His fingers wrapped around my wrist, weak but holding on like I was the only solid thing in a world gone liquid.
“Where are Evan and Nate?” I asked, looking around the garage. “Do they know what happened?”
Michael's grip tightened. “No.”
“Michael—”
“I don't want Nate to know.” His voice cracked, but there was steel underneath. Stubborn, impossible steel. “Not yet. Not like this.”
“He's going to find out eventually. He's your son.”
“And he's been through enough.” Michael's eyes met mine, and I saw the father in him. The protector. The man who would bleed out on a garage floor before he let his child see him broken
“You nearly died.”
“But I didn't.” His jaw tightened.
I wanted to argue. Wanted to tell him that secrets had a way of festering, that Nate would be furious when he found out his father had hidden something this big. But I looked at Michael's face, at the exhaustion and fear and desperate need to protect his son from one more trauma, and I couldn't do it.
“Okay,” I said quietly. “We'll tell them when you're ready. But Michael, you can't hide this forever.”
“I know.” His eyes closed briefly. “Just give me a few days. Please.”
I nodded, then turned to Alaric. “What happened out there?”
Alaric's face was pale beneath the blood and grime. “Corrupted rogues. Eight of them, maybe more. They came out of nowhere, coordinated, like something was directing them.”His voice went rough. “I went down. One of them was going for my throat. Michael...” He swallowed hard. “Michael threw himself in front of me. Took the bite that was meant for me.”
My heart stopped. “He what?”
“Saved my life.” Alaric's eyes were wet. “Then he did something. Light poured out of him, Daniel. Silver-green, bright enough to blind. He killed them. All of them.” His voice cracked. “But the corruption got into his wounds before the magic burned it back. It's been spreading ever since.”
I looked at Michael. At this impossible, stubborn, brave human who'd thrown himself between a wolf and death because that's who he was. Because protecting people was written into his bones the same way leading was written into mine.
“You saved Alaric,” I said.
“Seemed like a good idea at the time.” A ghost of a smile crossed his face. “He was being an asshole, but he's pack. Pack protects pack.”
Something cracked in my chest. Something that had been holding itself together with duty and distance and the absolute refusal to feel too much.
“Michael,” I said, and couldn't make my voice work properly around the knot in my throat.
Then I was shifting position, settling behind him so he could lean against my chest, wrapping my arms around him carefully. Checking for damage. Checking he was real. Pack magic surged through our connection before I could think to control it. Not healing exactly. I wasn't a healer, didn't have that gift. But Alpha authority. Pack bond strength. The power that saidmine, protected, safeand meant it with everything I had.
The corruption magic recoiled from the contact, dark threads writhing away from places where our skin touched. I pressed harder, let more power flood through, and watched black veinsfade from his arms, from his chest, retreating toward the wounds like infection being drawn to the surface.
“Daniel.” Gideon's voice cut through my focus. “I need you to hold him. This next part is going to hurt.”
Michael's hand found mine, squeezed once. Trust and terror in equal measure.
“I've got you,” I said against his hair. “Whatever happens, I've got you.”
Gideon's magic surged, golden light pouring into the wounds with enough intensity to make the garage lights flicker. Michael's entire body went rigid, back arching, and a sound tore from his throat that made my wolf howl with rage and helplessness.
The corruption magic fought back. I could see it now, dark threads woven so deep into tissue that removing them felt like tearing out pieces of him. But Gideon didn't stop. Didn't ease up. Just kept burning through corrupted flesh with brutal efficiency that came from knowing gentleness would kill the patient.
Michael screamed again, and I held him tighter, pressed my face into his hair, and poured every ounce of pack magic I had into keeping him anchored.
The corruption came out in a wash of black smoke that reeked of dark intent and old malice. It writhed in the air for a second before Gideon crushed it between his palms, forced it to dissolve into nothing.
