The pack

Chapter 2

I had no choice but to follow him.

The pain when I tried to turn back was unbearable. Like someone was ripping my chest open from the inside.

So I followed.

My legs ached. My lungs burned. He didn't slow down, didn't look back to see if I was keeping up. He moved through the forest like he owned it, like the trees bent to his will.

Maybe they did. What did I know anymore?

"Can you at least tell me your name?" I called out, stumbling over a root.

He didn't answer.

"Or where we're going?"

Still nothing.

Frustration bubbled up in my chest, mixing with the fear. "Look, I get that you're mad about whatever this is, but I didn't ask for—"

He stopped so suddenly I almost crashed into his back.

When he turned, his eyes were that molten gold again. My breath caught.

"You want to know my name?" His voice was dangerously quiet. "Fine. I'm Kael. Alpha of the Shadowveil Pack. What's left of it, anyway."

Alpha. The word sent a shiver down my spine.

"And where we're going," he continued, taking a step closer, "is the only place you'll be safe now that you reek of my scent."

I blinked. "Your scent? I don't—"

But even as I said it, I caught it. Pine and smoke and something wild. Something that made my pulse quicken for reasons that had nothing to do with fear.

And underneath my own fear-sweat, I could smell it on me too.

"I don't understand," I whispered.

"You don't need to understand." He leaned in. Close enough that I could see flecks of amber in those gold eyes. "You just need to keep your mouth shut and do exactly what I tell you when we get there."

My heart was racing. He had to be able to hear it.

"My pack isn't like your human fairy tales," he said. "They're dangerous. Starving. Desperate. And the only reason they won't tear you apart the second they smell you is because you smell like me."

The words hit me like a physical blow. "Tear me apart. You're saying your pack are... werewolves."

I waited for him to laugh. To tell me I was being ridiculous.

Instead, he smiled.

It was the most terrifying thing I'd ever seen.

"Werewolves. Shifters. Cursed ones. Pick your mythology, human." He turned away. "Now move. We're losing daylight, and trust me—you don't want to be out here after dark."

My legs felt like jelly but I forced them to move.

Werewolves.

I was following a werewolf into cursed territory because some invisible bond was tying me to him.

This was insane.

"If you're trying not to panic, you're failing," Kael said without looking back. "I can hear your heartbeat from here."

Of course he could.

"Well excuse me for having a normal human reaction to finding out monsters are real!"

"We're not monsters." Something dangerous edged into his voice. "We're just less concerned with your human morality."

Great. Fantastic. I was going to die out here and no one would ever find my body.

Jess would think I just ghosted her. My parents would—

No. Don't think about that.

The forest changed as we walked. The trees grew larger, older, twisted into shapes that looked almost deliberate. Moss hung from branches like tattered curtains.

And I felt eyes. Everywhere.

Watching.

"They're scouting us," Kael said, like he could read my mind. "They knew the moment you crossed the boundary. They know you're with me now."

My throat was dry. "Is that good or bad?"

"Depends on whether they decide you're a threat or a tool."

"A tool for what?"

He didn't answer.

The trees opened up into a massive clearing. My steps faltered.

Buildings—rough timber and stone structures—clustered around a central lodge that looked like something from a Viking documentary. Smoke rose from chimneys. Figures moved between the structures.

People.

Except they weren't just people.

They moved like Kael. Too graceful. Too aware. Predatory.

Some worked on weapons. Others stood in groups, talking low. A few children played near a smaller building, their laughter wild and sharp.

Every single one of them stopped when we entered the clearing.

The silence was crushing.

My instinct screamed at me to run. But where? The bond wouldn't let me. And even if it did, I wouldn't make it ten feet.

"Kael." A woman approached from the main lodge.

She was beautiful. Severe. Silver-blonde hair pulled back tight. Eyes like chips of ice.

Her gaze raked over me and I felt stripped bare.

"You found the intruder," she said.

"She's not an intruder." Kael's voice was flat. "She's a mistake."

The words stung more than they should have.

The woman's eyes narrowed. "She's human."

"Obviously."

"She crossed the boundary."

"Obviously."

She stepped closer. Her nostrils flared slightly, like she was... smelling me?

Then her expression changed. Shock flashed across her face. Then something that looked almost like pity.

"Oh, Kael." Her voice softened. "Tell me you didn't—"

"I didn't do anything," he snarled. The sound raised every hair on my body. "It just happened."

"The bond doesn't 'just happen.' You have to accept—"

"I didn't accept anything!" His voice boomed across the clearing.

Several wolves—shifters, whatever—flinched.

I wanted to disappear into the ground.

"She triggered it somehow," he continued, voice tight with barely controlled rage. "Some latent magic, some bloodline. I don't know. But I didn't choose this, Vera."

Vera. So that was her name.

She studied me with those cold eyes. "What's your name, girl?"

