Jade's POV
The car ride felt like it lasted forever.
Jade sat in the back seat between Riven and the other wolf, the one called Kael, and tried not to scream. Her hands were shaking so badly she had to sit on them to keep them still. Outside the windows, the city lights faded away and trees took over. Lots of trees. Dark trees. The kind of darkness that went on forever.
Riven didn't say anything. He just sat there with his arm along the back of the seat, not quite touching her but close enough that she could feel his presence like a weight. She could feel the mate bond too, that golden thread connecting them, thrumming with something that felt almost like satisfaction from his side.
He was satisfied. He'd caught what he was hunting for.
Kael kept trying to make conversation with her, kept asking her name and whether she was comfortable and if she wanted water. She ignored him completely. Talking would mean accepting this. Talking would mean acknowledging that something real was happening and not just some nightmare she'd wake up from.
Her mother's voice echoed in her head, old and tired and desperate. "Stay hidden, baby. Promise me you'll stay hidden. Packs kill hybrids. Packs can't be trusted. We don't belong with them."
She'd kept that promise for six years.
Six years of not shifting. Six years of pretending her wolf didn't exist. Six years of waking up in a tiny apartment and working at a diner and coming home to nothing. Six years of being alone because alone was safer than belonging.
And now she was being dragged to a pack house in the middle of nowhere by an Alpha who apparently owned her according to some bond she never asked for.
"You're angry," Riven said quietly.
He was stating facts, not asking. She ignored him anyway.
"That's good," he continued. "Angry means you're not panicking. Panic makes you stupid."
She turned her head away from him and stared out the window. The trees were so thick now that the headlights barely cut through the darkness. They were driving deeper into the forest, deeper into territory that belonged to wolves and had nothing to do with humans. They were driving away from the city. Away from her apartment. Away from her job and her carefully constructed invisible life.
The forest seemed to go on forever.
Then the car slowed and turned down a long driveway. Through the trees, lights appeared. Not city lights but warm golden light spilling from the windows of a massive lodge. It was built from dark wood and stone, the kind of place that looked like it had been there forever. Like it belonged to something wild.
Riven was already opening his door before the car came to a complete stop.
"Stay close," he said.
Like she had a choice. His hand closed around her wrist and pulled her out of the car. Her feet hit gravel and she wanted to run. She wanted to shift and run and disappear into the forest the way she'd wanted to disappear into the human city all those years ago.
Then she heard them.
Wolves. Dozens of them. They emerged from the shadows around the lodge, stepping into the light like ghosts becoming real. Fifty of them. Maybe more. All massive and powerful and completely united in a way that made her chest tight.
They were pack.
She'd never seen a real pack before. Her memories of her mother's pack were broken fragments from when she was twelve, more emotion than actual images. Fear and blood and wolves hunting. But this was different. These wolves were organized. Orderly. They arranged themselves in a formation that suggested hierarchy and structure and absolute unity.
The scent of them hit her like a physical blow.
Pack bonds. She could feel them in the air, in the way they moved together, in the invisible threads connecting every single wolf to every other wolf. It was overwhelming and beautiful and terrifying all at once. Her wolf pressed against her skin, confused about whether to submit or fight or run.
All three instincts were screaming at her simultaneously.
A few of the younger wolves stepped forward like they wanted to approach her, but Riven's growl stopped them immediately. Low and dangerous and absolutely commanding. Even the older wolves took a respectful step back.
His hand stayed locked around her wrist.
"Welcome them," one of the older wolves said. He had gray streaking his dark hair and he held himself like he carried authority. But even he deferred slightly to Riven. "Alpha, is this the rumor from the northern territory?"
"This is," Riven said simply.
The pack seemed to hold its collective breath. Jade could feel their curiosity, their questions, their absolute certainty that their Alpha knew exactly what he was doing. That faith was absolute and unquestioning.
It made her skin crawl.
"What is she?" a younger female called out. She had red hair that caught the light and her green eyes were fixed on Jade with pure poison. There was something territorial in that gaze, something possessive and angry.
"That's not your concern," Riven said flatly.
His hand moved from her wrist to her lower back, settling there with a weight that felt like a claiming. His touch was possessive and deliberate and completely public. Everyone was watching. Every single wolf could see exactly what he was doing.
Jade's face burned.
"This is Jade," Riven announced to the entire pack. His voice dropped into something deeper, something that carried Alpha authority. "She's under my protection. Anyone who harms her answers to me directly. Is that understood?"
"Understood, Alpha," they answered. Not one of them questioned it. Not one of them even hesitated.
They simply accepted. They bowed slightly, showing respect in the way wolves did when they acknowledged a decision their Alpha had made. Some of the younger wolves looked curious. Some looked excited. One of the older she-wolves smiled warmly and nodded like she was welcoming a sister.
But the red-haired female on the porch.
She stood completely still, watching Jade with an expression that could have cut glass. Her hands were clenched into fists and her jaw was locked so tight that Jade could see the muscles working. The hatred in her green eyes was so sharp and focused that it felt like a blade.
Whatever Jade was to this pack, whatever Riven had just claimed her to be, that red-haired female had wanted to be instead.
And now she was going to be a problem.
"Sera," Riven said, his tone going cold in a way that made the temperature drop. "Inside."
The red-haired female, Sera, didn't move for a long moment. Her eyes stayed locked on Jade like she was memorizing every detail so she could use it as a weapon later. Then she turned and walked into the lodge without answering.
But she looked back once before she disappeared through the door.
The look she gave Jade promised something dark.