Chapter 3 - Choose Me or Watch Him Bleed

Kael came for my throat.

Silas met him in the air.

Their bodies crashed into a table so hard the wood exploded beneath them.

The bar erupted.

Growls tore through the room. Glass shattered. Chairs flew as Silver Ridge hunters charged and the bikers of the Den slammed into them like a storm.

I stumbled backward, clutching the sanctuary token so tightly the metal bit into my palm.

“Stay down!” the blonde bartender shouted as she vaulted the counter and smashed a bottle over a hunter’s head.

I dropped behind an overturned table just as claws ripped through the space where my face had been.

The room smelled of blood, whiskey, and rage.

And over all of it—

Silas.

I could track him by instinct now. Every sound he made cut through the chaos.

Kael slammed him into a pillar.

Silas laughed.

Actually I laughed.

“You still hit like a spoiled prince.”

Kael’s eyes glowed bright gold.

“You dare stand between me and what’s mine?”

Silas wiped blood from his mouth.

“There’s that word again.”

Then he drove his fist into Kael’s ribs so hard I heard the crack.

Kael roared.

I should have felt satisfied.

Instead, fear gripped me.

This was happening because of me.

Men bleeding.

Wolves tearing each other apart.

Because I asked for one choice.

A hunter grabbed my ankle and dragged me from cover.

“There you are, little omega.”

I screamed and kicked wildly.

He pinned my wrists above my head, grinning down at me.

“Alpha said bring you breathing. Didn’t say unmarked.”

His claws slid free.

Panic strangled me.

Then the hunter was suddenly gone.

Thrown.

Silas stood over me, chest heaving, blood running from a cut over one eye.

His wolf glimmered beneath his skin.

He looked terrifying.

He looked furious.

“Get behind me,” he snapped.

I stared up at him.

He grabbed my arm and hauled me to my feet.

“I said behind me.”

Something in his voice made me obey.

Kael straightened across the room, breathing hard.

His gaze dropped to Silas’s hand on my arm.

Then to my body standing close behind him.

Jealousy darkened his face.

“You touch her again,” Kael said softly, “and I’ll rip your spine out.”

Silas didn’t let go.

“You keep threatening me in my own house. Bad manners.”

Kael took one step forward.

“Mira.”

I stiffened.

His voice changed.

Softer.

The tone he used when others watched.

“Come here. Now.”

The old command in it scraped over old wounds.

“No.”

The single word shocked everyone.

Kael blinked slowly.

“You’re upset.”

“No.”

“You’re frightened.”

“No.”

“You don’t understand what sanctuary means.”

I lifted my chin.

“It means for one night, I am not yours.”

Something brutal flashed in his expression.

Then he smiled.

That smile had always meant pain.

“You think this man wants to save you?” Kael asked. “He’s using you to provoke me.”

Silas sighed.

“I liked you better unconsciously.”

Kael ignored him.

“Mira, look at him. He collects strays and broken things because it makes him feel noble. Tomorrow he’ll grow bored.”

The words hit where I was weakest.

Used.

Discarded.

Temporary.

Silas glanced back at me, reading too much in my face.

His jaw tightened.

Kael saw it and smiled wider.

“See? Even now you doubt him.”

I hated that part of me.

Silas released my arm.

The loss of heat was instant.

He stepped forward until he and Kael were almost chest to chest.

“You want a challenge?” Silas asked quietly.

Kael’s smile sharpened.

“I want what belongs to me.”

Silas slammed his fist into Kael’s jaw.

The room roared.

They collided again.

This time they shifted halfway, wolves breaking through skin and bone in flashes of fur and claws. Not full transformation—too tight a space—but enough to become monstrous.

Kael was faster.

Silas was crueler.

Kael clawed Silas across the chest.

Silas drove a knee into Kael’s stomach and bit his shoulder hard enough to draw blood.

I could not look away.

The dark-haired biker from earlier dragged two unconscious hunters outside and shouted at me.

“Mira! Back room. Now!”

“I’m not leaving him.”

His brows shot up.

“You know him for an hour.”

“He bled for me.”

He stared, then barked a rough laugh.

“Damn. You really are trouble.”

He tossed me a small blade.

“If anyone grabs you, use that.”

I caught it badly.

He winced.

“Maybe just scream instead.”

Kael landed a brutal punch that sent Silas crashing into the bar.

Bottles shattered over him.

My heart stopped.

Kael stalked forward, blood dripping from his mouth.

“This ends now.”

Silas rose slowly through broken glass.

He rolled his neck once.

Then looked at me.

Not Kael.

Me.

“Still your choice?” he asked.

Everything froze.

Even Kael glanced at me.

I knew what he meant.

I could stop this.

Walk back to Silver Ridge.

Let them chain me.

Let Kael win.

No more blood tonight.

But blood forever after.

My throat tightened.

Kael extended a hand.

“Come home, Mira. I’ll forgive this scene.”

Forgive.

As if mercy were his gift.

Silas said nothing.

He simply waited.

For my answer.

I looked at Kael, the man who taught me humiliation.

Then at Silas, the man who had insulted me, challenged me, and still asked what I wanted.

My voice shook with fury.

“I would rather die here.”

Kael’s face emptied.

No rage.

No charm.

Nothing.

That scared me more than shouting.

He turned to Silas.

“You hear that?”

Silas bared bloodied teeth.

“Every beautiful word.”

Kael attacked like madness.

The fight became savage.

No technique now.

Just violence.

Kael drove claws into Silas’s side.

I screamed.

Silas seized Kael by the throat and hurled him through the front doors into the dirt outside.

The entire bar surged after them.

I ran too.

Cold night air hit my face as wolves circled the clearing.

Headlights from motorcycles cut through darkness.

Kael spat blood into the dust and laughed.

“You always wanted my place, Kane.”

Silas stalked forward.

“No. I wanted men like you gone.”

Kael looked at me over Silas’s shoulder.

Then he said the words that froze my blood.

“She’s in heat.”

The clearing went silent.

I stumbled back.

No.

Impossible.

Too early.

Too sudden.

But my own scent hit me then—richer, warmer, changing under fear and adrenaline.

Every male in the yard went still.

Every gaze sharpened.

Silas turned slowly toward me.

His eyes were no longer gold.

They had gone pure wolf.

Kael smiled through split lips.

“Fight me all you want,” he said. “But by pack law, an omega in heat must be returned to her claimant.”

My stomach dropped.

Silas’s gaze locked on mine.

Hungry.

Furious.

Barely controlled.

Then he growled one terrifying sentence.

“Get inside. Now.”