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1
Oh, I shouldn’t be doing this.
Even as I throw my Jeep into park, I know this is a bad idea. Hell, for all her instigating, I doubt Trish ever dreamed she’d get such a reaction out of me, which just goes to show that none of my new packmates know me half as well as they think they do.
I glare through my windshield, heart beating triple-time when my keen sight picks up on the structure tucked along the edge of the woods. I can feel my pulse racing through my veins, and if I didn’t have ironclad control over my inner wolf, my leather steering wheel would be nothing but shreds courtesy of my claws. Even so, it takes everything I have to hold her back just a little longer.
Just a little longer, girl, because I’m here.
Now, the first time I’m meant to step foot inside of the Alpha’s cabin is directly after we’ve performed the Luna Ceremony that would tie me to him for life as his bonded mate. So even though I was brought to Accalia to do just that, I’ve only ever seen his cabin from a distance.
Until today.
Until right this very moment.
Pack law is crystal clear. The moon might have whispered that I’m to be his intended, but I’m still an outsider until we’ve accepted the mating bond, done the deed, and received the moon’s blessing. The Alpha’s cabin is sacred, even more so to the Mountainside Pack. Since I arrived last month, I haven’t been allowed to forget it.
Is that going to stop me from crashing their council meeting?
No fucking way.
Because I’m furious but not a moron, I parked my packed-up car about a half a mile away from the cabin. My trusty Jeep has every single thing I own in it, with a change of clothes sitting on the passenger seat in case this whole thing goes sideways. As a wolf shifter, I can go from skin to fur and back with barely any effort. My clothes, though? They never survive the shift, and I’d rather not flee for my life wearing nothing but my birthday suit, thank you very much.
I glance at the jeans I picked out, broken in though none of my Mountainside packmates have ever seen me in them. The tank top that leaves my arms loose and limber. The sturdy boots should I have to get out and go on foot...
Yeah, I’m pretty sure this is going to go sideways.
And… that’s still not going to stop me.
I leave the keys in the ignition. No reason to fear that the Jeep will be gone when I get back. My scent clings to the car, and considering my status in the pack, it doesn’t matter that I’m still an outsider. To mess with me is an insult to the Alpha, and for as long as the rest of Accalia believes that, I’m going to use it to my advantage.
Though my wolf wants out—wants to break free and take off into the night, the moon bathing her fur as she outruns the sting of rejection—I tighten my reins on my other half.
Not yet, I tell her. Soon, but not yet.
I don’t run, but I eat up the ground anyway. As much as it hurts, I can follow the echoes of the mating bond right to the cabin; even if pack gossip didn’t tell me that he was in a meeting with his council, I would know exactly where to find him through the whisper-thin thread stretched between us. From the moment I switched packs, coming to Accalia to stay with the Mountainside Pack ahead of our mating, I’ve been constantly aware of him.
Ryker Wolfson. My fated mate, and Mountainside’s Alpha.
The only difference between his cabin and the rest of ours is its location, its seclusion. Built on the edge of pack territory specifically for the Alpha, its resident is our first line of defense. A non-packmate—human, vamp, or another kind of shifter—would have to go past it if they wanted to reach Accalia. With his impressive senses and overwhelming strength, any threat who hopes to get to the heart of the pack has to go through Ryker first.
Right now, that sounds like a plan to me.
I don’t go in through the front. Not because I’m wary of breaking pack law or because I’m trying to be sneaky—growing up the adopted daughter of the Lakeview Pack’s Alpha, I know plenty of tricks to avoid being caught—but for the simple reason that I can sense Ryker and his council gathered near the back. Of course. As territorial as we shifters are, he would keep the rest of the pack out of his personal space: his bedroom, his living room, his kitchen. Only his mate is allowed to enter the Alpha’s cabin—which, I remind myself again, is precisely why I’m not supposed to be here.
But the den? That’s where my dad always held his meetings, a space that was considered a refuge for any packmate in need. How much do I want to bet that Ryker’s set-up is the same?
It’s a loophole. I admit it.
Gonna take it anyway.
Following the whisper-thin bond leading me toward him, my senses start to ping when I find the closed door attached to the back of the towering cabin. I grab the handle, prepared to snap the lock if I have to; it’s bad etiquette and my mother would be ashamed, but she’d understand once I explained myself. I don’t have to break it, though. The door’s unlocked, an open invitation to all of Accalia to meet with the Alpha.
Gotcha.
I throw open the door, letting the weak moonlight silhouette me against the night.
All conversations stop. There are—through my angry haze, I do a quick head count—eight other males in the room apart from Ryker. They’re all standing, some prowling around the space, others braced with their legs apart, arms crossed over their chests. Ryker’s Beta, Shane, has his hip cocked against the desk across the room, obviously in the middle of saying something. I’ve definitely interrupted them, but I can’t bring myself to care.
