Chapter 8

Nadia

The meeting was set for the following weekend, at neutral ground between our two territories. My father spent the days before preparing like it was a battle, going over talking points with his advisors, reviewing border reports, making sure nothing about the Royal Pack looked weak or desperate.

"Wear the blue," he told me the morning of, nodding at the formal dress laid out on my bed. "It's our pack color. If you're standing beside your mate as who you really are, you stand as our future Alpha, not just a girl from public school."

I ran my hand over the fabric, feeling the weight of it — not just cloth, but everything it represented. "I've never worn this outside the house before."

"Today you will." His voice was steady, but I caught the flicker of pride underneath the nerves. "Today, everyone sees exactly who you are."

The clearing where we met was simple — a wide, open field with old stone markers on either side, said to be neutral ground for generations. My father's advisors stood behind him. Across the field, Kade's father, Alpha Ashford, arrived with his own small group, Kade beside him.

I barely recognized Kade in his formal clothes, standing straighter than usual, more careful, though his eyes found mine immediately and softened just slightly, a private reassurance meant only for me.

"Alpha Ashford," my father said, extending a formal greeting. "Thank you for meeting on short notice."

"When my son insists something is urgent," Alpha Ashford replied, "I've learned to listen." His gaze moved to me, studying carefully, though not unkindly. "So this is the Royal Pack's hidden heir."

"Nadia," my father said. "My daughter, and the first female Alpha born to our bloodline in three generations."

A murmur passed through both groups of advisors, though Alpha Ashford himself simply nodded slowly, unsurprised. "My son mentioned as much. I confess, I suspected something like this myself, after the fall gathering."

"Word travels fast," my father said carefully.

"Word travels dangerously," Alpha Ashford corrected. "Which is precisely why we're here, I believe."

---

The negotiations that followed were more careful than I expected, both fathers testing each other's intentions before committing to anything. Kade's father laid out his proposal clearly: a formal recognition of the mate bond, paired with a defensive alliance between the two packs, not framed as the Royal Pack needing support, but as two strong territories choosing to stand together.

"Your northern border troubles," Alpha Ashford said, "become our concern as much as yours, the moment this bond is confirmed. Any pack testing your lines will be testing mine as well."

My father considered this carefully. "And in exchange?"

"In exchange, my son gets to keep the mate his wolf already chose, without the Royal Pack quietly marrying her off to secure a different border." Alpha Ashford's tone stayed even, but there was a pointed edge underneath it. "I assume Elder Row's offer is still on the table somewhere."

My father's expression flickered, surprised at how much the other Alpha already knew. "It is."

"Then let me make this simple," Alpha Ashford said. "Row's pack is smaller, weaker along your northern line than my own. If protection is truly the goal, our alliance serves you better in every practical sense. The only question is whether you're willing to trust a bond your daughter didn't ask for, but clearly didn't reject either."

All eyes turned to me. I felt the weight of it, every advisor, both Alphas, and Kade watching to see what I'd say.

"I didn't ask for this bond," I said carefully, "but I'm not looking for a way out of it either. I've spent my whole life hidden because people were afraid of what I might become if seen too clearly. I'm done hiding. If this alliance protects our people and lets me stand as who I actually am, then I choose it. Not because I have to. Because I want to."

Kade's eyes met mine across the clearing, something warm and certain passing between us despite the formal distance still separating our two groups.

My father studied me for a long moment, then turned back to Alpha Ashford. "Draft the terms. We'll review them formally by the end of the week."

---

Later, after the advisors dispersed to draw up official language and my father stepped aside to speak quietly with Alpha Ashford, Kade found me near the edge of the clearing.

"You surprised everyone back there," he said. "Including me."

"I meant every word."

"I know." He reached for my hand, this time without hesitation, without testing whether I'd pull away. My wolf settled immediately, warm and sure, the way she always did around him now. "For what it's worth, I'm glad you chose this. Not just because of the alliance. Because of us."

"Me too." I glanced back toward our fathers, still deep in careful conversation. "Though I don't think either of us fully understands what we just signed up for."

"Probably not," he admitted, a small smile tugging at his mouth. "Royal Pack politics, Ashford pack expectations, whoever's testing your borders still out there somewhere. Feels like the easy part's over."

"The easy part," I repeated, almost laughing. "Was any of this easy?"

"Fair point." He squeezed my hand gently. "But we're doing it together now. That's the part that matters most to me."

I looked out at the field, at both packs slowly gathering their things to leave, at my father's proud but careful expression as he shook Alpha Ashford's hand to seal the beginning of something neither of our families could fully predict yet.

For the first time since I'd snuck into that public school under a fake name, I didn't feel like I was hiding from my future.

I felt like I was finally walking straight into it.

But even as hope settled warm in my chest, a smaller, colder thought lingered underneath it — whoever had been testing our borders wouldn't simply back down because of one formal alliance. If anything, confirming the bond so publicly meant the danger stalking the edges of our territory now had a much clearer target.

Me.