Mine to break

POV KILLIAN

My wolf was not merely awake, it was raving, screaming inside my skull with one word pounding against every wall of my mind until nothing else fit: Blood.

For twenty-four hours I had forced myself to believe she meant nothing. I repeated it every second, the Moon Goddess had made a mistake, Sienna Hayes was nothing but an opportunistic stray, a burden my father had dragged kicking and screaming to Iron Ridge. But the second I saw that damned name glowing on her screen, the moment I scented the stale, arrogant claim of another male marking what my beast had already staked as its own, whatever shred of sanity I had left turned to ash in my throat.

I did not wait for orders. I did not care that she called my name behind me, frantic, as I strode through the bunker hangar, every muscle coiled tight enough to snap.

I climbed into my black truck, fired the engine with a roar that shook the concrete, and tore out toward the southern border. Tires spun on damp gravel as I ate the two kilometers of mountain road in less time than it takes a heart to beat three times.

I slammed to a halt twenty meters short of the runic pine line. The air inside the cab was thick — storm-charged, ozone-sharp, barely contained rage. I dropped to the ground in one leap and slammed the armored door hard enough to rattle the metal.

There he was. Trash.

The boy did not even look like a fighter. Frayed denim jacket, hands stuffed deep in pockets, glaring at the electric fence as if sheer petulance could blast a hole through it. He reeked of asphalt, cheap gasoline, haste and cowardice, a city bred wolf who would not survive a single winter in these mountains.

He turned sharply at the crunch of brush under my boots.

"Who the hell are you?" Jaxon spat, stepping forward with bluster so thin it was almost laughable. "I’m looking for Sienna. I know she’s stuck in this… place. Tell her to come out right now or I’m gonna..”

He never finished.

I moved with the speed only pure Alpha blood can give, faster than thought, faster than a blink. I crossed the clearing in a blur, tore through the undergrowth, and descended on him like a landslide.

My right hand locked around his throat before he could blink. His back slammed into the trunk of a centuries-old pine hard enough to shake the upper branches, raining dry needles down over us.

"Or you’re gonna what, little stray?" I roared. My voice did not sound human, warped, guttural, my wolf speaking straight through me, thick with the hunger to destroy.

His eyes went wide, pupils shrinking to pinpricks in pure, animal terror. He scrabbled at my forearm, half-formed claws scratching uselessly, but my grip was forged iron. I lifted him off the ground with one hand, letting his feet kick empty air.

"You…" he choked, face purpling. "You’re one of them… she’s… she’s my girlfriend…"

That word was the spark.

Rage bleached the edges of my vision, burning everything scarlet. My fingers tightened and I felt his trachea creak, fragile and yielding beneath my palm.

"She is nothing of yours," I snarled, leaning in until my storm-heavy breath scalded his face. "Say her name again and I’ll tear your tongue out before feeding you to the mountain buzzards."

"KILLIAN, STOP!"

Tires screeched, tearing the forest silence. A patrol truck skidded sideways on the road and the passenger door flew open before it had fully stopped.

Sienna.

She ran toward me, eyes wild, chest heaving as if she’d sprinted the whole way. Had she come to save him? Did this piece of garbage actually matter to her?

"Let him go!" she shouted, reaching us and grabbing my bandaged arm. "Killian, you’re going to kill him! Let him go!"

The touch of her palms detonated fire beneath my skin. The bond hit me like lightning, but instead of calming the beast, possession multiplied tenfold. She was here, close, warm, her hands on me… and that bastard watching her like he had any right.

I turned my head slowly toward her, my eyes completely, unreservedly gold.

"Do you care about this insect, Sienna?" I asked, with a calm so cold it could freeze blood, ignoring the strangled gasps of the man hanging in my grip.

"I don’t care about him!" she fired back, furious, meeting my gaze without flinching. "I ended things with him before I ever came here! But I won’t stand by while you commit murder on the border just because your pride is bruised!"

"This is not pride," I growled, low and undeniable.

I turned back to the boy in my hand and slammed him once more against the tree, hard enough to rattle his teeth, to make sure every word burned into his skull.

"Listen to me very closely, piece of shit," I whispered into his ear, my voice so icy he began to shake from head to toe. "If I ever see you within fifty kilometers of this territory again… if you so much as dial her number… if you even dream her name… I will hunt you down like a rabid dog and bury your bones where no one will ever find you."

I squeezed just a fraction harder and he whimpered.

"Stay away from my girl."

I hurled him to the ground with utter contempt. He landed on his knees in the damp dirt, coughing, clutching his bruised throat as he dragged ragged breaths into his lungs.

"Run," I told him, not deigning to look at him. "Before my wolf decides it would rather see you dead."

He did not wait to be told twice. He scrambled up, tripping over roots, and fled toward the road as if the devil himself was at his heels. He never looked back.

The forest fell quiet again, broken only by our ragged breathing.

I turned slowly to face her. She stood two paces away, cheeks flushed, hair wind-tousled, staring me down with those dark eyes that unraveled me — but beneath the anger I saw it: shock. Pure, stunned realization at what had just left my mouth.

My girl.

The words hung between us, heavy and irrevocable.

"‘Your girl’?" Her voice trembled as she took a step forward, jabbing a finger into my chest. "I’m your girl now, Thorne? You, the same man who called me a stray hours ago and said you’d never accept me as Luna?"

I swept my gaze over her, devouring her. My wolf still clawed to get out, to push her back against this very tree and scour every trace of him from her skin with my own mouth.

I closed the space between us in one step, until our noses nearly brushed, until we shared the same breath.

"Hate me all you want, Sienna," I said, voice rough and low, meant only for her. "But while you carry this bond tied to my blood, no other male will ever lay a hand on you. If anyone is going to make your life hell in this pack… it’s going to be me.".