Chapter 5

Damian – POV

I didn't wait.

The second the mindlink snapped with the words "only one scent, female", I shifted.

Pain tore through me—bone stretching, skin splitting—until the world narrowed and my massive black wolf exploded forward like a bullet. The ground shook beneath each stride. Trees blurred past. The cold bit into my fur, but I didn't stop. I couldn't.

The other Alphas followed—Kael a silent shadow, Riven all sharp fury, and Lucas a blur of heat and reckless speed. Together we tore through the forest like a goddamn pack of hellhounds.

Her scent was faint but undeniable.

Female. Not rogue. Not pack. Something else. And it threaded through the trees like a trail of smoke and blood.

I didn't like it.

None of us did.

The closer we got, the more our instincts screamed. The wind carried panic now—raw, sour. We pushed harder, paws clawing through mud and root and stone.

Then I saw them—the patrol, circling ahead.

And beyond them... her.

My paws skidded across the dirt as I came to a stop, my wolf snarling low.

She was standing at the edge of the ravine.

Barely.

Her clothes were torn, hanging off her like scraps. Dirt and blood smeared her skin. Her hair was wild, tangled across her face. And her eyes—

Gods.

Her eyes were wide with terror.

She looked like she'd seen death and barely outrun it.

I shifted mid-stride, rising in a snap of bone and muscle, fur retreating as my human form took its place—chest heaving, heart thundering. The others followed, tense and watching, forming a wall behind me.

I stepped forward, voice low, but it echoed like thunder across the clearing.

"What happened to you?"

She flinched at the sound.

Tears welled in her eyes, and for a second, I thought she'd collapse.

She flinched at the sound of my voice.

Then her knees buckled.

I moved instinctively, catching her just before she crumpled to the ground. Her body was ice-cold, shaking violently, skin torn and smeared with old blood and fresh bruises.

Up close, she looked even worse.

Too pale. Too fragile.

Too damn broken.

She tried to speak—lips trembling, throat working around a sound that barely came out.

But then she looked up at me, those wide, haunted eyes locking with mine.

And I heard it.

Soft.

Choked.

Barely even there.

"Help me."

Two words.

But they hit like a blade.

My chest tightened. My grip on her instinctively tightened too. Not in anger. In protection. My wolf was snarling beneath my skin, a wild, guttural promise ready to be unleashed on whoever had done this to her.

I nodded once, jaw tight.

"I've got you," I said low, firm, even as something cold began to crawl down my spine.

Because even as I held her...

She wasn't looking at me anymore.

Her head tilted slightly, her eyes drifting—slow, unfocused, and full of something I didn't expect.

Not fear.

Not confusion.

Recognition.

She looked past me, toward the others.

First Kael.

Then Riven.

Then Lucas.

And the moment her eyes passed over them—something shifted.

The air changed.

Heavier. Denser. Like the forest itself had inhaled and held its breath.

My chest clenched as a sharp, burning pull ripped through me—deep, primal, real. My wolf reared beneath my skin, snarling, pacing, reaching for her.

Then Kael staggered back half a step.

Riven cursed low under his breath, a sound almost too human for his wolf form.

Lucas blinked like he'd been struck across the face.

The bond hit us all at once.

Fated.

She's fated... to us.

The realization slammed into my chest like a freight train. I couldn't breathe.

No. This couldn't be. Not here. Not now.

And yet—

There was no denying the pull. The warmth buried beneath the chaos. The echo of her soul humming in perfect sync with ours.

An omega.

Our omega.

She blinked slowly, her lips parting like she was trying to speak. Her fingers clutched weakly at my shirt, like even now, some piece of her knew—belonged.

Then—

She collapsed against me.

Unconscious.

My arms tightened instinctively, shielding her as if the world might try to take her away.

Behind me, none of the Alphas spoke.

They didn't have to.

We all felt it.

The pull.

The bond.

The beginning.

And the storm that would follow.