The night air bites as I step outside, the sharp scent of tension already heavy among the warriors. The twins are huddled with their men, low voices carrying orders, strategy snapping into place like a well-oiled machine.
"Remember what I said," David barks. "We take the north entrance. Kieran and his men will come in from the south. We box them in. I want the enemy Alpha alive."
Kieran.
Not my king.
I don't miss it.
It's subtle—intentional—but loud all the same. A reminder to his pack where his loyalty lies. With blood. With knighthood. Not with the crown on my head.
Idiot. I know the crown isn't mine.
He looks over at me, testing, measuring. I give a short nod.
"I want him alive too," I say evenly, my voice calm despite the storm tightening in my chest. "With everything happening, I may not be able to hunt him down personally afterward—but nothing says I can't defend a pack on my territory." My mouth curves, sharp and cold. "And if an Alpha challenges me on the battlefield… that's fair game."
Their eyes narrow, instinct recognizing instinct. After a beat, David nods once.
"Move out!"
Engines roar to life, and within minutes we're on the road, darkness swallowing us whole. I turn to Enoch in the vehicle beside me.
"Anything new?"
"No, sir," he answers. "The twins got word from border patrols. The defending Alpha managed to send runners before things went to shit."
Smart. At least one Alpha still remembers what leadership looks like.
We abandon the vehicles at the agreed point and move on foot the rest of the way. The forest closes in, thick and damp, moonlight barely piercing the canopy. I don't hesitate—my shift rolls over me smoothly, Cade surging forward with a growl that vibrates through my bones.
We don't make it far before we hear it.
Growls. Gnashing teeth. Screams.
Battle.
I push forward, mindlinking to the first wolf I encounter.
Friend.
He floods me with images—panic, blood, chaos. The attack came at dawn. Females and pups barely made it to the shelters. The enemy Alpha declared the land his mid-assault.
Rage burns hot and precise.
I tear into the fray.
Claws rip. Bodies fall. The forest floor is slick with blood, wounded wolves scattered everywhere. For what? Power? Ego? The delusion that strength gives you the right to take?
A wolf lunges from my right. Sloppy. Desperate. I deflect him easily—one clean swipe and he's down.
Another charges.
Then another.
Too many.
Where the fuck are the twins?
I fight, over and over, barely registering how many I take down until it hits me—there are too many enemy wolves on this side.
I mindlink Enoch, fury slicing through the bond.
'Where the fuck are the twins and their convoy?'
Seconds drag like hours before his voice comes back, strained, breathless, layered with the sounds of combat.
'There's a blockage on the north side. Enemy wolves are holding them off—like they knew the plan.'
Fuck.
We're boxed in.
No choice but to hold.
I don't remember when it happens—only the impact. Three wolves slam into me at once, rolling me hard through dirt and blood. Cade roars, losing patience, losing restraint.
I let go.
He takes over completely.
There's no strategy now—only teeth and fury. A wolf bites my hind leg; Cade shakes him off. Another goes for my throat. Cade rips his throat out instead. Blood sprays hot and thick.
The third hesitates.
Fear courses through them, as Cade stalks forward.
Then—
A deafening crack splits the air—
not thunder, not bone, but something sharper. Wrong.
Pain detonates through my side, a violent bloom that steals my breath and rips a sound from my chest that isn't a roar, isn't a scream—just raw shock. Cade's snarl cuts off mid-growl, replaced by a broken whimper that vibrates through our shared soul.
No—
We stagger. The world lurches sideways. My legs give out as if the earth itself has decided I am done standing. The shift tears away from me violently, skin ripping back into human form with no grace, no control. I hit the mud hard, cold earth smearing against my cheek, the impact knocking the air from my lungs in a sharp, humiliating gasp.
I look down.
Blood.
So much blood.
It spreads beneath me, dark and shining, soaking into the soil as if the ground is eager to drink it. For a heartbeat, my mind refuses to accept what my eyes are seeing.
A bullet.
Guns.
Coward's weapons. Human tricks meant for distance and fear, not honor. Not battle.
I press my hand to my side, fingers slick instantly, panic flaring sharp and sudden as the wound doesn't close. Flesh burns instead of knitting, pain deepening rather than fading.
'Cade—what the fuck? Heal—heal it!'
His answer isn't words. It's pain. Confusion. Rage. I feel him clawing at the damage from the inside, slamming against something poisonous and foreign. Silver. It burns him the way it burns me, searing through muscle and bone, poisoning our blood.
'I can't—' he whines, panicked and furious. 'It hurts. It won't let me—'
A voice cuts through the fog.
"Well," a man drawls, boots squelching in the mud as he steps into my narrowing vision, a gun hanging loose in his hand like it's nothing more than an extension of his arm. "I came here to take this territory and shove it up your fucking reform agenda…"
He tilts his head, studying me as if I'm a curiosity rather than a King bleeding out in the dirt.
"…but this works too."
The crack of the gun is louder this time. Closer.
Agony explodes through my thigh—white-hot, blinding, absolute. I scream. I can't stop it. The sound rips out of me, torn from somewhere deep and animal, pain so intense it fractures thought itself.
Cade howls inside me, a sound of pure fury and fear.
And for one sick, twisted moment, relief cuts through the agony.
Samantha isn't marked.
She doesn't feel this.
She won't feel what's coming.
I drag my gaze up to him, blood in my mouth, teeth bared through the pain. "Who the fuck are you?" I growl, the words scraping out of my throat, soaked in blood and promise.
He laughs. Actually laughs.
"Figures," he sneers. "You steal my girl and don't even know my name?"
The world tilts. My heart stutters, then slams hard against my ribs.
No.
"You think you can have everything just because she's your fated?" he snarls, stepping closer. "I hate wolves like you."
The bond inside me screams. Cade thrashes, murderous intent burning through him despite the pain.
"Don't you fucking touch her," I snarl, trying to push myself up, vision swimming.
"Touch her?" He grins—feral, unhinged. "I'm going to fuck her. Hard. Show her what a real wolf feels like."
The name crashes into me like another bullet.
Valen.
The sound of it echoes through my skull, bile rising in my throat. I lunge on instinct, Cade surging with me, ignoring the screaming agony—
Another shot.
Silver fire tears into my side, my body slamming back into the mud. My scream turns hoarse, my muscles locking, every nerve lighting up like it's been doused in gasoline and set alight.
"Silver-laced," Valen says smugly. "You won't last long." His eyes rake over me, satisfied. "Some Alpha King."
Voices shout in the distance. Panic. Urgency.
"VALEN! The twins broke through—we have to go!"
He hesitates—then crouches anyway, savoring the moment like a predator that knows its prey can't run.
A knife flashes.
The pain is different this time—deep, intimate, final—as he drives it into my abdomen and twists. Cade screams inside me, a sound so full of rage and grief it nearly breaks me.
"That's insurance," Valen whispers. "I'll be taking Samantha as my mate. I've waited a long time to taste her."
Then he stands.
And walks away.
Sam.
Fuck—Samantha.
The battlefield noise fades, sound draining into a dull, distant hum. My limbs feel heavy, unresponsive. Blood loss drags me down, darkness creeping in from the edges of my vision like a closing fist.
Cade presses against me, exhausted, terrified, still fighting even as he weakens.
'I'm here,' he murmurs. 'I won't leave you.'
Goddess, I pray silently, desperately. Keep her safe. Keep her away from him.
I fall back into the dirt, staring at the stars through blurred vision.
Little Wolf I love you. Always.
Then there is nothing.