For a long moment, nothing moved. He stood over the body of his fallen enemy, blood dripping from his muzzle, his chest heaving. The rage was already fading, leaving behind something cold and hollow.
But then Harper was there.
She pushed through the crowd, ignoring the shocked murmurs, ignoring tradition and protocol and everything else. She ran to him and dropped to her knees in the bloody dirt, and her arms wrapped around his massive wolf’s neck without hesitation.
“It’s okay,” she whispered against his fur. “It’s over. You’re okay.”
He shifted back to human form without conscious thought, needing to hold her properly. Needing to feel her against him, warm and alive and safe.
“Harper.” Her name came out broken.
“I know.” She held him tighter. “I know.”
Around them, the pack watched in stunned silence. Their Alpha, blood-soaked and victorious, kneeling in the dirt and clinging to his human mate like she was the only thing keeping him tethered to the earth.
Coleman cleared his throat.
“The challenge is concluded,” he announced, his voice carrying across the clearing. “Adrian Moonstone remains Alpha of the Moonstone Pack. Does anyone present dispute this claim?”
Silence.
Then, slowly, the nearest pack member dropped to one knee. Then another. And another. Until every wolf in the clearing knelt before their Alpha and his chosen mate.
Her arms tightened around him.
“I have something to tell you,” she murmured against his ear. “While you were… while the challenge was happening. I was monitoring the systems.”
He pulled back just enough to see her face. Her grey eyes were red-rimmed but steady.
“The security hole is closed. Permanently. And…” She took a breath. “The evidence we sent to Derek? He forwarded it to the proper authorities. Vivienne was arrested this morning. Along with a man named Allen Pergeaux—apparently he was her financial backer. They’re both in custody.”
He stared at her.
“She’s… gone?”
“She’s done.” Harper’s smile was small but fierce. “No more schemes. No more shadows. No more threats to the pack.”
Something cracked open in Adrian’s chest. Something he’d carried for so long he’d forgotten it was there—the constant weight of waiting for Vivienne’s next move, the paranoid certainty that she was out there plotting his destruction.
Gone.
All of it, gone.
He kissed Harper with all the desperate relief flooding through him. She tasted like tears and coffee and home.
“I love you,” he breathed against her lips.
“I know.” She kissed him back. “I love you too, you ridiculous overprotective werewolf.”
Behind them, Coleman cleared his throat again.
“Alpha. The pack awaits your word.”
He rose, pulling her up with him, and he kept her hand in his as he turned to face his people—bloody, exhausted, and more certain than he’d ever been.
“The old ways served us well,” he said, his voice carrying across the silent clearing. “They kept us safe when the world was hostile. They preserved our traditions when others would have seen them destroyed. But the world has changed. We must change with it.”
He looked down at her.
