dots appear, and I wait, my
SHAWN One minute I’m sitting on my bed, still in yesterday’s clothes, staring at nothing in particular and the next, I’m waking up to sunlight cutting through the curtains and a dull heaviness sitting behind my eyes. For a second, everything feels normal. Then it comes back.The pack. The bond. Kane. I exhale slowly, dragging a hand over my face before reaching for my phone on the nightstand. A notification blinks on the screen. Mike. " I know you left.Just… whatever you decide, I'm on your side." I drop the phone back onto the bed and lean against the headboard, staring at the ceiling. “Of course you are,” I mutter under my breath. No pushing—just standing there, waiting for you to figure your own mess out.That was Mike. I don’t know what I’m deciding between. Walking away should be simple. Stay here. Go back to normal. Pretend none of this exists. I lean against the window frame. Maybe Mike’s right. Maybe this isn’t something I can just ignore until it goes aw
KANE I felt him leave.The noise from his room was enough to tell me he was packing. I chose not to intervene. By the time I stepped into the hallway, his scent was already fading from the space he’d occupied, replaced by the cold stillness of the room. No goodbye. No explanation. I didn’t alert the pack. This wasn’t something I could hand off like a patrol route. This was mine. I stepped outside and followed what remained of him—faint traces and disrupted gravel.I kept my distance. Far enough that he wouldn’t hear me, wouldn’t sense me watching. He slowed when the trees came into view. He stopped at the boundary. It was the same place he turned back yesterday. I stayed behind the tree line. He stood there longer this time. A part of me thought that he might choose to turn around, walk back, and give himself more time before making a decision he didn’t fully understand. He stepped over. Every instinct I had pushed forward—close the distance, stop him, pull him ba
SHAWN I lie there, staring at the ceiling, replaying Mike’s question over and over. Can you? Yes. I can leave. I can walk away. I can go back to my life and pretend none of this happened. Except— I didn’t answer him back. By the time the house goes quiet, I’ve already made the decision. I sit up slowly, careful not to make noise. The room is still dark. I grab my bag, packing quickly. If I stop, I won’t go. I pull on my jacket and pause at the door.This is the part where I should hesitate. I open the door and step out. The hallway is empty. I move quietly down the stairs, past the main room, toward the front entrance. Every step feels louder than it should.I reach the main door. It's now or never. Cold air hits immediately. The gravel crunches under my boots as I move down the path, past the training field, past the outer buildings, toward the boundary I didn’t cross yesterday. “This is fine,” I mutter under my breath. The path changes under my feet as I move fur







