C2

"Why isn't Ada out on the ice with the kids, Patricia?"

I didn't mean to let the panic crack my voice, but slamming the heavy wooden door of the den behind me made my knuckles turn white. My chest was burning, my inner wolf pacing the edges of my ribs, scratching to get out.

"Alpha Ada packed his travel furs and shifted toward Mysticfall before dawn, Collins," Patricia Bennett said, not looking up from the heavy wool blankets she was smoothing over the hearth bench. "He told me you were resting. He explicitly ordered the pack house staff not to disturb your sleep."

"He told me he wasn't running back to the main territory until tomorrow morning! Is he that terrified of looking me in the eyes before he slides into Chloe Bennett's bed?"

"Your eyes look swollen, Collins," Denise Harper muttered from the kitchen archway, her sleeves rolled up to her elbows as she dried a heavy wooden trencher. "Red as a fresh kill on the snow. Did you spend the whole night screaming at the walls while he was slipping away?"

"He didn't want the boy to see him break," Patricia added, her voice dropping to a low, soothing hum meant for a distressed pack mate. "Alpha Ada isn't a coward, Collins. He just knows when the ice is too thin to carry the whole sled."

"I don't care about his calculations! He promised me this winter belonged to our pups."

I snatched the bone-handled snow-runner keys off the mantelpiece, my fingers trembling so hard the iron rings clinked like breaking ice. The heavy fur coat felt like a lead weight on my shoulders as I lunged back out into the freezing wind, the heavy oak door slamming behind me with a thud that shook the cabin's foundations.

"He's going to wreck that runner on the mountain pass," Denise sighed, her voice fading as the howling blizzard swallowed the porch.

"Let him run," Patricia whispered. "A wolf who won't fight for his alpha isn't a wolf at all."

The snow outside wasn't just falling; it was a wall of white iron slamming against the glass of the runner. I gripped the leather steering wheel, my claws tearing small tracks into the hide as the engine roared against the rising storm. The mountain road leading down from Skydrivee into the valley center was already choking on ice, a line of iron-rimmed supply sleds and massive timber haulers backed up for miles under the frozen pines.

"Move!" I roared, slamming my palm against the horn, but the sound was buried by the wind.

I couldn't stay in the machine. My skin was hot, the bond between us pulling at my gut like a harpoon line dragged by a whale. I threw the door open, the sub-zero air hitting my face like a physical blow, and hit the snow running. I didn't shift—I didn't have the time to let the bones snap and reform—but I pushed the wolf's strength into my thighs, leaping over frozen ridges, my boots sinking deep into the white powder as I sprinted toward the regional transport pavilion.

Inside the iron-beamed transit terminal, the air smelled of wet fur, stale grease, and kerosene heaters. I didn't stop to shake the frost from my eyelashes. My eyes scanned the massive brass departure board, tracking the noon runner heading straight for the Mysticfall arena gates.

"Ada Lube!"

I spotted his massive silhouette near the iron gates of the high-speed tracks. He was already past the line where the pack guards stood with their silver-tipped pikes. His heavy black winter coat made him look like a shadow against the glare of the electric lamps.

"Ada! You don't get to just slide away into the dark!"

I slammed my hands against the iron bars of the gate, my voice raw, scraping the back of my throat until I tasted copper. The crowd of traveling shifters parted around me, staring at the display, but I didn't have any dignity left to lose in the snow.

"I need your words, Ada! Turn around and face me!"

He froze. His broad shoulders went rigid under the wool of his coat. I saw his knuckles tighten around the handle of his leather gear bag until the stitching groaned. Slowly, he turned his head, his amber eyes catching mine across the stone floor. He didn't look like an Alpha who had just won a political victory; he looked like a beast tracking its own executioner.

"Collins, you shouldn't have followed the scent out here."

He walked back toward the barrier, his boots striking the stone with a heavy, deliberate rhythm that made my heart hammer against my ribs. When he reached the other side of the iron bars, I reached through, grabbing the thick wool of his collar, my fingers freezing against the brass buttons.

"Look at me and tell me you want this," I snarled, my breath misting between us. "Tell me you want to bind your line to the Bennett family name. I know I have a savage streak. I know I've pushed the team and the pack to the edge of the ice every winter, but I can pull back. If you stay off Chloe's ice, I'll change how we run the territory. You know what the Bennett family did to my house. If you take his mark, there is no coming back to my den."

"Give me the winter, Collins," Ada said, his voice nothing but a low, guttural rasp that barely carried over the noise of the steam vents. He didn't pull away from my grip, but his large hand came up, gently brushing a clump of freezing slush from my hair. "Go back to the cabin. Protect the pups."

"I won't give you a single day! If you get on that runner, you're choosing his arena over our woods. Is that what this is? You want the Silvercrest Holdings shares more than you want the blood in your own veins?"

"The train is clearing the tracks, Alpha Lube," a guard muttered from the side, his hand resting on his sword belt. "The ice gates are closing."

"I have business in Mysticfall that won't wait for the spring thaw, Collins," Ada whispered, his amber eyes clouding over as he finally pried my fingers off his coat. "Please. Just stay within the pack borders."

"If you cross that valley line today, Ada, don't you dare think you can ever track your way back to my children. I'll teach them to hunt your scent like a rogue."

My teeth clicked together, my jaw locking so hard a drop of blood trickled down my chin where my fang had pierced my lip. I wanted him to fight me. I wanted him to throw me against the stones or roar back, but he just stood there, his face pale, his eyes filling with a wet, heavy grief that looked completely wrong on an Alpha's face.

"If I were the one heading south to take another male's mark," I whispered, lifting my chin to keep the tears from freezing on my skin, "would you be standing there like a stone monument? Would you understand my reasons?"

"I am a monster, Collins," he said, the words cutting through the freezing air between us.

Before I could pull back, his massive hands came up, clamping onto my jaw with a grip that could have crushed an elk's skull, and he slammed his mouth against mine. It wasn't a mate's kiss—it tasted like iron, snow, and total ruin. It was the desperate act of a wolf who knew he was walking into a trap and wanted to take the taste of home with him into the dark.

I shoved him away with everything I had, my boots sliding on the wet stone floor as I broke the contact. I didn't look back at him again. If he wanted to sell his coat to the Bennett franchise for security, then he could sleep in their domestic kennels. I turned my back on the gate and walked out into the swirling white of the terminal entrance.

"Is the Alpha still boarding?" the track official shouted over the roar of the steam engine.

"He's on the train," I heard a guard reply behind me. "Lock the iron gates."

When I hit the outdoor air, the cold rushed into my lungs like broken glass. I stopped under the iron awning of the pavilion, my body shaking so violently I had to lean my shoulder against a frozen support pillar. I looked back through the glass doors one last time.

The platform was empty. The black runner was already cutting through the snow toward Mysticfall, leaving nothing behind but two deep tracks in the gray slush and the bitter scent of an Alpha who had traded his pack for a winter treaty.