We weren’t alone anymore.
She felt it too. Her breath hitched, and her fingers clutched the hem of my shirt. I stepped forward a few inches, just close enough to put myself between my mate and whatever was coming.
The rustling of branches was the only other warning I got before two lynx shifters dropped from the rocks to my left. Two more stepped out of the tree line on my right. They moved in silence, their eyes sharp with the kind of focus that came from a lifetime of guarding their territory.
They formed a semicircle around us, and I was surrounded by several angry, territorial lynx males in human form in mere seconds.
One wrong move might spook my mate or force her chain to act, so I remained still.
Her body angled slightly toward me, even though she was trying not to show it. The mate pull hummed between us as a final male joined us.
He strode into the clearing with the kind of presence that told me he was an alpha. Power rolled off him in thick waves, but it wasn’t something I was unused to since my alpha was a grizzly.
His gaze landed on my mate first. Something soft flickered in his eyes before his expression hardened to granite. Then his focus snapped to me.
“Alara, behind me.”
I was as pleased to learn my mate’s name as I was pissed at him for ordering her away from me.
She stepped back until her shoulder brushed his arm, but her chin tipped just enough that her gaze stayed on mine.
I inclined my head slightly so she knew I understood it wasn’t meant as a rejection of me.
The alpha planted his feet, his shoulders squared. “Identify yourself.”
“Booker Redmond,” I said evenly. “I’m a wolf shifter with the Wilderness Pack, about three hours from here.”
Several of the males bristled. One let out a low, warning growl.
The alpha’s eyes narrowed. “You’re far from home.”
“I didn’t cross your boundary.” My gaze flicked to my mate again. “Only came close when I scented my mate.”
A sharp ripple moved through the chain, and Alara sucked in a tiny breath.
The alpha’s gaze slashed to her, then back to me again, his expression hardening even more. “You claim my sister?”
I didn’t hesitate. “I’m hers as much as she’s mine.”
His jaw flexed. “You weren’t invited here.”
“Fate extended the only invitation that matters.”
One of the lynx shifters took a step forward, his fists clenched. Another mirrored him. The semicircle tightened with lethal precision.
Alara opened her mouth, but her brother lifted a hand, and she fell silent.
“Leave. Now.”
My wolf snarled inside me, slamming against my ribs, demanding I stand my ground. Take my mate.
I shook my head. “Can’t do that.”
“You won’t get a warm welcome on Nightbriar soil,” he warned.
My gaze shifted back to Alara. The mate bond thrummed like a pulse under my skin.
“Walking away would hurt even more.”
