CHAPTER 17 THE RIVAL PACK
The journey back from the waterfall should have felt peaceful. The morning air was crisp and clean, the forest alive with birdsong, and Eli's body still hummed with the afterglow of their night together. But the moment they crossed back into the heart of his territory, something shifted.
Eli's wolf rose to the surface, alert and wary.
They'd shifted to animal form for the return journey—it was faster and more efficient—but now Eli found himself slowing, his massive gray body going rigid as his nose caught something on the wind.
Jace noticed immediately. The sleek black cougar beside him stopped and turned, golden gaze questioning.
What is it? Jace asked through their bond.
Eli didn't answer immediately. He was processing the scent, categorizing it, understanding what it meant. And with each passing second, his hackles rose higher.
Wolf, he finally sent back. Multiple wolves. Fresh marks. Aggressive.
They shifted to human form simultaneously, both understanding that this required conversation, not just instinct.
"How many?" Jace asked, his voice low and controlled.
Eli closed his eyes and breathed deeply, sorting through the layered scents. "At least five. Maybe more. They're marking as they go—deliberately overwriting my boundaries."
Jace's expression hardened. "Not just passing through, then."
"No." Eli's hands clenched into fists at his sides. "This is coordinated. This is a probe. They're testing our defenses, seeing how we'll respond."
He turned to look at Jace, and his expression was grim. "Our problem just became immediate."
Jace nodded once, his playful demeanor from the waterfall completely gone. In its place was the strategic scout his mother had trained him to be. "Show me."
They moved through the forest with practiced silence, following the scent trail toward the eastern boundary. Eli's territory was vast, but he knew every inch of it—every ridge, every valley, every defensible position. And he knew exactly where these wolves were heading.
The boundary clearing.
It was one of the few open spaces in his territory, a natural meeting point where the dense forest gave way to rocky outcroppings and sparse vegetation. Eli had always known it was a tactical weakness—too exposed, too easy to approach from multiple angles.
And now someone was exploiting it.
As they approached, Eli caught Jace's arm and pulled him down behind a fallen log. They were still fifty yards from the clearing, but shifter hearing was acute, and Eli didn't want to announce their presence yet.
Stay low, he sent through the bond. Let's see what we're dealing with.
Jace nodded and crouched beside him, both of them peering through the underbrush toward the clearing.
What they saw made Eli's blood run cold.
***
Five wolves in human form were setting up what looked like a temporary camp in the clearing. They moved with military efficiency—one building a fire pit, two erecting a basic shelter from branches and canvas, another marking trees with deliberate claw marks that screamed territorial claim.
But it was the fifth wolf that made Eli's entire body go rigid.
Massive. Scarred. With one eye partially closed from old damage that had never healed properly.
Kane.
Eli's breath hissed out between his teeth, and Jace immediately looked at him with concern.
You know him, Jace sent through the bond. It wasn't a question.
That's Kane, Eli confirmed, his mental voice tight with barely controlled rage. From my old pack. He was second-rank under Marcus. When everything fell apart, he blamed me for not holding the structure together.
Jace's hand found Eli's and squeezed. Tell me.
Eli forced himself to breathe, to think past the surge of old anger and guilt.
Kane was ambitious. He thought he should have been Marcus's second instead of me.
When Marcus challenged Owen and everything went to hell, Kane tried to rally the remaining wolves to his side. But most of them scattered instead.
What Eli had never wanted to admit was that Kane had stayed. When the old pack collapsed, Kane had buried bodies, fed frightened wolves, and made brutal choices Eli had not been there to make. It did not excuse what he had become, but it made the hatred harder to dismiss as simple envy.
Kane had lost a younger brother in those first starving weeks after the fracture, a thin, laughing boy who had once followed Eli through patrol routes asking too many questions.
Eli had not been there to hear the death howl.
Kane had never forgiven him for the absence, and Eli had never known what to do with the part of that hatred that was earned.
He watched Kane direct the other wolves with sharp gestures, clearly in command. He's always wanted my territory. Always thought he could take it if he could catch me vulnerable.
And now he thinks you are, Jace said. Because of me.
Eli turned to look at Jace, his expression fierce. "You're not a weakness. You're my strength. Don't ever think otherwise."
