The word came from somewhere deep inside me — a warning, a rejection, a desperate attempt to stop what was already happening. Because I felt it. The hook sinking into my chest. The bond trying to form, reaching for him the way it had reached for Cal, for James, for Neal.
But this was different.
This was violent.
I stumbled. My knees buckled.
"Lumi!" James caught me, his arms wrapping around my waist before I hit the ground. "What is it? What's wrong?"
"I feel him." My hand pressed against my chest, against the place where the bond was trying to take root. "Here. I feel himhere."
The large wolf's lips pulled back from his teeth.
He'd felt it too. The bond reaching for him. And he was rejecting it with every fiber of his being.
Rage.
No.
Fury.
He was tearing at it. Clawing at the thread between us, trying to rip it out of himself before it could take hold.
The pain made me gasp.
"Lumi, talk to me." James's voice was urgent. "What's happening?"
"He's fighting it. The bond. He won't—" I couldn't finish. Another wave of rejection hit me, and I doubled over in James's arms.
The large wolf started moving.
Not toward the other ferals. Not toward Cal.
Toward me.
His movements were wrong — stiff, jerky, like something was fighting for control of his body.
Cal stepped into his path.
My wolf positioned himself between me and the alpha, body low, ears flat. Not aggressive. Pleading.
The large wolf didn't even slow down.
He hit Cal with his shoulder, sending my mate sprawling into the snow, and kept coming. His eyes never left mine.
Golden. Bright. Burning with a fury that had been building for years.
"James," I whispered.
"I see him."
"He's going to—"
The large wolf stopped. Ten feet away. Close enough that I could see the individual scars on his muzzle, the old bite marks on his ears, the teeth behind those pulled-back lips.
He was shaking.
Not with fear. With the effort of holding himself back.
