“Good,” Peyton says.“We’ll eat and then we’ll talk.”
No interrogation.No demand for submission.This is the way our pack does things.Everyone is welcome as long as you pull your weight and keep to our rules, anyone can have a home and a future here.
I exhale slowly.
As we move through the center of the compound, heads turn and conversations stall.The pack notices the bond immediately—wolves always do—but no one mentions it.No one crowds her.
That’s Katu.
Max’s gaze sharpens when he sees her scanning the shadows.Talon tilts her head, assessing not strength, but damage.Calum’s posture shifts subtly, placing himself between Trinity and the densest part of the pack without making it obvious.
Protection without pressure.I stay close, not touching even though my hands itch to do just that.The bond doesn’t need skin contact to stay alive.
Once inside the main dining hall, she eats like she expects the food to be taken away, and that also does things to my insides.She is quick, efficient, and grateful without saying it out loud.I don’t comment.
When the meal winds down, Caine gestures toward the perimeter wall.“Walk with me,” he says to both of us.
The woods are quiet at the edge of the compound but it’s the kind of quiet that could break at any given moment.
“You’re my mate,” I say suddenly, because I refuse to pretend otherwise.
Trinity stops walking and I stop too, turning to face her fully.Up close, I see the faint shadows under her eyes.The scars on her hands, not from training but from a hard lived life.
“I know,” she says.Flat.Honest.“But that doesn’t mean I’m staying.”
“I know,” I repeat.“I just want you to know that our mate bond doesn’t change anything.You are welcome here even if you don’t choose to accept the bond.”
Her gaze snaps to mine.“It should change everything.”
“Not here.Here you will be safe whether I am your mate or not.”
She searches my face like she’s looking for the trick.“You don’t know what I am.”
“I know what you’re not,” I say quietly.“You’re not cruel.You’re not weak.And you don’t have to be alone unless you choose to be.”
The bond pulses, warm and steady.
Caine clears his throat behind us.“You don’t owe us your story tonight.Or ever.But if you want to stay, the rules are simple.”
Trinity turns toward him, wary.
“No harm to the pack,” he continues.“No secrets that put others in danger.You pull your weight.You respect boundaries.”
Her lips press together.“And if I scare you?”
Peyton answers this time.“Then we learn to adapt, together.”
Silence stretches and I feel Trinity’s fear spike, not of us.Of hope.
“I’ll stay,” she says finally.“For now.”
Relief doesn’t explode through me, it settles deep and anchors me, giving me hope of my own.
“Then you’re welcome,” Caine says, final as stone.
Peyton speaks as we continue walking, assigning her a temporary house used for new members near the edge of the compound before leaving.I walk there with her, explaining where everything is as we go.Still no touching.Still no claiming.
At the door, she hesitates.
