Chapter 28 Wolfe
Wolfe
The scent of her was everywhere.
It clung to my skin, soaked into my clothes, marked my mouth. It was in my blood now, her heat still curling beneath my flesh, simmering low and steady—claimed, completed, sealed.
I hadn’t wanted to force it. But Luna, forgive me, I’d never felt anything more right than when I had taken her.
She was sleeping now, tangled in the sheets I’d stripped off the bed and dragged to the floor when we couldn’t even make it to the mattress. Her body curled against mine, soft and boneless, and I wrapped myself around her like I could keep the world out with just my arms.
But the world was still there.
And the trouble hadn’t left.
I traced the slope of her shoulder, down to the curve of her hip, and rested my palm low, protective.
Possessive. Her breath was steady, warm against my chest. But the bond between us…
it was louder now. Alive. I could feel the echo of her dreams in my ribs.
The twitch of her pulse beneath my fingers.
The sharp flicker of her wolf, even in sleep.
She was mine. Fully. Completely.
And if the Council thought they could tear her from me now…they’d have to kill me first.
My jaw tensed. The bond had settled me. Centered me. But it hadn’t tamed me. No, it had given me something worth unleashing for.
There was still traitors out there. Still blood owed. Still wolves under my protection who were asking questions I didn’t have answers to.
But for this moment—just this one—I let it go.
Rowen shifted slightly in her sleep, her fingers tightening on my forearm, her wolf brushing against mine like she could feel the weight pressing in on me.
I pressed a kiss to her temple. “Sleep, mate.”
The calm wouldn’t last. But it didn’t need to. Because I was ready. Let them come. Let them try to break what we’d forged. Let them plot from their high-backed chairs and whisper through their spies.
If they thought I wouldn’t bend and burn and bleed for my pack, they were fools.
I was an alpha.
Bound.
Unbroken.
Unforgiving.
And I would not be moved. Not from Stonefang and not from the Hollow. And never from my mate.
My body ached in the way it only ever had after battle—every nerve hummed with her, with us. My wolf was quiet now, sated, curled in the heat of our bond.
But I couldn’t rest.
I stared up at the ceiling, one arm holding her close, the steady rise and fall of her chest grounding me. Soothing me.
The air felt different. I hadn’t figured out how yet. Just that it had changed. And not because of us.
I felt it in my gut before I heard the sound—light footsteps, the shift of boot on stone just beyond the house.
I was up, pulling on my pants before the door to the bedroom opened slightly.
Diesel stood there, tension written all over him, his eyes never looking down at her on the floor. “We’ve got a problem.”
Rowen stirred behind me, soft and sleepy. I looked back once—just once—as she curled into the warm blankets I’d left behind. I didn’t want to wake her. Not yet.
I stepped outside, shutting the door behind me with care. Diesel didn’t wait. He turned and walked outside, his boots already crunching over grass as he led me toward the tree line.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“I traveled all night,” he said. “Didn’t stop.”
That told me enough. He didn’t speak again until we were well away from the house, past earshot, near the edge of the territory with no houses around it. The trees whispered above us. The moon was low.
Then Diesel turned, jaw set. “The Pack Council is moving.”
I didn’t blink. “How soon?”
“Sooner than you think. They’ve sent summons to some other alphas—claiming you’re consolidating power too quickly. That you’re destabilizing the territories.”
“Let me guess,” I said dryly, “they don’t like that the two packs haven’t imploded yet.”
He huffed a grim sound. “I think they were counting on it. But here’s where it gets worse. There’s a whisper going around. That Blueridge Hollow was never meant to have another alpha.”
I stared at him. “What does that mean?”
“They’re saying your bond with Rowen was engineered. That it’s a false bond, forged for power. Your power.”
I laughed once, a cold, humorless sound. “That’s bullshit. They’re scared.”
“They could be,” Diesel said, eyes dark. “But they’re not running, Wolfe. They’re circling, and they have a lot more power than you do.”
I glanced back toward the way we’d come, where my mate lay sleeping, and my chest tightened. “Do they know the bond’s complete?”
“I don’t think so.” He hesitated. “Not yet.”
Let them wonder. Let them feel that unknown like a knife pressed to their throat. “A completed bond is very hard to fake,” I spat out. “What else?” I asked.
Diesel’s lips pressed into a line. “They’re calling for a hearing. A formal one. They’ll want both of you.”
I exhaled slowly, the weight of it all pressing in. “She’ll come with me,” I said confidently.
“Wolfe,” Diesel warned.
“They won’t separate us,” I said flatly. “And if they try?” My wolf snarled beneath my skin, eager and sharp. “Then let them come.”
