Chapter four

Athena

The air thrums with energy wolf and engine combined and my chest feels like it’s going to explode. Tristan’s presence is magnetic, unbearable, yet grounding all at once. He doesn’t look at me, but I can feel every glance, every unspoken command, every pulse of his bond rattling through me.

The approaching riders aren’t just any threat. They’re unknown, unmarked, and moving too fast to be civilians. The Razorbacks fan out, engines idling but ready, weapons discreetly at the ready. Tristan’s shoulders tense, and I recognize the warning in the tilt of his head, the subtle shift in his stance. This is him fully Alpha ,my Alpha and he hasn’t even spoken a word yet.

“Stay behind me,” he orders, voice low but impossible to ignore.

My wolf snarls. I don’t move. I won’t.

“Now,” he says, sharper this time.

I step back, chest tight, eyes never leaving him. Every nerve ending screams that this is exactly where I’m meant to be, even if every rational thought tells me I’m a liability.

The first bike skids into the clearing, headlights cutting through the gray light, engine roaring like a beast from the underworld. The rider’s head snaps toward us, face obscured by a black helmet, leather cut catching the glow of the fading sun.

“Unmarked,” Tristan mutters. “Good. They don’t belong to any MC I recognize.”

He shifts slightly, boots crunching against gravel, his hand brushing the hilt of a concealed weapon. My pulse hammers. The bond flares violently at the sense of threat, my wolf surging in tandem with his.

“Tristan…” I murmur, almost instinctively.

His gaze finds mine for a heartbeat, amber eyes burning, and there’s something unsaid in that glance. Protection. Possession. Warning. Desire. It’s all there, layered and raw, and my wolf responds, tail lashing invisibly, heart thudding as though we are one.

“Two,” Tristan counts aloud. And two more riders appear, closing the distance in synchronized rhythm. His MC fans out, positioning with military precision. I see the Razorbacks communicate without words, every movement rehearsed, fluid, deadly.

I’ve never seen him like this. Not just Alpha, but predator and protector all at once. My body betrays me—heat curls low in my belly, a dangerous, painful reminder that he’s mine and always has been, even when he denied it.

The unmarked riders slow, scanning the perimeter, their posture tense but unsure. They don’t know what they’re walking into.

“Identify yourselves,” Tristan calls, voice booming across the clearing, authority radiating off him in waves.

No response.

“Idiots,” he mutters, and my lips twitch with a mixture of admiration and fear. He’s lethal. Calculated. Every muscle primed for action.

My wolf rumbles in my chest. We are ready. Ready to fight. Ready to kill. Ready to die if we have to. For him. For the bond. For what we are.

One of the riders leans forward, motioning with a gun, and that’s all it takes. Tristan shifts, a blur of movement, pulling me behind him. The world narrows to instinct, to bond, to survival.

“Get down!” he shouts, and my knees hit the gravel just as gunfire erupts. The bullets thud into trees, missing by inches, and the bond screams with the danger, pulsing against my ribs. My wolf rises, fury and excitement mingling into a tangible force.

Tristan doesn’t hesitate. He moves fluidly, commanding his men, dodging fire, returning it with precision. Every action calculated, every movement predatory. My chest swells with awe and a dangerous heat I cannot contain. This is the man who claimed me, the one who ran from fate, now embracing it fully.

I shift beside him, instinctively, wolf pressing forward, senses heightened. The bond hums, syncing with his movements, reminding me that we are linked, that I am not powerless when I am near him.

“Cover the east side!” he barks to one of his men. “Red shift with me. Alpha’s flank.”

I watch him. He’s dangerous. Beautiful. Unrelenting. Mine. The thought alone makes my heart race, wolf aching for him in ways I’ve never admitted.

The firefight is brief but intense. The unmarked riders, realizing they are outmatched, retreat, skidding back into the treeline with engine screams and curses. Tristan’s men stand ready, weapons trained, eyes scanning for any sign of a counterattack.

He finally turns to me, chest heaving, hair matted from sweat and adrenaline, eyes blazing with something feral and intimate. The world seems to hold its breath.

“You’re not hurt,” he says, voice low, almost a growl. “Did they touch you?”

I shake my head, breathing hard. My wolf purrs, content for the first time since he returned, echoing his relief.

“Good,” he mutters, but there’s a storm beneath that calm. A storm that promises consequences, reckoning, and possession.

I can’t stop myself. I take a step forward, hand brushing his chest. Heat explodes between us, a dangerous reminder that even in battle, even in the chaos of danger, this bond cannot be ignored.

“You were right,” I whisper. “You are stronger now. You are… everything.”

His gaze drops to my lips, then back to my eyes, gold glowing. “Everything?” he repeats, voice husky, dangerous, and the way he says it makes my knees weaken.

“Yes,” I breathe. “And don’t think for a second I’m running again.”

A corner of his mouth lifts into a shadowed smile, wolf in his eyes, fire in his stance. He steps closer, every motion deliberate. The bond thrums, screaming, vibrating between us in wild, unstoppable pulses.

“You won’t have the chance,” he mutters. “I’m not letting you go. Not again.”

My wolf growls low and satisfied. I know he means it. I feel it deep in my bones.

Orion watches silently, still Alpha, still protective, but even he cannot deny the pull between us. Tristan claimed me once with his words, his touch, and now, with danger pressing in from all sides, he claims me again fully, unapologetically, and without hesitation.

The sun dips lower, casting long shadows across the clearing. Tristan’s men secure the perimeter, engines idling like coiled snakes ready to strike. He finally releases a breath, scanning the treeline one last time.

Then he steps toward me. Hands drift to my waist, fingers brushing, magnetic and claiming. The bond flares once more, hot and unyielding, and I know without a single doubt that the Alpha I’ve loved, feared, and desired for years is back to stay.

“Five years,” he murmurs, lips grazing my temple. “And I never stopped trying to find my way back to you.”

I close my eyes, wolf leaning against him, body melting into his heat, soul trembling at the promise of what’s coming.

“Never again,” I whisper. “Don’t ever leave me again.”

His hands tighten, possessive, protective, and undeniably mine.

“Never,” he promises. “Not this time. Not ever.”

And I know deep in the core of me, in the roar of my wolf, in the pulse of the bond that this is only the beginning.

The world may be dangerous, the packs may whisper, and enemies may linger, but I am claimed. Fully. Completely. By the biker Alpha who will never let me go again.

And this time…

He isn’t just claiming me with his body.

He’s claiming me with his heart, his soul, his everything.

Every fight, every scar, every battle he has survived… it has led him to this moment.

And I am finally his.