“I won’t beg to belong to your pack,” I tell Grayson, the memory still burning behind my eyes.“If that’s what you’re waiting for.”
His jaw tightens, not in anger, but something closer to pain.
“I’m not,” he says.“I swear.”
The other wolf clears his throat.“Alpha Caine’s fair.Our Luna is too.If you’re trouble, they’ll deal with it.If you’re not...”
“I am,” I interrupt flatly.
Grayson’s eyes search my face.“Then you’re in good company.”
The other wolf chuckles.
Something in my chest cracks.I don’t trust him.I can’t—even if I want to—fall into him.But the bond hums between us, steady and unafraid, and for the first time since my banishment, my wolf isn’t screaming to run.
“What is your name?”he asks.
“Trinity.”
“Follow us.Once you’ve spoken to our Alpha, you can decide what you want to do.”
“Fine,” I say, because exhaustion weighs heavier than fear tonight.“I’ll meet your Alpha.”
Relief flashes across Grayson’s face so fast he probably doesn’t realize it.
As we walk deeper into Katu territory, the forest closes around us like a held breath.The dead remain behind, respectful of boundaries they never honored before.I don’t know what waits for me at the heart of this pack.
Acceptance?Rejection?Something worse?
But for the first time in six months, I’m not walking alone.And that might be the most dangerous thing of all.
Chapter Two
Grayson
The mate bond doesn’t roar for me the way the stories say it should.It just settles over me like a warm blanket.
