The Bite’s Consequence

Lena woke drowning in fire.

It licked her veins, curled beneath her skin, and pulsed in the hollow of her throat where his teeth had sunk deep. She shot upright, breath ragged, clutching at her neck. The skin was smooth—too smooth—no punctures, no blood. But she felt it. A throb that wasn’t just pain. It was hunger.

The room spun, heavy with smoke and pine. She blinked until it sharpened into stone walls, firelight, a fur-draped bed. The same den. The same prison.

And him.

Kade Wilder sat in the shadows, shirtless, wounds stitched, golden eyes burning through the dark like coals. He didn’t move. Didn’t speak. Just watched her.

Her heart hammered. “How long was I out?”

“Hours.” His voice was rough, deeper somehow. “You fought like hell. You bled like pack. Then you collapsed.”

Images slammed into her skull—the circle, Mara’s claws at her throat, the taste of blood in her mouth, the shock of the pack when she didn’t fall. She winced, dragging her knees to her chest. “They wanted me dead.”

“They wanted proof.” He leaned forward, forearms braced on his thighs, the fire gilding the scars across his shoulders. “You gave it to them.”

Her laugh was bitter. “By accident. I don’t even know what I did out there.”

Kade’s lips curved, not soft but dangerous. “You listened to me.”

Her head snapped up. “What?”

“The bond,” he said simply, like it explained everything. “When you fought, it was me inside your veins. My instincts. My rage. My strength. Flowing into you.”

Her stomach knotted. “So I didn’t win. You fought through me.”

“You lived,” he growled, his eyes flashing. “That’s all that matters.”

Lena shoved the furs aside, swinging her legs off the bed. “Not to me.” Her bare feet hit cold stone. She swayed, but forced herself upright. Her body ached everywhere, but beneath the pain was something else—a restless, twitching energy she couldn’t control.

She paced, ignoring his eyes tracking every step. “You bit me without asking. You dragged me into your circus of wolves. And now you’re telling me I don’t even have control of my own body anymore?”

Kade rose. One step and the air thickened, filled with him. “You have more than control,” he said, his voice silk wrapped around steel. “You have power.”

Her laugh was sharp, shaking. “Power? I’m a prisoner. I can’t even walk out the door without being torn apart.”

“You’d be torn apart without me.” His words cracked, his control slipping. “The rogues scented you. The rival Alpha saw you. That mark makes you a target.”

Lena stopped pacing, chest heaving. “Then maybe you shouldn’t have marked me!”

The silence after burned. The fire popped, sparks snapping. His jaw flexed, golden eyes narrowing until she felt pinned to the wall.

“You think I had a choice?” he asked softly. Too softly. “Rogues would’ve ripped you apart. The pack would’ve finished the job. The bite was the only way to keep you alive.”

Alive. But bound.

She wrapped her arms around herself, trying to smother the heat building inside her. “It doesn’t feel like living.”

He stalked closer, and her back hit the cold stone. His hand pressed flat to the wall beside her head, his body a cage, his scent drowning her—smoke, pine, male. “Then tell me what it feels like.”

Her breath hitched. The bond pulsed hot, tugging her toward him, whispering things her mind refused to say. Her thighs pressed together, heat pooling low, shame burning hotter than fire.

She whispered the only truth she dared. “Wrong.”

Kade’s head tilted, his mouth close enough that his breath ghosted her lips. “Then why are you trembling for me, little trespasser?”

Her hands fisted at her sides. She hated him. She wanted him. Both burned the same.

“Get out of my head.”

His thumb brushed her jaw, slow, deliberate. “You’re not in your head anymore.” His gaze dropped to her throat, to the mark that wasn’t visible but still pulsed under his tongue. “You’re in mine.”

Her pulse stuttered, her knees weak. For a heartbeat she thought she’d sink into him, let the fire take her. But then the memory of Mara’s claws, of the red-eyed stranger at the edge of the trees, slammed back.

She shoved at his chest. Hard. “If I’m yours, then prove it. Keep me safe without locking me in your damn cage.”

His eyes flashed, fury and hunger battling in their depths. For a long, suffocating moment, he didn’t move. Then, with a snarl, he stepped back, ripping the air away with him.

“You want freedom?” His voice was sharp as a blade. “You’ll have to earn it. In blood.”

Lena’s stomach dropped. “What does that mean?”

“It means,” he growled, turning away, shoulders rigid, “the pack accepts you for now. But tomorrow, the council decides if you stay.”

“And if they don’t?”

He looked over his shoulder, golden eyes catching firelight. “Then they’ll tear you apart.”

Her blood went cold.

Kade crossed the room, pulling a cloak from the wall, his back like carved stone. “Rest while you can. Tomorrow, you face them all.”

He left without another word, the heavy door slamming shut, sealing her in firelight and silence.

Lena sank onto the bed, clutching her burning throat, fighting tears she refused to let fall.

