My wolf snarls in violent protest. She knows. Has always known. This isn’t stress. This isn’t false recognition. This is hermate.
But my human side—my rational mind that needs logic and proof—wants desperately to believe Mara’s right.
“Your wolf chose him, Nadia,” Ember says quietly. “She recognizes her mate.”
“It seems impossible.” I look between them. “Not biologically—I know cross-species bonds happen all the time. Dragons and witches. Wolves and witches. Buthim?”
“Why not him?” Mara asks.
“Because he killed Chance.” The words tear out of me. “Because I built my entire life around hating him. Because he gave the order that destroyed everything. Because it doesn’t makesense.”
“Mate bonds don’t make sense,” Ember says. “They justare.”
“Well, maybe this time, it’s something else,” Mara says cautiously.
“But my wolf keeps insisting.” My voice drops low. “Keeps saying he’s our mate. Even though it seems impossible. Even though I should still hate him. Even though—” I stop. Can’t finish.
“Doyou still hate him?” Ember asks.
“I don’t know.” Raw honesty. “I want to. But watching them take him to detention—” My chest tightens with the memory. Physical ache that radiates through my ribs. “It felt like losing Chance all over again. That wrongness. That pain. And I wanted to fight those Aurora guards to stop them, even though that’s insane.”
“That’s a mate bond,” Ember says. “That’s your wolf recognizing her other half being taken away.”
“Or it’s the heat cycle making me feel things that aren’t real,” I counter. Need it to be true. “Maybe once it fades, I’ll see clearly. Maybe I’ll realize this was just temporary insanity.”
Ember looks skeptical but doesn’t argue.
Mara squeezes my hand. “Either way, you’ll know soon. Just a few days, right? Then you’ll have your answer.”
I nod. Cling to that hope. That in less than a week, the heat will fade, and these impossible feelings will fade with it.
My wolf howls in fury at the thought. But I ignore her.
Because the alternative—that he’s truly our mate, that I’m bonded to the man who took Chance from me, that there’s no escaping this—
I’m not ready for that truth.
A knock at the door. Sharp. Official.
“Frost.” Viktor’s voice. “We need to talk.”
Mara and Ember exchange looks. Stand.
“We should go,” Mara says. Squeezes my shoulder. “We’re here if you need us.”
Ember nods. “Whatever happens, you’re not alone.”
They head for the door. Mara opens it. Viktor stands there, expression unreadable. The women nod in silent greeting, then slip past him with final glances back at me—supportive but worried. Then they’re gone, and it’s just Viktor and me.
He steps inside and closes the door. The temperature seems to drop. Less friends, more interrogation.
“Walk me through what happened,” he says, getting straight to the point. “All of it.”
I stand and face him directly. “Syndicate operatives ambushed the convoy at the canyon pass. Killed all the Aurora guards. I engaged from high ground. Fought them off. Jericho and I were the only survivors.”
“Why didn’t you kill him?”
“Is that what you really wanted?” I meet his eyes. “Aurora was bringing him in for sanctuary. The Council voted to grant him protection. I brought him back alive, which is exactly what you intended.”
