LOGINRyker's POVI felt it before I understood it.A pulse of raw, cracking emotion that hit me mid-shower and stopped me cold. Not pain exactly, but very close.Duke surged instantly. "Something is wrong—"It took me one second to know what it meant."Ayla." Her name slipped from my lips before I'd thought it. I grabbed a towel and wrapped it around my waist, water still dripping from my hair.No time to think, no time to get dressed—the bond was screaming, and Duke was clawing at the walls of my mind, and I was moving on pure instinct before I'd formed a single rational thought.Soren burst through his bedroom door at the same moment, wearing the same urgency on his face.We looked at each other for half a second before the scent hit us both—berries. Warm and sweet and unmistakably hers."She's here," Duke said. "Find her."The dread was already building in my stomach as I moved.Soren's gaze cut toward Kael's room. He lifted his nose, jaw tightening. "She went to Kael's room," he said,
Ayla’s POVI pushed the door open, and immediately three heads snapped in my direction, as if they had been expecting me.My whole body froze, my hand still gripping the door handle.The scene before me was not for the faint-hearted—chains and whips and erotic toys scattered everywhere. Candles burned in the corners, casting a strange glow; the bed lamps were covered in sadistic red fabric.My gaze landed on Lisa, shamelessly sprawled nude across Kael’s bed, legs wide. Condom wrappers in every flavor and color were scattered on the bed and floor.Her head was tilted back, golden hair spilling over her shoulder, blue eyes finding mine as her hand moved between her legs. She looked completely unashamed, like she belonged here—like she’d always belonged here and had been doing this for a while.Tracy stood against the wall, arms crossed, dressed in the bare minimum—fancy black see-through lingerie. Her calculating green gaze watched me with a small, deliberate smile that said she knew ex
Ayla's POVI felt them before I heard them. The bond shifted—all three threads pulling taut, then releasing. The frantic pulse that had me gripping the infirmary table smoothed into something urgent but no longer screaming."They're back," Tala said, tail wagging.I was off the table before she finished. Luna Ria didn't try to stop me this time. I ran down the hallway as fast as I could without crashing into anything.The front door opened just as I rounded the last corner to the entrance hall.Kael entered first. His gaze found me immediately. He looked tired.I slowed as I approached, dread filling my insides.There was a cut above Kael's jaw and dried blood on his hands that I chose not to look at too closely, but he was upright, and he was here.Still, the feeling didn't leave. My knees buckled as I stepped closer. Kael caught me, pulling me upright."Steady now," he said, supporting me.Soren stepped inside next, and the feeling grew."Where's Ryker?" I whispered, anxiety rising.
Kael's POVTime did something strange.One moment it was racing—the chaos of the fight, the rogues, the grey wolf's impossible size, and those too-aware eyes—and then Ryker's paws lost purchase on the crumbling rock, the edge gave way, and time just stopped.I watched it happen. Couldn't move. Couldn't think. Couldn't do the thing I did in every situation—assess, respond, and lead.I just stood there in wolf form, frozen at the boundary, watching the cliff collapse and my brother disappear into the white below."Goddess," I muttered. "There's no way he survives that—"The grey wolf threw its head back and howled. The sound tore through the air and turned my stomach because I recognized it—a victory call. Deliberate. Triumphant. The sound of something that had come here with a specific purpose and accomplished it.As if on cue, the rogues retreated. Every single one, simultaneously, pulled back into the tree line and vanished the way they'd come. They left behind only churned snow, blo
Soren's POVI admitted it—the moment the mind link came through about rogues at the north boundary, something in me settled.Not because I wanted a fight, not exactly. But there was a kind of anger that had nowhere to go inside four walls. It paced and built and turned on itself until it found something to push against. Moving through the tree line toward the north boundary, with Blaze surging hot and ready beneath my skin, I felt it bleed off with every stride.I was still furious at Kael. I could process that eventually, with the patience I applied to everything that cost me.What I couldn't process was the ease of it—the way he'd made the decision and then stood and explained it like a strategy debrief, while I stood there feeling something I hadn't been prepared to feel."You'll process it," Blaze said."Later," I said. "Right now we handle this.""Yes," he agreed. "Later."The north boundary smelled wrong before we reached it.Not just the faint trace from the claw marks—this was
Ayla's POVThe packhouse felt wrong without them in it.Too quiet. Too still—the kind of stillness that wasn't peaceful but hollow, carrying the absence of people who had just been here and weren't anymore.I closed the front door behind me and stood in the entrance hall, listening.Somewhere deeper in the house are footsteps. Back and forth, restless, the rhythm of someone who couldn't make themselves stop moving.I followed the sound and found Luna Ria in the sitting room.She was pacing, arms crossed over her chest, dark hair loose and slightly disheveled in a way I'd never seen before. Her lips were moving slightly."—north boundary, three separate sightings. Jack said to stay inside, but if they've breached the perimeter markers, then the response team needs—"She stilled suddenly and turned.Her face whitened when she saw me.We looked at each other, and I could see she hadn't wanted me to hear that."Ayla." She exhaled my name like something she didn't know she needed to find.
Ayla’s POVThe forest is quieter this morning, as if everything is holding its breath, watching me flee from this miserable pack.I ignore the feeling and keep moving.I’ve only taken the basics—the clothes on my back and the money I saved from working at the coffee shop. It isn’t much, but at leas
Ryker’s POVI’m awake before I should be and groan out loud as my eyes flicker open. My head still spins from too much eggnog last night.I press my hand against my head, trying to stop the feeling. I lie there for a second, staring at the ceiling, trying to figure out what pulled me out of a soundl
Ayla’s POVLuna Ria disappears into the packhouse the moment she sees me moving. I guess someone must have called her; otherwise, she would have waited for me.She and Alpha Jack took me in after the fall of my pack.I push the depressing thoughts aside and focus on my breathing. The closer I get to
Ayla’s POVSnow falls in a slow, quiet drift all around me—not in the kind of way that makes it look magical.It just looks endless, a dull color of white and cold. It settles over everything—the trees, the ground, rooftops—as if trying to cover things up. As if, if it piles high enough, no one will







