The prospect of fighting something excites her. I trot away from the pond, picking up speed into a loping run. This is amazing. I’m flying through the trees, covering so much ground in a short period of time.

Every sensation is a new revelation. I love this. It brings a renewed appreciation for the mountain to experience its beauty like this.

The thunder of others makes me hover between the trunks of two large trees. The pack is running together. The urge to join them tugs at me. I lick my lips with a whine.

My wolf wants to be with them, as she should because they’re pack, they’re hers. I stop her from following them. No, it’s safer here. We’re better off on our own.

I lower my nose to the ground, snuffling through dead leaves and underbrush to follow a tangy trail that snags my attention. I lick up a crunchy bug on the way and pause to paw at a worm before continuing. The trail leads to a scat pile.

Internally, I grimace while my wolf does her thing. When I listened to people talk of hunting, the details of the mechanics didn’t occur to me.

Circling the area, the same sharp tang wafts through the trees in another direction. I pause, ears swiveling to take in the rustle of branches in the wind, the trickle of a nearby stream, and—there. Prey dashing through the woods.

I crouch low and stalk. When I cross an old fallen tree from the high vantage point to lower ground, I smell a rabbit. It’s digging nearby. Though I’m careful to approach, it freezes, thumping the ground with its back foot to warn off others.

Impatience gets the best of me. I dart for it, lengthening my strides when it gives chase. Just as I think I have it, the rabbit swerves to escape my jaws. I jump into the air to pounce on it, sliding down a slope when I hit a pile of decaying leaves.

My wolf chuffs at my clumsiness, tugging control back from me. My laughter becomes a series of yips from our upturned snout. Our tongue lolls from the side of our mouth.

Then I scent oakmoss, and a cooling breeze through the midday sun in the high field, and fresh cut cedar sticky with sap. Caden.

Once I hone in on his scent, the whole forest smells of him. He’s in the trees and the dirt, at the water’s edge where he’s stopped to drink before, the traces of him fading. He’s everywhere around me.

Mate.

No. He’s not ours. We don’t want him because he doesn’t want us.

My wolf doesn’t understand. If he doesn’t want her, why did he attack the offensive male? She liked that. He is strong, a good fighter. She scents the air to find which direction he’s in. To see his wolf and run with him.

No, I growl.

She flicks her tail at me, pacing through a patch of ferns. There’s something she’s focused on, but I can’t figure it out.

With the reminder that Caden’s out there somewhere, the aching throb of the incomplete bond returns. I stagger, flopping to my side, panting deeply. My wolf doesn’t like this feeling. Her annoyed rumble becomes a drawn out somber howl.

I lay prone for a long time. Too long. Something could get us like this. A bear, another pack member. I’m just laying here feeling sorry for myself.

No. A broken bond won’t be my end.

I’m stronger than this. So is my wolf.

With effort, I make it to my feet. We wobble a moment, enduring another wave of pain. Stupid mate. He did this to us. He doesn’t get to hurt us anymore.

Bit by bit, the aching cavernous emptiness in my chest becomes bearable. Not gone, but a dulled throb of a freshly healing wound scabbing over. Bearable if I grit my teeth. Ignorable if I pretend it doesn’t exist.

I haven’t survived this long after everything changed to allow something like this to break me now.

As awful as being rejected is, I’m stronger than my despair. Being at odds with this pack has never been easy. I’ll survive being rejected by my mate because I’m good at picking up the pieces.

I don’t need Caden.

9CADEN

Avery has a wolf. I hardly believe my eyes when she shifts before me, my wolf divided between the strong desire to go to her and biting my cousin’s face off. Once she scampers off, the lashing heartbeat in my ears subsides. My chest heaves with my labored breathing and my hold on Lorne’s throat flexes. I don’t release him, keeping him pinned because I’m not satisfied yet.

“Let me up,” Lorne says through his teeth.

“No.”

He jerks, meeting my eyes again in another unspoken challenge. “Caden⁠—”

I flash my teeth to shut him up. “You defy your alpha when he demands your submission? Show me your neck before I force you to shift and tear your pelt from your hide to teach you a lesson. Submit.”

Despite the roughness of my wolf bleeding into my voice with Alpha command, he holds out another second, five, ten. With each one I squeeze his throat a little tighter, grinding my knee into his abdomen. At last, his gaze drops away. With a rough grunt, I wrench his head to the side. He lies prone, hands out to expose his stomach when I rise to my feet.

Good. I can’t deal with rebellions like his. It’ll disrupt the pack, divide them into factions more than they already are. He could issue a challenge for the right to my title, the right to take the pack from me.

I won’t let that happen. My attention drifts to the tree line, finding the spot Avery disappeared. My jaw clenches. She unbalances me. I need to be steadfast to lead.

Avery’s wolf is surprisingly large, her coat a warm roan that gleamed beneath the moonlight. I push the thought of her beautiful wolf aside, wrestling myself under ironclad control as I address the crowd.

“I apologize for this interruption to our night of celebration. The matter’s been dealt with,” I announce. “Let’s put this behind us and show the moon goddess our thanks for her gifts to us in tonight’s run.”

Cormac scoffs, dragging his timid mate with him when he’s the first to stride past me for the trees. I work my jaw. One by one, the pack follows suit, stripping their clothes so they’ll have something to wear when they’re ready to return to the commons.

It’s a damn good thing we don’t have any first time shifters tonight, or their green energy could’ve tipped everything into more chaos. There are two coming of age at the next full moon. I’ll need to keep a vigilant watch to ensure it goes smoothly. There will be no repeats of tonight’s disastrous turn of events.

Energetic wolves chase each other around the commons while older ones sit off to the side, uninterested in the antics of the young. Once everyone’s shifted, they begin heading into the woods in family groups and mated pairs.

Once I’m satisfied things are back to normal, I shred what’s left of my shirt and join them. Before I get it off, my wolf makes himself known again with a fierce rumble.

I search the mostly emptied out clearing for what’s got him riled up now. Then I catch the barest hint of summer honeysuckle on the breeze coming from the north of pack territory.

My wolf rides me hard, catching me off guard with the force of how fiercely he fights me to let us shift, to track our mate’s scent, to provide and protect. I grit my teeth with the effort to maintain control once again.

Because if I don’t go after Avery right now, he will.

And moon goddess be damned, he’s winning.

He won’t be swayed or listen to the logic of man. This time there’s no stopping him. Teeth clenched to hang on to my eroding composure before he takes over, I signal for Liam. He’s at my side in an instant.

“Lead the pack run,” I push out, my voice already rougher with the wolf bleeding through. “Make sure there’s no more trouble.”

“Got it.” Liam eyes me as I hold off the shift as long as I can. “You good?”

“No,” I admit in a low huff, only because we’re the last two standing on the commons. “I—need to run. Now.”