Clash of Wolves

Chapter Two 

The night was alive with the rumble of engines. headlamps cutting across Raven’s stalled Harley as Sabrina clutched her waist with trembling hands. 

The Moonburn Riders had come, and their formation wasn’t random, it was deliberate, primal, the way a wolf pack isolates prey before moving in.

At the center of it all, Axel Voss sat astride a matte-black custom bike, the kind that purred like it was alive. The others idled behind him, faceless under their helmets, waiting for his lead. He removed his own helmet slowly, like there was no rush, like time bent to his will.

Axel Voss stood as his scar caught the moonlight, eyes the exact color of storm clouds before a downpour. He didn’t blink, didn't flinch and that presence. The kind that pressed down on her lungs and whispered something ancient into her bones.

Mate.

He simply looked at her, and the wolf inside Raven went very still as the word throbbed in her veins, and she wanted to curse it out of existence.

Mate.

Her wolf surged inside her, claws scraping, howling one word that made her stomach twist.

Mate.

No. No, no, no.

Raven shoved the wolf clawing inside her back into its cage. This wasn’t happening. Couldn’t be happening. Fated mates were fairy tales told by packs, chains disguised as love stories. She didn’t want it and didn't need it.

“Listen,” she snapped. 

“My bike’s down, my friend’s spooked, and I don’t need your territorial bullshit tonight. So why don’t you step aside and let me get back to my crew before I run out of patience?”

For a moment, silence stretched thin between them. Then Axel walked over to them and leaned in until his shadow fell over her, voice dropping so low she felt it in her bones.

“You don’t get back to your crew, Raven Blackthorne. You get back to me.”

Her breath caught. He knew her name.

“How the hell…”

“Your scent,” he interrupted. “And you…” He inhaled deliberately, closing his eyes for a fraction of a second. “You’re mine.”

“I don’t know what you think you see,” Raven said, her voice sharp enough to cut the tension. “But I don’t belong to anyone.”

Sabrina whimpered. “Rave… let’s just go.”

A smirk tugged at Axel’s lips, though his gaze never softened. “Funny. Your wolf disagrees.”

Raven set her jaw, forcing steel into her voice. “You’ve had your fun. Back off.”

Axel didn’t blink. “Bold. Most wolves would be on their knees by now.”

“I’m not most wolves.”

His smirk tugged at his dimple.

 “I can see that.”

Sabrina gasped behind her. “Wolf?”

Raven shot her a look that could silence thunder. Too late. The word was out, and Sabrina, bless her clueless heart, was staring at her like she’d just sprouted fangs.

“You’re far from home, little wolf,” Axel said again, voice low and edged with command. “This is my road. My land. You don’t get to ride it without answering to me.”

Raven’s spine stiffened. “Last I checked, asphalt belongs to whoever’s wheels can burn it.”

Behind him, the Riders revved their bikes in unison like a wall of sound that vibrated in her ribs, designed to unnerve. Sabrina whimpered against her shoulder, fingers clutching harder.

“Rave,” Sabrina whispered. “Please. Let’s just go.”

Raven’s bike was dead, engine silent, her pride in pieces on the asphalt. She cursed under her breath and swung her leg off the Harley, planting her boots firmly on the road. If she had to fight her way out, she’d do it standing.

The air smelled of smoke, leather, and something darker. Axel. His scent was sharp, raw, and dangerously intoxicating. Her wolf strained against her control, desperate to close the space between them.

“Funny thing about fate,” Axel said, voice carrying like gravel sliding down steel. “You can run from it all you want, but the road always leads you back.”

Raven’s throat tightened. “You don’t know a damn thing about me.”

“Oh, but I do.” He took a slow step closer, shadows sliding over his sharp features. “You’re hiding in a pack that doesn’t see you. A Fang’s leech, living in their shadow. You’re strong, but they’ll never trust you. They’ll use you. Until you break.”

