"Could I?" Graeme's smile doesn't reach his eyes. "Or would I have found you too... distracted... to hear them?"
His gaze slides to Eliza, and my wolf surges forward, demanding I put myself between them. I force the instinct down. Showing that kind of reaction will only prove his point.
"My mate's name is Eliza Warren." I let ice creep into my voice. "And yes, she's human. She's also claimed, marked, and pack. Which makes her under my protection and therefore not your concern."
"Not my concern?" Graeme's laugh is harsh. "When one of the four alphas on this island compromises the secrecy we've all bled to maintain? When you bind yourself to a human—a journalist, no less—who could destroy us all with a single article?" He spreads his hands. "That becomes everyone's concern, MacRae."
Murmurs ripple through the assembled wolves. I catch fragments of agreement, of fear, of anger. My pack stands firm behind me, but uncertainty radiates from even my most loyal wolves. Even Jax, who's been my second for five years, carries doubt through our connection.
"Eliza knows what we are. She's seen me shift. She understands the risks. And she's chosen to protect our secrets just as her aunt did for more than forty years."
"Her aunt's dead." This from a young wolf in Graeme's pack, maybe twenty-five, with the kind of reckless courage that gets people killed. "Murdered. Which means someone knows whatshe was, what she knew. And now you've given that same knowledge to her niece? You've painted a target on your mate's back and ours by extension."
"Careful, pup." Jax's growl is low and dangerous. "You're speaking to an alpha."
"He's speaking truth." Graeme doesn't reprimand his wolf. "We all know there's a summoning happening. Three deaths in six months, all from the old bloodlines. And now MacRae's mate—conveniently descended from one of those bloodlines, conveniently a watcher's heir—shows up just as the ritual accelerates?" He looks at me, and there's genuine concern beneath the challenge. "You can't see it because you're compromised. But from the outside? This looks like a trap. Like someone wanted you distracted, wanted you bound to a human who could be used against you."
The accusation hits like a physical blow. Not because it's unreasonable—I've thought the same thing in my darkest moments—but because saying it out loud gives the fear weight.
"Eliza isn't working with the summoner. I'd stake my life on it."
"You already have." Graeme's words cut deep. "The moment you claimed her, you tied your life to hers. Your power to hers. Your pack's safety to hers. That's what the mate bond means, MacRae. If she betrays you—intentionally or not—we all pay the price."
"She won't." But even as I say it, I hear the defensive edge in my tone. The desperation. Exactly what Graeme wants everyone to hear.
"Can't, you mean." A new voice cuts through the tension. Elena Southcove appears at the circle's edge, and the assembled wolves part for her like water. She's smaller than Graeme but no less dangerous—lean and whip-fast, with silver-blonde hair and eyes like polished amber. "The mate bond is absolute. If Elizawanted to betray Declan, her own instincts would fight her every step of the way."
"Unless she's strong enough to override those instincts," Graeme argues. "Humans don't feel the bond the same way we do. She could rationalize betrayal as protecting the greater good."
"She's not just human anymore." Elena moves to stand equidistant between Graeme and me, claiming neutral ground. "The claiming bite initiates transformation. She's becoming a shifter. That changes everything."
"Does it?" The young wolf speaks again, emboldened by his leader's lack of censure. "Or does it just mean we've handed our secrets to someone who's going to gain all our strengths without any of the loyalty? She wasn't raised pack. She doesn't know our laws, our ways. She's going to get people killed through ignorance if not malice."
"Then we teach her." Tessa's voice cuts through the murmurs. "She wasn't raised pack, fine. But she's pack now. We teach her our laws, our ways. That's what pack does."
"And I'll learn." Eliza steps forward, out from behind me, and my wolf screams at me to pull her back to safety. "You're all standing here talking about me like I'm not present. So let me be clear: I understand what's at stake. I know that exposing your existence would put innocent people—shifter and human—at risk. I'm not going to do that."
"Why should we believe you?" The young wolf sneers. "Because you fucked the alpha and now you wear his mark?"
The insult detonates like a bomb. Jax lunges forward, Tessa's right behind him, and half of Graeme's pack shifts into defensive positions. The air fills with growls and the scent of aggression.
"Enough!" The command rolls out of me with the full weight of my power, and every wolf in the circle freezes. Even Graeme goes still, though his eyes flash with challenge. "You will showmy mate respect, or you will leave this circle. Those are your options."
"You're proving my point." Graeme's voice is quieter now but no less cutting. "You're choosing her over pack law. Over tradition. Over the careful balance we've maintained for generations."
"I'm choosing both." I meet his stare without flinching. "Eliza is pack now. That's not negotiable. If any of you have a problem with that, you can challenge me. Right here. Right now. One-on-one, to the death."
The offer hangs in the air like a blade. Challenging means a fight to death or submission. It's not done lightly. It's especially not done when the one being challenged has storm-sense magic and a mate bond driving him to protect what's his.
Graeme holds my stare, and I watch the calculation play out behind his winter-ice eyes. He's weighing the cost of a challenge against the threat of what's coming. Weighing pride against survival. The silence stretches until I can hear my own heartbeat, Eliza's pulse through the bond, the breathing of forty wolves waiting to see if blood will spill today.
Finally, Graeme shakes his head. "I'm not here to challenge you, MacRae. I'm here to remind you that your decisions affect more than just your pack. We're all connected on this island. If you fall, we all fall."
"Then help me stand." I hold Graeme's stare, letting him see the steel in my spine. "Someone is performing a ritual that could unleash something that nearly destroyed us seventy-five years ago. Four more people are going to die unless we stop them. Eliza has skills we need—investigative training, research experience, an outsider's perspective. She's already identified patterns we missed. So you can waste energy fighting me, or you can help me protect this island. Your choice."
"Such as?" A third figure emerges from the crowd. Connor Eastmoor. I'd almost forgotten he was here—which is exactly the effect he cultivates. He's the youngest of the four, but he watches everything with pale blue eyes that miss nothing, calculating odds and angles like a chess master three moves ahead.
"The pattern's clear," Eliza says before I can answer. "Magical blood. All three victims had power in their lines, even if minor."