Jace's expression softened slightly, but his eyes remained hard as he turned back to watch the clearing. "He doesn't know that yet. He sees a lone wolf who bonded with a cougar—something that breaks every territorial law. He thinks that makes you weak and distracted."
"Then he's about to learn differently," Eli said.
As if sensing their presence, Kane suddenly looked directly at the spot where they were hidden. His scarred face split into a feral grin, and he shifted to wolf form in one fluid motion.
The message was unmistakable: I know you're there. I know you're watching. And there's nothing you can do about it.
Kane's wolf was nearly as large as Eli's, with a coat that was more gray than brown and scars that crisscrossed his muzzle and shoulders. He lifted his head and howled—a long, challenging sound that echoed through the forest.
The other four wolves immediately shifted as well, forming a loose semicircle around Kane. They were smaller than him but clearly experienced fighters. This wasn't a ragtag group of rogues—this was an organized pack with a clear hierarchy.
Eli's wolf surged forward, demanding he shift and answer the challenge immediately. But Jace's hand tightened on his arm, holding him back.
"Not yet," Jace said. "Not until we know what we're dealing with. How many more are hidden? What their full strength is? We can't win this by charging in blind."
Eli forced his wolf back down, though it cost him. Every instinct screamed at him to defend his territory, to meet Kane's challenge head-on. But Jace was right—strategy mattered more than pride.
"We need to get back to the cave," Eli murmured. "We need to plan."
They retreated as silently as they'd come, moving through the forest with the practiced ease of predators who knew their territory intimately. But Eli could feel Kane's presence like a weight on his shoulders, a constant pressure that wouldn't ease until this was resolved.
One way or another.
By the time they reached the cave, Eli's mind was already racing through tactical scenarios. He pulled out the hand-drawn maps he'd made of his territory over the past three years, spreading them across the floor of the cave.
Jace knelt beside him, studying the maps with the eye of someone trained in reconnaissance.
"He's positioning himself to cut off the eastern approach," Jace noted, pointing to where Kane's camp was located.
"If he wanted to just challenge you directly, he'd be at the main boundary. But this position—"
"Gives him control of the water source," Eli finished grimly. "And blocks the easiest route between my territory and yours. He's not just challenging me. He's trying to isolate us from each other."
Jace's expression darkened. "Smart. If he can keep reinforcements from reaching you, he can overwhelm your position with superior numbers."
Eli sat back on his heels, his mind working through the implications. Kane had always been tactical—that's what had made him dangerous in the old pack. He didn't just rely on brute strength; he planned, he strategized, he exploited weaknesses.
And right now, Eli's biggest perceived weakness was his bond with Jace.
"We need to contact our allies," Eli said. "Now. This isn't a probe anymore—this is the opening move of a coordinated assault."
Jace nodded and immediately reached out through his bond with his sister. Eli watched as Jace's eyes went distant, his consciousness splitting between the physical world and the spiritual connection that linked him to his pride.
While Jace communicated with Kira, Eli reached out to Vera through the older, more traditional method—a howl that carried specific tonal patterns only pack members would recognize. It was a risk—Kane would hear it too—but Eli needed Vera to know the situation had escalated.
Within minutes, responses began coming in.
Vera's reply came first, her mental voice sharp and clear despite the distance: How many?
Five confirmed, Eli sent back. Probably more hidden. Kane's leading them.
There was a pause, and Eli could feel Vera's surprise and concern. Kane. I thought he'd died in the collapse.
So did I, Eli admitted. But he's here, and he's organized. We need support. Three days?
Two, Vera corrected. We're already moving. I had a feeling this was coming.
Relief flooded through Eli. Vera had always had good instincts.
Jace's eyes refocused, and he turned to Eli. "Kira's relaying the message to my mother. The pride will send scouts and fighters to the boundary between our territories. If Kane wants to threaten either of us, he'll have to go through both."
Eli reached over and pulled Jace close, pressing a kiss to his forehead. "Thank you."
"Don't thank me yet," Jace said, but there was warmth in his voice. "We still have to survive this."
They spent the next hour going over the maps in detail, marking potential defensive positions, identifying choke points where they could funnel Kane's forces, planning fallback positions if they were overwhelmed.