Her fingers curled into fists. How could he know? How could he see so clearly through the armor she’d spent years building?

“And you?” she shot back. “What’s your angle, Rider? Collecting strays? Marking territory you think you own?”

His eyes glinted silver in the moonlight. “I don’t collect. I claim what’s mine.”

“I’m not yours,” she hissed.

Silence spread heavy across the Riders, broken only by the low hum of idling bikes. Axel studied her like she was a puzzle he was already halfway through solving.

“You’ll figure it out,” he murmured. “Sooner than you think.”

Sabrina leaned closer, her voice high with fear. “Rave, can we just…”

“Shut up, Sab,” Raven snapped, harsher than she meant. Her nerves were stretched too thin, her wolf restless, and Axel’s presence was too much.

Axel didn’t budge. His Riders didn’t budge. The entire highway felt like it belonged to them, and she was trespassing.

Then, finally, he slid his helmet back on, the reflective visor hiding his stormy eyes. He mounted his bike with slow, deliberate movements, as if giving her a reprieve was his choice alone.

The Riders followed suit, engines roaring back to life. The sound was deafening, but Raven refused to flinch. She stood tall, watching them form up behind Axel like wolves behind their alpha.

Before pulling away, he turned his head just slightly, his voice cutting clear over the roar of the pack.

“You can run, little wolf. But the road is mine. And it will always bring you back to me.”

Then they were gone. A thunder of engines vanishing into the night, leaving only silence and the echo of their dominance behind.

Raven stood there, every muscle wound tight, Sabrina trembling at her side.

“Wolf?” Sabrina finally breathed, too soft, too fragile.

Raven dragged her hand down her face, forcing a laugh that sounded brittle in her ears. “He’s insane. Don’t listen to him.”

But her wolf wasn’t laughing.

Her wolf whispered that word again and again, claws scraping at the inside of her skin.

Mate.

Raven shoved it down, ignoring the way her hands shook. She turned back to the Harley, muttering curses as she wrestled it upright. Sabrina helped, fumbling with her balance.

“We’re walking it back,” Raven said.

“Back where? Rave, I don’t…”

Headlights flared in the distance. Not the Riders this time but it came with a different pattern, different sound. She knew the growl of those engines as well as her own heartbeat.

Iron Fangs.

The gleam of chrome and the sharp angles of familiar bikes closed in fast, engines snarling like a warning. At the head of the formation, Reed Cutter’s bike tore up the road, his expression unreadable in the glare of his headlamp.

Behind him, Cole grinned, helmet tucked under his arm, eyes bright with smug satisfaction.

Raven’s stomach dropped. This was bad. This was worse than bad.

They had seen.

They knew where she’d been.

And if they’d arrived just a few minutes earlier, they would have seen her with Axel.

Her grip tightened on the Harley’s handlebar, knuckles turning white. 

Sabrina froze beside her, caught like a rabbit in headlights.

Engines cut. Silence swallowed the road.

Reed swung his leg off his bike, boots striking the asphalt like gunshots. His gaze flicked from Raven, to Sabrina, to the empty horizon where Axel and his Riders had vanished.

“Funny,” Reed drawled, his voice smooth and sharp as a knife. “You break down in Rider territory… and yet you’re still breathing.”

The Fangs behind him shifted, mutters rising, suspicion thick in the air. Cole stepped forward, a smirk curling at his lips.

“Told you, Rave,” he said with a sneer. “You can’t just wander where you please. Not without consequences.”

Raven lifted her chin, heart pounding. She couldn’t let them smell the fear on her. She couldn’t let them see the truth clawing at her chest.

Because if Reed Cutter even suspected what she had just felt, what bond had snapped into place between her and the Moonburn alpha; her life was officially over.

Reed took a slow drag from his cigarette, smoke curling around his face as he stepped closer. His eyes gleamed like a predator’s as he studied her.

“Tell me, Raven,” he said softly, dangerously.

“What exactly did the Riders want with you?”