“Your packs aren’t ready for this war,” Diesel muttered. He looked at me. “Kill told me everything, while you were in there and…well.”
“Killian needed to sleep,” I grumbled. “You’d better have let him sleep.”
“You’ve been fucking for almost two days. He’s slept.”
I punched him. He hit me back. We had a brief brawl. It was over as quickly as it began. I wiped the blood from my mouth and glanced at the smear on my knuckles. Diesel’s eye was already swelling.
“Feel better?” he asked, breathless but smirking.
“Not even close,” I muttered, then offered him my hand. He took it, and I helped him up. We didn’t need to say anything else. Not right away.
The Hollow was quiet this morning. Waiting. The kind of stillness that came before the earth cracked open and swallowed you whole.
Diesel followed me to the pack hall, rubbing his jaw, not bothering to shift. He’d heal quickly enough. “The majority will follow you,” he said, quietly now. “But we need them prepared.”
“They will be.”
His look was grim. “I don’t know if they will.”
I walked into the hall, seeing the looks from the few that were there, hearing the whispers.
“Did you sleep well, Alpha?” someone asked good-naturedly. I laughed with the others, as it was the pack’s way, but my wolf snarled beneath my skin.
You look like you want to kill them, Diesel snorted. You’re supposed to be chilled out. You just spent over twenty-four hours having great sex. Can you at least pretend to be relaxed?
Can you shut up about sex and my mate?
For the love of the Goddess, I’m sending you back in if you don’t lighten up.
I turned to stare at him at the door to the office. “It’s not a war zone you’re sending me to; she’s my mate.”
“Who was in heat,” he said dryly. “You’re supposed to have gotten drunk on endorphins, fucked like bunnies, and relaxed.”
“I’m going to need you to stop talking about fucking.” I opened the door and saw Killian and Brand already there.
“Already?” Killian asked.
“Don’t.” Diesel stopped him from saying anything else. “He’s being all sensitive about it.”
“I will knock you out,” I muttered as I dropped into my seat. “Catch me up.”
No one spoke at first. We all knew what this was. War didn’t start with blood. It started with silence.
“Mostly everyone here knows you and Rowen were…busy,” Brand said diplomatically. “We didn’t broadcast it, but I can guarantee you every shifter in this territory who is sworn to you can feel it.”
“Really?” I asked curiously. “What does it feel like?”
Killian scratched his jaw. “Whole.” He looked over at Brand, who nodded. “It felt…hollow before, there but not there. Now it’s definitely there.”
“Is it just me, or is that creepy?” I asked no one.
“It’s the way it’s supposed to be,” Diesel drawled. “We’re supposed to feel our bonded alpha and his mate. It gives us comfort knowing you’re happy.” He rolled his eyes. “Makes our wolves happy that the den is secure.”
“I don’t remember if I felt that when I was here when I was younger,” I told them. “I didn’t know you felt that.”
“Lars did what he could with you,” Diesel conceded.
Killian coughed. “Trust me, when you and Rowen…shall we say, arrived at your destination?” He grinned at Brand, whose head was bowed to hide his own grin. “We all felt it.”
“There will be a lot of pups in a few months from now,” Brand added with a low laugh.
I wasn’t sure if I felt smug or embarrassed. I decided to change the subject.
“Is that a problem for us?” I asked Diesel. “That the pack can feel it? All we need is someone to tell the Pack Council and—”
“The ones fighting you are not the ones sworn to you,” Killian reminded me. “It’s likely they don’t know.”
“There are too many unknowns.” I stood and paced. “Our territory is safe, right?” I asked Diesel. “I feel the spell in place. No one in, no one out?” He nodded and I looked at my men. “Then I say, the ones who are still here, still reporting our movements, we flush them out.”
Diesel sat forward, his grin wicked. “We run a sweep.”
I nodded. “Yeah. Just us four. We’re fastest.”
“I like this plan,” Brand confirmed as he sat back.
I looked toward the door, feeling her before she knocked once, then opened it. Her hair was in her braid, her normal black boots and dark green pants; her V-neck T-shirt didn’t hide the mate mark on her skin.
My wolf rumbled in my chest happily.
Rowen looked at me as she entered, her eyes warm, and the bond pulsed. “Is now a good time?” she asked.
“Out,” Killian said, dragging Diesel to his feet. “Out quick.”
I didn’t get the chance to ask them why they were rushing out the door; I just heard the door close, and my mate was in front of me.
She called me to her like a siren of the sea, and my mouth was on hers before my brain registered I hadn’t even said a word.
I kissed her so deeply that I felt like I was drowning, and Rowen kissed me back just as fiercely.