She wasn’t pack. She wasn’t free. She wasn’t even human anymore.

She was his.

And tomorrow, the pack would decide if that was enough to let her live.

The council chamber reeked of smoke and old blood.

Lena followed two guards down a narrow stone hall, her wrists bare but her skin crawling beneath their stares. She wanted to ask where Kade was, why he wasn’t the one dragging her here, but her pride locked her tongue. She would not beg for his shadow.

The doors opened.

The room was carved into the mountain itself, rough-hewn walls lit by torches, the floor packed dirt. Wolves lined the circle, some in human skin, others half-shifted, claws scraping the earth. Their eyes gleamed in the firelight—gold, silver, even strange shades of amber that caught and held her.

At the far end, raised on a platform of stone, sat the council. Elders, scarred and ancient, their presence heavy as the weight of the mountain. And at their center—Kade.

He was already watching her. His golden eyes locked onto hers, unreadable, but his posture screamed dominance. Shoulders square, chin lifted, every line of him carved with authority.

The guards shoved her into the circle.

Murmurs rippled through the pack. The human. The trespasser. The marked. Words hissed like snakes. She lifted her chin anyway, refusing to let them see fear.

An elder rose, her hair white as bone, her gaze sharp as broken glass. “This human bleeds with our Alpha’s mark.”

“She’s no wolf,” another spat.

“She bit like one,” someone muttered from the crowd.

A low growl rumbled through the chamber. Kade. He didn’t rise, didn’t move, but the sound silenced them all.

The elder spoke again. “By tradition, no human may bear the Alpha’s bite. Yet by blood, she carries his claim. The council must decide—accept her into Blackwood, or end her life.”

The words fell like stones into the silence. Lena’s lungs seized.

Kade stood then, slow, deliberate, every step echoing. His gaze burned the air as he crossed to her side. The wolves parted instinctively, though their eyes never left her.

He stopped beside her, his hand brushing the small of her back, subtle but firm. A silent warning: stand tall.

“She lives,” he said, voice ringing through the chamber. “She is mine.”

Murmurs exploded, furious, disbelieving.

A councilman slammed his fist on the stone table. “Your bond endangers us all! If a rival Alpha senses weakness—”

“He already has,” Kade snarled, cutting him off. His claws extended, catching the firelight. “The rogues in the forest. The red-eyed bastard at the border. You think they came for chance? No. They came because they smelled her blood. Our enemies already hunt her. Deny her now, and you hand them Blackwood’s heart.”

The words echoed, heavier than stone.

Lena’s breath caught. He wasn’t just defending her. He was tying her survival to the survival of the whole pack.

The elder tilted her head. “And if she falters? If she cannot carry the bond?”

Kade’s gaze slid to Lena, searing her in place. “Then she dies by my hand. Not yours.”

Her blood went cold.

The chamber roared, some voices howling in fury, others chanting his name. The sound shook the walls, rattled Lena’s bones.

Through it all, Kade didn’t look away from her. His hand pressed harder at her back, anchoring her even as the storm raged. His eyes said what his words didn’t: This is the only way. Stand with me, or fall alone.

Finally, the elder raised a hand. Silence fell, brittle and sharp.

“Then let it be tested,” she decreed. “At moonrise, three nights from now, the bond shall be proven. If she survives, she is pack. If she fails…” Her gaze sliced through Lena like ice. “The Alpha himself will end her.”

The decision rang final, heavy as iron.

Lena’s knees wavered, but she didn’t fall. She forced herself to meet the elder’s stare, to show teeth instead of weakness.

The crowd began to disperse, mutters thick in the air. Some glared at her, others smirked as though already picturing her corpse. A few—very few—watched with something like reluctant respect.

Kade didn’t move until the last wolf had gone. Then his hand gripped her wrist, dragging her out of the circle and into the torchlit hall.

She jerked against his hold. “You volunteered me for a death match.”

His jaw flexed. “I gave you three nights to learn.”

Her laugh cracked, harsh and sharp. “Learn what? How to be a wolf?”

He spun on her, slamming her against the stone wall, his face inches from hers. “Learn how to survive.”

Her breath hitched, but fury shoved back the fire. “And if I don’t?”

His eyes burned gold, his claws digging into the stone beside her head. “Then I keep my promise. I’ll kill you before they can.”

The words should’ve frozen her blood. Instead, the bond twisted them into something else—possession, protection, hunger. She hated it. She hated him. And she hated that her pulse thundered not in fear, but in something hotter.

Kade’s gaze dropped to her throat, lingering on the invisible mark. His voice dropped low, rough silk. “But you won’t fail. Because you’re mine. And mine never fall.”

He released her abruptly, leaving her trembling against the wall.

As his footsteps faded down the corridor, Lena pressed her hand to her throat, fire racing beneath her skin.

Three nights.

Three nights to prove she wasn’t prey.

Or she’d die by the teeth that claimed her.