Goose bumps erupt across my skin, sweeping down my spine in an erotic wave. My nipples tighten in the chill night air, painfully sensitive. And lower—gods, lower—my coreclenches, a deep, pulsing ache building between my thighs. It’s primal and wrong and new.
My breath catches. I have never felt anything like this—never known that power could feel like this. That pain and pleasure could collide in a single heartbeat, shattering me open.
He doesn’t speak, but his scent changes—sharpening with the tang of violence waiting to be unleashed. “The laws are clear,” the Grand Alpha says, voice ringing through the grove. “Both parties must be strong. Both must be fit to lead. An alpha cannot bind himself to weakness and expect the pack to follow.”
The words strike like lashes across my skin.
Ryker’s growl rumbles low against my back, but Thaddeus presses on, cold and relentless.
“She cannot shift. She cannot defend your line. What message does that send to your pack, Ryker Ashmere? That your blood will weaken? That your judgment already has?” He turns slightly, addressing the gathered wolves now, not just Ryker. “Would you follow an alpha who chooses fragility over strength? Sentiment over survival?”
A murmur ripples through the crowd. I flinch, shame burning under my skin. But Ryker’s hand tightens—not punishing, but anchoring. Grounding me in him.
“She is a seer,” Ryker growls, and the vibration of his voice against my back makes me shiver.
“She is weak!” Thaddeus claps back, his power flaring with his anger. “I will not endorse this mating. You will reject her, Alpha. Throw her back to the pack where she will become anEkballo.”
Gasps erupt around the circle. My blood turns to ice, freezing me from the inside out.Ekballo—the fate worse than death.
AsEkballo,I will be forced to breed, passed around to all unmated wolves until a pup takes root in my belly. Andwhen it does, and I bring it into this world, it will be ripped from my arms to be raised by another. I would then be bred again and again until a pup shows signs of my gift. Once assured that my visions are able to be passed on, they will cast me out, burning the pack marks from my flesh. Without an alpha’s power to ground me, my mind and wolf will fracture piece by piece until madness claims me completely.
The whispers slither through the darkness, each one a knife in my chest.
“They’ll breed her to the alphas, even the mated ones.”
“The gift must be preserved...”
“She’ll lose her mind within months.”
“Better death than that fate.”
My legs start to give out beneath me, but Ryker’s hand never leaves my neck. His power continues to pulse through the claiming mark, hot against my frozen skin. When he speaks, his voice is low and lethal, a predator’s warning growl.
“You would name my mateEkballo?” Each word drips with deadly promise. “You would shame the wolves under your command by forcing them upon her? You would steal her child—my rightful heir—and leave her to madness?” His fingers tighten on my nape. “Perhaps it’s time to remind everyone why the Shadowmist Pack hunts alone.”
The shadows around us deepen, and I realize with a start that Ryker’s pack is moving closer, their massive forms materializing from the night like living nightmares. None have shifted to human form. All bear the same battle scars as their alpha. Their eyes gleam in the torchlight—red, gold, amber—predators waiting for the signal to attack.
Even Thaddeus seems to sense the shift in power dynamics. His silver eyes dart between the approaching wolves, his hands gathering more of that ancient magic until it coalesces around him like ghostly flames.
“The gift must be preserved. The pup will be raised by a proper pack, with a proper mother. You cannot defy?—”
“Pack law?” Ryker’s laugh holds no humor, only the promise of violence. “Your laws mean nothing to me, old wolf. We are what you fear becoming—what you and yourpatheticlaws try to hide.” His other hand comes up to cup my face, the gesture startlingly gentle compared to the promise of death in his voice. His palm is warm against my cheek, calloused from a life of violence. “I claimed her. She’s mine. Her gift is mine. Any pups she bears will be mine. And if you try to take what’s mine...”
The threat hangs in the air, heavy with promise. Power crackles between the two alphas, and I feel it like static against my bare skin. Around us, other wolves begin backing away, creating space for the inevitable explosion.
“Then you choose exile.” Thaddeus raises his hands, ancient magic gathering around him in visible swirls of silver light that twist and reach like hungry serpents. “No pack will trade with you. No territory will shelter you. Your name will be?—”
“Save your threats for wolves who still fear you, old man.”
I gasp as Ryker moves, sweeping me into his arms and tossing me into the air. I barely know what’s happening before I land astride his wolf’s back, my fingers instinctively buried in his thick fur. He’s shifted faster than anyone I’ve ever seen, faster even than Thaddeus. The transformation so swift I couldn’t track it with my eyes.
What power does he possess?I wonder, clutching at my mate’s fur as the ground blurs beneath us.Who is this wolf that has claimed me?
Ryker doesn’t wait for me to settle before launching us into the darkness; his powerful muscles bunch and release beneath my thighs. The friction of his fur against my bare sexsends shocks of unwanted heat through my core, even as fear tightens my throat.
The Shadowmist wolves melt into formation around us as howls of outrage split the night. I press myself low against Ryker’s back, the heat of him burning against my naked skin as we race through the ancient forest. Every stride jars my bones, but his fur cushions the worst of it.
See?my she-wolf asks.A mate cannot harm.