"Mira." My voice came out smaller than I wanted. "Mira Chen."

"Chen." Something flickered in her expression. "Chinese?"

"My father's side. My mother was—"

"It doesn't matter what her lineage is," Kael cut me off. "She's human. The bond is a mistake. I'll find a way to break it."

"You can't break a mate bond." Vera's words fell like stones. "You know that. Even if you could, the curse—"

"Don't." The warning in Kael's voice made my skin prickle. "Not here. Not now."

Mate bond.

The words echoed in my head.

No. No, that was romance novel nonsense. That wasn't real.

None of this was real.

"I want to go home." The words burst out of me. "This is insane. You're all insane. I'm going to wake up in a hospital and this will be a head injury or—"

"You're not going home."

Kael still wouldn't look at me.

"You can't," he continued. "Not with the bond active. You'll lead every enemy we have straight to us. They'll use you to destroy what's left of my pack."

"I don't even believe in—"

He moved.

Too fast. One second he was three feet away. The next his hand was around my wrist and heat—pure electric heat—shot through me.

I gasped.

His eyes were fully gold now. I could see something moving beneath his skin. Something trying to get out.

"You feel that?" His voice was barely human. Rough. Primal. "That's real. The bond is real. This is real. And unless you want to end up as a chew toy for the Blackriver Pack or a sacrifice for the hunters, you'll stop arguing and start listening."

I should have been terrified.

I was terrified.

But underneath the fear was something else. Something that responded to the command in his voice. The raw power radiating off him.

Something that wanted to obey.

No. No, I wouldn't—

I jerked my wrist free, stumbling backward. "Don't touch me."

For just a second, hurt flashed across his face.

Then it was gone. Cold indifference replaced it.

"Vera. Put her in the west cabin. Post guards." He turned toward the main lodge. "Nobody touches her. Nobody speaks to her unless I approve it."

He was dismissing me. Like I was nothing.

"And someone find me every scrap of information we have about bond-breaking rituals," he added. "There has to be a way."

"Kael—" Vera started.

"That's an order, Beta."

He disappeared into the lodge without looking back.

The thread between us pulled tight. I felt his anger. His frustration.

His regret.

Vera sighed. "Come on, then. Let's get you settled before someone decides you're dinner."

"That's not funny."

"Who's joking?" But her expression softened slightly. "You're safe enough for now. Kael won't let anyone hurt you. He's many things, but he's not cruel to the helpless."

"I'm not helpless," I said through gritted teeth.

"Honey, you're a human in a wolf's den." She started walking. "You're the definition of helpless."

I followed because what choice did I have?

"But for what it's worth," she continued, "I'm sorry. This isn't how it's supposed to work. Mate bonds are meant to be beautiful. Fate bringing two souls together."

She glanced at me.

"But Kael doesn't believe in beautiful things anymore. He doesn't believe in fate or destiny or bonds. The last time he trusted in any of that, it destroyed everything he loved."

My chest tightened. "What happened?"

"That's his story to tell. Or not tell, knowing him." We reached a small cabin at the edge of the clearing. "This is yours for now. Bathroom inside—no shower, but we have a bathhouse you can use under guard. Food will be brought to you."

She paused at the door.

"Don't try to leave the clearing. The sentries will stop you. And they won't be gentle about it."

"So I'm a prisoner."

"You're protected." Her voice was firm. "There's a difference. The Shadowveil territory is surrounded by enemies. You wouldn't make it a mile."

She turned to go.

"Wait." The word came out before I could stop it. "Why is he so angry? About the bond, I mean. Isn't it supposed to be... I don't know. Good?"

Vera looked at me for a long moment.

"The last woman he was bonded to betrayed him," she said quietly. "She sold out the pack to our enemies. Led them straight to us. Thirty-seven wolves died that night. Including Kael's younger sister."

My stomach dropped.

"He killed his mate with his bare hands," Vera continued. "And swore he'd never accept another bond. Never let fate chain him again."

She stepped closer. Her ice-blue eyes bore into mine.

"So no, Mira Chen. This bond isn't good. Not for him. And probably not for you either. But it exists. And whether he likes it or not, whether you like it or not, you're tied to him now."

"Forever?"

"Until one of you dies." She smiled, but there was no warmth in it. "Welcome to the pack."

She left me standing there. Alone.

I went inside the cabin and closed the door. Slid down against it.

And finally let myself cry.

But even through the tears, I felt it. That thread connecting me to him.

I felt his rage in the main lodge. Felt him slam his fist into something. Felt the echo of pain—physical and emotional—ricochet through the bond.

He hated this.

He hated me.

And I was trapped here with him, bound by something neither of us wanted.

I pulled my knees to my chest and tried to catch my breath.

This couldn't be real. It couldn't be.

But the ache in my chest—the constant pull toward the main lodge, toward him—said otherwise.

The bond was real.

And I had no idea how to survive it.