My mind runs away with ideas of our future. Her scent infusing my den, my sheets—our bed. Waking to her within arms reach and not sleeping well until I have her tucked against me every night. Watching her make it into her nest. Rubbing her back and feeling her belly growing with our pups.

I prowl to her, brushing my knuckles over her jaw. She smiles and I move the neckline of the shirt aside to admire my mating bite.

“Beautiful little wolf,” I murmur. “I have you where you’ve always belonged.”

“With you,” she echoes in a reverent hush that pierces my heart.

“With me.”

31CADEN

As much as I’ve wanted to face my cousin from the minute I found Avery injured at the cottage, I wait a few days after he went for her before calling him out in front of the pack before a run. His arrogant swagger when I watch him around the packlands grates on me. My wolf views everything about him as an act of insubordination.

He won’t ever touch my mate again.

I’m knocking him down as low as he can get in the pack without me kicking his ass out in exile at the mercy of Wanderer’s Canyon or killing him.

No one messes with what’s mine.

The commons are festive tonight. The fire is going and the tables are laden with food. Avery and Beatrix are dancing to the fiddle players’ tune. I watch, drinking beer with Liam and Gabe.

Taryn and Callie sidle up to me. Taryn tries to goad Liam into giving her his beer. Callie has a poorly hidden smile. She elbows me, nodding to the female I haven’t taken my gaze off all evening.

The corner of my mouth lifts. “Are you talking to me again?”

“Well, you’re not an idiot with your head so far up your ass you can sniff your own balls anymore. I can’t believe you’d be so stupid to reject your own fated mate.” She smacks my arm. “What’s wrong with you?”

Gabe snorts, covering it with a cough. Liam smirks, whispering to him. He chokes on a sip of beer and Ford jogs over from the other side of the clearing. My heart stirs with understanding, constantly moored to Avery no matter which direction she’s in.

I squeeze my nape, pushing off the stab to my gut. “You said it yourself, Cal. I was an idiot.”

“Good, I’m glad we cleared that up.”

She grins, tugging me to the dancers and Beatrix swaps seamlessly with me, holding my beer. I gladly pull Avery into my arms, basking in her beaming smile. Her joy is everything. I’ve missed it, a hole carved from my heart of my own making.

“Hi.”

I pull her against me, touching my nose to hers. “Hi. Ready for tonight?”

She pretends to mull it over. “That depends. Are you planning on repeating last month’s bonfire?” She squints at me. “Reject your mate? Still piss in a circle around her to mark your territory?”

I growl, gathering her in my embrace. “Fuck no. None of that. I’m going to shift with my beautiful, stubborn mate who has my entire heart, and we’re going to run with our pack.”

Her brilliant smile returns, lighting me up. I kiss her, grinning into it when our nearby packmates cheer. The song ends and I lead her back to our group at the edge of the bonfire, our fingers entwined.

“You’re also learning to hunt tonight,” I add.

“Am I?” Her brows jump. “I can hunt.”

“Tell that to your wolf. She’s too eager. Gives herself away with no strategy.” My face dips, mouth at her ear. “I’m going to teach you.”

She shivers, leaning into me. “I can’t read your mind. How are you going to teach me?”

“I can feel what you’re thinking,” I remind her in a smoky tone. “Our wolves communicate well. She’ll understand by watching my wolf.”

“You shouldn’t let him teach you,” Liam cuts in. “Callie and I are better at guiding the shifters that come of age to navigate it.”

I rumble. Avery pats my chest. When she gives him her attention, I wind an arm around her waist.

“I’m teaching her.”

She drives her elbow into my abs. “What if I want to hear Liam’s advice?”

“His advice is shit.”

Liam grins. “Yeah, that’s why you made it one of my duties. If you don’t like the alpha teaching you, come see me or Callie. You’ve got other packmates who have your back.”

“Like me,” Taryn chimes in. “Don’t listen to him either. I know the best hunting spots.”

Liam sighs. “Doubt it.”

“Try me.” She sticks her tongue out at him. “But for real, Avery. If you need pointers, let me know.”

“Great. Thanks,” Avery says.

“Not great,” I mutter.

She laughs and presses on tip toe to tuck her nose against the crook of my neck. “Relax. You get to teach me first.”

I crush her into my arms, quelling my mild irritation with her scent in my lungs. I have bigger problems to handle tonight than my beta baiting me into jealousy as a joke.

Beatrix hands me my beer and surveys the lively bonfire. “I can’t wait to join the runs as my own wolf. I’m going to be so fast, I know it.”

Avery chuckles at the sparkle in her sister’s eyes and strokes her hair affectionately. “You’ll be magnificent.”

“And we’ll run together.” Beatrix hugs Avery, then loops an arm around Lena to pull her in.

Callie joins in from behind Beatrix. “All of us. When you’re older, Lena.”

“What if I don’t have a wolf?” Lena points out.

Avery’s eyes shimmer. I put my hand on Lena’s back. Her health has seemed better in the last few weeks compared to when I first saw her the night I followed Avery back to the old settler’s cabin. She has color in her cheeks and her eyes are bright.

“Then we’ll get you a dirt bike or a quad. Something to make it easy for you to get around the mountain.”

“I get to drive? You’ll teach me?”

Lena lights up and the three sisters laugh. Avery shoots me a grateful look and traces the edge of the claiming mark I left on her.

“Can we paint dragons on it?” Lena claps, bouncing in place.

This pack never should’ve held so tightly to the old views that being Wolfless is a sign of weakness. I should’ve put an end to it long ago. Shifters are strong no matter what, and Lena’s strength is in the kindhearted peacefulness she exudes.

It’s almost time to start. I search the crowd, locking on Lorne holding his own court behind the picnic tables. My lip curls.

“I’m going after Lorne tonight,” I tell Avery. “Before the run begins.”

She pulls me away from the bonfire, lowering her voice. “Caden, just drop it. If you do this, it’ll make things worse. What if he comes after my sisters next?”

“I’d never let that happen,” I vow fiercely. “I protect what’s mine, and you are mine. That includes your family.”

She licks her lips, swaying into me. I want to whisk her out of here, toss her over my shoulder and take her back to the lodge. Spread her on my bed where she belongs, waking me at all hours as hungry as she was for me when I finally claimed her as mine.

I can’t believe I once thought I didn’t need a mate by my side. I was beyond wrong. My life was nothing without her in it.

“If I do nothing, he gets away with yet another liberty and he’s taken far too fucking many. He wants to challenge me for Alpha, but he’s a fucking snake about it.”

“What do you mean? If he wants to challenge you, he needs to face you. He can’t take the pack without beating you first. It’s the law.”

“He’s been undermining me. Swaying people to think he’s got better ideas to run the pack. That incident I left you to handle the other day? He’s behind it, and it isn’t the only one lately. He wants to ensure he’s got the pack fractured before he faces me. It’s one of the reasons I’ve made so many rules over the years trying to keep their scheming in check.”

“If you know they’re behind it, why not exile them?”

“They’re being smart about it. I can’t exile them without proof they’re doing all this to cause a revolt. They know it. I know it. They stick to getting under people’s skin to cause minor acts of defiance, just enough to make me feel the pressure of them clawing at my back. None of the people involved in these incidents give up their names. Until they make a move openly, I’d be viewed as too extreme, acting for my own gain instead of the good of the pack. It’s written into the accords to prevent alphas from becoming power-hungry like they were in the Original Pack.”