I nudge the deer carcass I took down. She doesn’t even know how to hunt. Maybe that’s why I’m still rooted to the spot because it’s not clear how she’ll fare with her wolf. It took everything in me while watching her pitiful failed attempts to hunt the deer to restrain myself from interrupting to show her how it’s done. I don’t want to examine why else I was inclined to take it down for her too closely.

Everyone believed she didn’t have a wolf. So did I. There’s never been any sign before. She couldn’t shift before tonight. As the alpha, my wolf had to provide for his packmate.

I open and close my hand, scowling at it. The memory of holding her in my embrace is fresh in my mind. Her body is so much frailer compared to seven years ago. How have I not noticed something like that before today?

Because I haven’t wanted to notice anything to do with her.

I shut down the line of thought with a terse sigh. This is ridiculous. What am I doing out here? What are my instincts driving me to defend her from?

Avery Morgan doesn’t need protection—mine…or anyone else’s. My teeth grind so hard at the idea of anyone else my jaw aches.

I distract myself from picturing other males in the pack sniffing around up here by glaring at the squat cabin on the hill ahead of me with the lopsided patched roof and crumbling stone foundation.

Her cottage can barely be called that. My brows pinch and my lip curls at myself for standing guard at such a pitiful excuse for a home.

This is the first I’ve been up here in years. Me and Liam used to come on dares with the other boys to see if the old settler’s cabin was haunted or under a witch’s curse. I’ve had the maintenance and carpentry teams repair and rebuild houses in far less dire condition than this to keep my pack members happy.

The door is barely attached to its hinges.

A chunk of the small porch has deteriorated, leaving a gaping crevice that’s liable to break an ankle if it’s not repaired.

The stones stacked at the foundation are making the house lean, meaning the cabin will eventually collapse when the old support beams give out from instability or age, whichever comes faster.

Two windowpanes in the narrow arched windows at the front spider with cracks in the glass, likely allowing the chilly mountain air to seep in. They’ll need twice as much wood to keep warm throughout the winter.

My heartbeat kicks up and my stomach roils the longer I examine the state of the place.

I did this. I put her here.

Trapped her in this abandoned prison at the edges of pack territory rather than allow my father to send her away.

Breathing becomes difficult for a moment. I scrub at my face, fighting the angry throb in my chest.

What is that? It grows more insistent, jerking me forward a step, then another. Balling my fists, I dig my heels in until they upturn the patchy grass.

The bond. It’s hanging on by a thread, compelling me to complete it. To fix what I’ve broken by severing it with my rejection.

My hand goes to the juncture of my neck and shoulder, tracing the scars. Most shifters don’t scar thanks to our healing abilities. They don’t mature until we do. It’s why we don’t have our first shift until we’re of age. Anything that happens to us growing up can leave its mark if the injury is severe enough.

It was Avery’s idea to sneak out of lessons for the day. I hated to admit it when any elder packmates made the assumption it was the Fates at work drawing me to her, but I liked the funny feeling in my chest when she laughed, so I’d go along with most of her ideas. She had a way of getting everyone to go along with her.

Her giggle lit up something inside me when she peered down from the high branch she climbed. “Aren’t you coming up any higher? You can see for miles up here.”

“I’m three times your size. It takes me longer to climb than you.” I jumped to reach the thick limb above me and hoisted myself up.

“Hurry up,” she teased with another cute chuckle.

“If my dad finds out we skipped lessons, he’ll make an example of me.” I mimicked his tone whenever he was instilling his wisdom to me as his heir. “No one is above the rules. Not even the alpha.”

These games were fine when me and Avery were feisty little pups. We’re getting too old to get away with it. She was sixteen now, and I’d turn eighteen next year. My coming of age ceremony was already planned out. I couldn’t wait to meet my wolf at last.

“He’ll never find out,” she swore.

She was right. The view when I reached the spot she perched was worth the climb. My attention slid from the majestic mountain and the sweeping shape of Crescent Valley to her.

Avery’s focus swung to me and she beamed. “Pretty, isn’t it? Dad said I had to see it from this vantage point to believe it.”

A tingle spread throughout my chest. I licked my lips and nodded.

“Yeah. Beautiful.”

She released another enchanting laugh. I wanted to take the end of her golden brown braid between my fingers. I wanted a lot of things with her that were becoming hard to ignore.

Succumbing to the urge, I played with the end of her braid, curling the soft tendrils around my knuckle. She blushed, peeking at me through her lashes. A strange tingle danced around in my chest, faintly tugging my stuttering heart.

When we made it back to the commons an hour later, something was wrong. A massive crowd was gathered on the lawn, nearly the entire pack. My wolf I had yet to meet was restless behind the veil that separated us, pacing in agitation. I exchanged a confused glance with Avery and pushed through the shouting people to find out what was going on.

When we broke through to the front, I froze. Avery bumped into me, then gasped at the sight of her father clashing with mine.

“Caden!” Liam found us and made his way over.

“What’s happening?” I demanded.

He shook his head. “I don’t know, but Clark challenged Alpha Blackburn.”

“What?” I balked.

Clark Morgan was my father’s beta. His most trusted member of his inner circle. There was no way.

My gut twisted watching Clark’s punch snap Dad’s head to the side. Blood dripped from his swollen mouth. He shifted, teeth sinking into the meat of his challenger’s calf. With a vicious tug, he ripped flesh and tendons free. Clark grunted in pain, but instead of going down, he morphed into his wolf form.

They clashed again and again, man against man, beast against beast, taking pieces of each other without either gaining the upper hand. The lawn was spattered in their blood.

Avery grabbed my hand when my father’s wolf pinned her dad mid-shift, releasing a brutal growl that carried his Alpha power, keeping him down. It worked for a moment, seeming like the challenge would end with my father victorious.

Then Clark broke through, managing to get his paws under Dad’s stomach to kick him off. He took advantage of my father’s momentary distraction to launch himself at him, swiping at his stomach with his claws when he knocked him to his side.

The attack slowed Dad down, giving Clark more opportunity to turn the tables on him. He took too long to get up after Clark charged him.

My heart rose into my throat. I’d already lost my mother when I was a pup. I couldn’t lose my father, too.

No one was to interfere with an official challenge against the alpha. I knew that, even as I bolted into the circle on instinct, realizing the next blow would be the last.

“No! Caden!” Avery shouted, trying to hold me back.

I shook her off, pushing my legs to be faster. I skidded across the slippery grass, coming between them. Clark hesitated, but he didn’t stop. His claws sliced through my shirt at my shoulder, ripping through my skin. My collarbone broke beneath the force and I tumbled back into my father’s wolf.