Chapter 1

I knew I shouldn’t have stayed after dark.

Everyone knew that.

Human or wolf, you didn’t linger when the sun dipped behind the tree line and the air started to change. The forest didn’t belong to us then. It never really did, but night made the rules clearer.

I pulled my jacket tighter around me and quickened my pace, boots crunching too loudly over gravel. The path home cut through the borderland, a strip of land that wasn’t claimed outright but wasn’t safe either. Wolves patrolled it when they felt like reminding us who really owned the ground.

I kept my head down.

That was how you survived.

I was almost through when the air shifted.

It wasn’t a sound at first. It was pressure. Like the forest inhaled and forgot how to breathe out again. My skin prickled, every instinct I had screaming at once.

Run.

I didn’t make it three steps.

Something slammed into me from the side, hard enough to knock the breath clean out of my lungs. I hit the ground, palms scraping against stone, pain flaring sharp and immediate.

I gasped and tried to roll.

A hand closed around my arm.

Not human.

Too strong. Too sure.

I was hauled upright like I weighed nothing, my feet barely finding the ground before I was shoved back against a tree. Bark bit into my spine. My head snapped back, vision blurring.

“Please—” The word came out broken, humiliating.

Yellow eyes stared back at me.

Wolf eyes. Not shifted fully, not human either. Something in between that made my stomach drop.

“Human,” he said, like it was an accusation.

More shapes emerged from the trees, silent and controlled. Three of them. Four. They formed a loose circle without needing to be told.

A pack.

“I was just passing through,” I said quickly. “I didn’t mean any trouble.”

A low sound rippled through them. Not laughter. Something worse.

The one in front of me stepped closer. He was taller than the others, broader through the shoulders, his presence heavier, like gravity bent toward him without permission.

Alpha.

I felt it without knowing how.

His gaze dragged over me slowly, not leering, not curious. Assessing. Like I was a problem he hadn’t planned for and now had to solve.

“You crossed during a claim dispute,” he said.

“I didn’t know,” I whispered. “I swear.”

He studied my face, then my throat.

Something cold slid down my spine.

“Lies or ignorance,” he said calmly, “don’t change consequences.”

I tried to pull away. The wolf holding my arm tightened his grip, fingers biting into flesh. Pain flared, hot and sharp.

“Please,” I said again. “I’m human. I don’t belong to any pack.”

The Alpha’s mouth twitched. Not a smile.

“That’s obvious.”

Before I could react, he stepped in close. Too close. I could smell him then—smoke, earth, something dark and alive. His hand closed around the back of my neck.

I froze.

Every story I’d ever heard screamed through my head at once.

“No,” I said, panic finally breaking through. “Don’t—please—”

Pain exploded.

White-hot and immediate, like fire driven straight into my veins. I screamed as his teeth pierced my skin, the sensation tearing through me in waves. It wasn’t just physical. It was everywhere. Inside. Deeper than bone.

Something snapped.

I collapsed, knees giving out as the world tilted violently. My heart thundered in my chest, out of rhythm, out of control. Heat flooded my body, then cold, then heat again.

The bond hit like a chain locking shut.

I could feel him.

Not just his hands, not just his weight.

Him.

My breath came in shallow, broken gasps as I clutched at his shirt, not to pull him closer, but because my body refused to let go. Panic clawed at my throat.

“What did you do?” I choked.

He released me slowly. I slumped against the tree, barely staying upright. The pack had gone completely still. Every eye was on me now.

“You’re marked,” the Alpha said.

The words rang in my ears, distant and unreal.

“I didn’t consent,” I said hoarsely. “You can’t—”

“I can,” he cut in, voice sharp now. “And I did.”

Tears burned behind my eyes, rage and fear tangling until I couldn’t tell which hurt more. My skin felt wrong. Too tight. Too aware. My pulse echoed in places it never had before.

“You don’t own me,” I said.

Something flickered in his expression. Irritation, maybe. Surprise.

“I do now.”

The bond pulsed in response to his words, a sickening affirmation that made bile rise in my throat.

One of the wolves stepped forward. “Alpha—”

“Enough,” he snapped.

Silence fell instantly.

He looked down at me again, jaw tight, eyes hard. “Take her to the compound.”

I shook my head weakly. “I’m not going anywhere with you.”

His gaze didn’t soften.

“You don’t get to choose,” he said. “Not anymore.”

Hands closed in around me again, lifting me when my legs refused to cooperate. The forest blurred as they carried me away, every step driving the truth deeper into my chest.

I had crossed a line.

And the Alpha had claimed the price.