The forest was alive with the pounding of paws and breath. Moonlight flickered through the pines as the pack ran in full form—wolves streaking through the trees in a tide of fur and muscle and freedom. For one night, there were no monsters, no politics, no hidden bonds. Just instinct and freedom. Rhett ran at the front, Mira at his flank, Jace trailing just behind. Their bond hummed in the space between them, not touching, not acknowledging, but present. This was how they worked. Wild, wordless, powerful. His wolf thrived on it. Until it was shattered. A hawk’s cry overhead—three sharp bursts. A signal. Urgent. Rhett slowed, then stopped, shifting in a breathless flash of fur to skin as he stepped toward the messenger. Beta Kellen, clothes in hand, stood stiff-backed at the tree line, already halfway dressed. Rhett yanked his pants from the pile where he’d stashed them and gave a growl. “What is it?” Kellen hesitated, then: “A Summit observer’s been dispatched. They’ll arrive w
“Have you found your mate?” The words echoed through the Summit hall like a dropped blade. Rhett didn’t move. Didn’t blink. Didn’t breathe for just a moment. He could feel Mira’s heartbeat across the room, a sharp spike of adrenaline laced with panic. Jace didn’t shift, but Rhett knew him well enough now to feel the sudden tension winding tight in his chest. The smart thing would be to deny or, better yet, deflect, but Rhett had never been a coward, and the moment he opened his mouth, mating instinct spoke before politics could catch up. “Yes.”The room shifted. A quiet intake of breath from someone in the second row. A rustle of papers. Mira’s spine went rigid in his peripheral vision. Thorne’s eyes sharpened. “You’ve accepted a mate bond?” The air stretched thin. Rhett didn’t break her gaze. “I have.” Her head tilted slightly. “And your mate is…?” He let the pause drag just long enough to gather all eyes, then said evenly, “Jace Rowan.” It hit the room like a thunderclap. Even
They were going to watch her. Not the way a soldier watches an enemy. No, this was worse. This was political scrutiny—cold, exacting, and unrelenting. Mira had seen it before, at training summits and disciplinary boards, but never like this—never when the thing under the microscope was her heart. The Summit gathering wasn’t a battlefield, but it might as well have been. The only difference was that the wounds would be invisible unless she let them show. So she dressed with care, straightened her posture, silenced her wolf, and stepped into the hall like a weapon that had never been touched.The gathering room was formally arranged, with the task force, Summit officials, Alpha, and Beta seating. The symbols of allied packs flanked the main wall. Each leader brought quiet expectations, their judgments carefully concealed behind patient smiles.Mira took her seat near the task force delegation. Not beside Rhett. Not beside Jace. That had been deliberate. Distance was a strategy, even i
Lena didn’t believe in coincidences, not in battle, not in behavior, especially when an Alpha, his pack liaison, and a visiting Betabegan operating as though they were one breath, one thought, one heartbeat. She leaned against the far end of the barracks hallway, arms crossed, watching Mira slip quietly into the Alpha wing once again.It wasn’t the first time and wouldn’t be the last, but what mattered was why. Her encryption logs were protected. Standard Summit protocol allowed her to bypass local pack channels, and she kept it that way for a reason. She didn’t trust Rhett Calder, not because he was reckless. The opposite, actually. He was controlled, and control was often the best place to hide corruption. Or something else. Something deeper.Like a forbidden bond.The reports were mounting, unofficial, observational, and quiet, but they painted a picture she could no longer ignore. Calder’s refusal to disc
“ I’m saying he can’t mark you.” Rhett’s voice was firm. Unyielding and Mira hated him for it. Not in the way that made her want to tear him down, but in the way that made her want to shove him up against the wall and make him feel what it cost her to nod and say, “Fine.”Because it wasn’t fine. Jace stood just behind her, silent and she could feel the ache in him. It was the bond twitching just under the surface, the longing curling in his chest like smoke. She wanted to mark him too.Her body burned with it, but Rhett was right. The pack was already whispering. “They smell it,” he continued, pacing in front of the hearth. “Not everything, but enough. The tension. The attention. A bond doesn’t need teeth to be noticed.”She folded her arms. “So we just pretend I belong to you, and Jace is—what—?” “Not yours,” Rhett said, but softer this time. His tone held more regret than order. Jace said nothing. But she knew his silence wasn’t surrender, it was containment. He was holding himself
There was something about the quiet that didn’t feel like peace. It felt like prey. Jace stood near the edge of the compound, where forest met wall, arms folded, listening to the birdsong, the breeze, and the faint echo of drills in the yard, but even more, to the silence behind it all. It felt intentional, like someone was watching.He hadn’t told Mira or Rhett yet. Not because he doubted himself, but because this wasn’t like the Kalyven. It wasn’t danger in the teeth-and-blood sense. It was colder. Calmer.This felt like someone was observing patterns and waiting for a misstep. A predator in politics, not in fur, and that chilled Jace more than any rogue scent on the wind.The bond was quiet today. Mira had been sent to oversee inventory resupply runs, and Rhett was locked away in his office, prepping for the following Summit address. This meant that Jace had space to think, and lately, that was dangerous. His thoughts drifted to the way Sergeant Lena’s eyes lingered too long duri