Through the pack bonds, I feel the response to my alert. Ben acknowledging, already moving toward the lodge. Callum’s sharp attention snapping into focus. The ripple effect as word spreads—Phil Dawson approaching, Alpha wants eyes on him.
They’ll be gathering. Not because they were expecting him, but because I warned them he’s coming.
Good. Let him walk into a room full of wolves who know what he’s been doing.
Every instinct screams to shift and tear across the distance on four legs, but I keep human form. This confrontation needs words before teeth.
The path zigzags through pines, and I cut corners, grabbing trunk after trunk to control my descent. When I round the final bend, the lodge comes into view.
And Nova’s already standing at the entrance. She looks completely unruffled, but I catch the faint shimmer of magic dissipating around her. Her violet eyes hold traces of silver light that fade as I watch. Whatever fae magic got her here that fast left her breathing slightly harder than normal, though she’s trying to hide it.
She’s got a smirk on her face.
I pull up short, breath caught in my chest. She’s leaning against the doorframe, casual as a regular Tuesday, when I know damn well she was behind me on the ridge thirty seconds ago.
“Fae shortcut,” she says when I stare.
“Portable?” I manage, covering my surprise with a clipped question.
“Limited use.” She straightens, her scent a complex mix of magic residue and honey.
I don’t answer. Just walk past her like her magic isn’t now under my skin, like the pulse of it isn’t raising my hackles in a way that’s not entirely about danger.
Phil enters the lodge with the confidence of a returning friend, his back straight, smile ready. Nova and I follow, my shoulders rigid with control. The main room fills rapidly as we enter, pack members responding to my alert. Some drawn by curiosity, others by the pack bonds I’d triggered. They’re gathering fast—faster than they would for a casual visitor.
My leadership team is already in position. No words needed—they read my alert and moved.
What hits me hardest isn’t Phil’s intrusion.
It’s the way some of my wolves are looking at him: recognition, even relief. Not all of them, not even most, but enough.
My wolf feels stretched between too many priorities—Phil’s threat, Nova’s disruptive presence, and the fracture lines in my pack’s loyalty. I stay silent, letting my wolves watch me. Letting them see I’m not reacting with blind rage. Not yet.
Nova’s awareness flows through the room in a pattern I recognize from days as Viktor’s hunter: exits first, threats second, allies third. She’s reading the space like a battlefield. Just like I am.
It shouldn’t feel right. It shouldn’t feel like backup I never asked for but somehow need. But she’s not here to defend me. She’s here to make sure the wolves don’t fall apart faster than she can study the pattern.
The room settles into wary silence. Phil turns to face the gathered wolves, hands open at his sides in a gesture that’s meant to appear harmless.
“There’s tension here,” he says, his voice warm with concern. “I’ve seen it. You’ve felt it. I’m not here to cause problems. I’m here to help.”
I say nothing.
But my wolf is already calculating the moment I rip that smile off Phil’s face.
Phil’s gaze sweeps the room, stopping at faces, studying reactions. Looking for cracks to exploit. The confidence in his shoulders falters when he spots me—still standing, still ready. His eyes widen a fraction when they land on Nova.
The shift is subtle. A micro-expression that flickers across his face. Recognition. Knowledge. Purpose.
Nova moves beside me. Half a step forward, angling her body between me and Phil.
My wolf tenses, growls low in my chest. Not because she’s interfering. Because she’s positioning herself like—
Like backup.
Like we’ve fought together before.
Her scent sharpens beside me: honey turned to smoke and steel, the edge of her magic cutting through the tension like a blade against stone. My hands flex at my sides, the urge to pull her back warring with something else. Something territorial but not in the way I expected.
