Jax Ate A Knife & Kept Going

It was only her second shift. The first had been in pain. This one felt... like returning.

Like her body had been waiting to remember it.

Every leap through the snow felt like she had been born for it.

She didn't want to stop.

But her legs were beginning to ache.

And when the trees thinned, she saw it. A hot spring with steam rising in soft spirals. It was tucked between the rocks like a hidden gift.

She slowed, breath heaving, and padded toward a tree.

She shifted mid-step, skin replacing fur in a shimmer of silver, and collapsed to her knees, panting.

The cold slammed into her at once.

Thank the gods for enchanted training suits. At least she wasn't naked on top of everything else. Training suits included built-in boots, made with the same material so she also wasn't barefoot in the snow. Another win.

Then she heard something.

Voices.

Nova went still.

For a second she assumed they were rogues, but the cadence was wrong. The way they spoke — clipped, sharp, organized — marked them as soldiers.

"...get in, get out. No fighting unless we have to."

"If needed, we'll slip, poison the mage. Quietly. Without him, their shields drop."

Her heart slammed against her ribs.

Poison the mage? Aeron?

How did they know about Aeron? He was a secret weapon that not even everyone in the pack knew. Let alone outsiders.

She crept quietly to the edge of the rocks, staying low.

Four of them. Black leather armor. No pack insignia.

Her stomach turned.

She tried to remember what she knew — how to backtrack silently. How to avoid scent trails.

If only she were actually a member of the Shadowclaw pack... she would have mindlinked someone. Jax. Aeron.

But even if she could, would they want to hear from her?

Their expressions... she shuttered thinking about it.

They're afraid of me.

She clenched her fists, the cold creeping into her skin.

I need to warn them.

She turned—

Too late.

Rough hands grabbed her, followed by his arms around her waist.

She let out a high-pitched scream, but a palm clamped down over her mouth.

"That was easier than I thought it'd be," a man growled in her ear.

And then pain.

He slammed her into the frozen ground. She gasped, but another man grabbed her leg. A third came from behind.

A boot cracked into her stomach and on her already bruised rib, knocking the air from her lungs.

✦✦✦

Fin was running hard, snow whipping at his sides, paws pounding like war drums across the forest floor — when it hit him.

A surge of emotion through the bond. Not fear or sadness anymore.

Terror.

So sharp it made his wolf stumble mid-stride.

His claws dug into the earth, and his head whipped in the direction of the pull, heart beating so hard he could hear it. Something was wrong.

Then he heard it — a scream. High-pitched. Nova.

No. No no no—

He could sense she was in a lot of pain. He pushed harder, dodging trees, muscles burning with speed. And then he saw her on the ground.

She was surrounded by masked rogues or warriors. Fin couldn't fully tell.

One rogue had her by the throat. Her face twisted in pain. Another warrior kicked her again while she was down.

A fire lit in Finric's chest.

Xeon: Mine.

A growl built deep in his throat—ready to kill. He attempted to mindlink his Border & Patrol Captain, Gamma, and Beta.

Fin: Multiple attackers. Need backup immediately.

No response.

He needed to get her out of there. Just as he leaped into the fight, a shape shot out from the left.

Jax.

The gamma slammed into the knife-wielding rogue like a meteor, tackling him backward. The knife sank into his side, but Jax didn't stop.

With a savage twist of his jaw, Jax's fangs closed over the rogue's throat and ripped it clean.

Blood sprayed.

The other attackers paused in shock.

Fin skidded to a halt just as Jax went down, panting, blood soaking his side.

And then—Nova stood up, blood coming out of her mouth and stumbled over to Jax. She grabbed the knife pulling it from him and cut her hand before he realized what was happening.

Her silver blood poured onto him. The wound glowed with her hand above. White. Blinding. Soft.

He was still in wolf form, but it was clear he wasn't in pain anymore.

A second later, he stood up, completely healed. He was on alert, ready to protect.

She dropped back down to her knees and hands holding her rib.

Three wolves lunged for her. Snarling. Fangs bared. Kill orders in their eyes.

And then—

BOOM!

A pulse of blinding white light exploded from Nova, lifting the wolves into the air and slamming them into the trees with bone-snapping force.

She collapsed, laying on her side on the ground.

They dropped, unconscious.

The blast went in all directions — except two.

Fin and Jax weren't touched. The glow faded.

Fin rushed over now standing above her, back in human form, shirtless, furious, jaw clenched so tightly it looked carved from stone.

He didn't touch her or say anything. But his entire body was shaking.

The attackers blood stained the snow.

And the only sound was Nova gasping for breath.

Fin read her emotions through the mate bond. He dropped to his knees beside her.

"You didn't do anything wrong."

She looked up at him, wide-eyed.

And for the first time, he didn't try to hide it.

"You're mine."