6. Chapter 6
The lodge interior hit Nadia like a wall of sensation. Heat from the massive stone fireplace. The scent of pine and wood smoke and dozens of wolves layered together so densely it should have triggered panic.
Movement as pack members moved aside, creating space without being asked.
Her wolf wanted to bolt.
Every instinct begged her to bolt.
Maren touched her elbow. Light, brief, and gone before Nadia could flinch. She’d clocked the room’s exits the same way Nadia had, a habit her body still kept from a life before this one. “Sit. I’ll get you something warm to drink.”
Nadia’s legs shook. She made it to the nearest chair, a deep leather thing positioned near the fire, and sank into it before her hip gave out completely.
The warmth felt obscene after weeks in the wind. Her fingers tingled as circulation returned.
The lodge doors opened. Rhys entered, his limp more pronounced than it had been at the cave. His jaw was tight, his movements controlled so tightly they betrayed pain barely managed.
He kept his attention on the far wall. Didn’t approach. Instead, he moved to the far side of the room, putting the entire length of the space between them.
A protest rose under her ribs.
Jace descended the stairs, his alpha presence filling the room without being oppressive. He moved to stand near the fireplace, between her and the door, close enough to intercept, far enough to pretend otherwise. She’d already mapped three exits before she’d sat down.
The way Rhys had his back to the wall, his weaker leg extended slightly to ease the weight.
The way his shoulders pulled tight against his coat, the slow flex of his jaw, the way he held himself rooted like a man bracing against a current.
The words were too familiar. Too close to what Rhys had said at the cave. Nadia’s throat tightened. “Why?”
“Nothing’s free.” The response came harsh, defensive. “Every pack wants something.”
“We want you here.” Rhys’s voice cut across the room. Nadia’s head snapped toward him. He still wasn’t looking at her, his gaze fixed on the wall above her head. “That’s all. Just, here.”
Something inside her cracked open. Nadia’s wolf lunged forward, desperate to close the distance. She gripped the chair arms hard enough that her knuckles went white.
Maren appeared with a steaming mug, setting it on the small table beside Nadia’s chair. “Herbal tea. Nothing fancy.” She stepped back immediately, respecting space Nadia hadn’t asked for but desperately needed.
The kindness cut deeper than the bond.
Jace bent over the map. “Thornwood is actively searching this region. We’ve confirmed at least six scouts within twenty miles. They’re looking for someone, and given your timing, I’m guessing that someone is you.”
Nadia wrapped shaking fingers around the mug, using the heat to ground herself. “They won’t stop.”
“Then we need to know what we’re dealing with.” Jace’s tone stayed even. “Tell us only what you can. But if Thornwood comes to our border demanding we hand you over, I need to know what I’m refusing.”
The room went quiet. Nadia felt the weight of attention from every wolf present. Watching. Waiting. Judging what she was worth, whether protecting her was worth the risk of conflict with another pack.
“I ran.” The admission scraped her throat raw. “Four months ago. I crossed three territories to get here.”
“Why Blackridge?” Jace asked.
“Because you’re the last pack before Canada. Because—” Nadia’s voice caught. “Because I heard you let wolves say no.”
Silence.
Then Rhys moved. Just a shift of weight, a half-step forward before he caught himself. The muscle in his jaw jumped.
“You were being forced into a bond.” Jace’s words weren’t a question.
“The alpha’s Beta decided I was his.” Nadia’s laugh was bitter, broken. “I said no. He didn’t care. So I ran.”
More silence. Thicker this time, weighted with implications Nadia didn’t want to examine.
Rhys made a sound low in his throat. Not quite a growl. Something worse, something that promised violence barely contained. He turned toward the wall, his shoulders rigid.
“They’ll claim you belong to Thornwood.” Jace’s expression hardened. “That you belong to Thornwood and we’re harboring a rogue who fled a brokered bond.”
Nadia let the silence answer for her.
“And if we refuse to hand you over?”
“They’ll demand recompense. Challenge for my return. Start a territorial dispute.” Nadia met Jace’s gaze. “I’m not worth a war.”
“That’s not your call to make.” Rhys’s words came strained. He still wasn’t looking at her. “Whether you’re worth protecting isn’t something you get to decide.”
Something tugged sharp beneath her ribs, hard enough to steal breath. “You don’t know me.”
“I know enough.” Rhys turned finally, and the look in his eyes hit her square in the chest. “I know you’ve been running for months in winter.
I know you’re hurt and exhausted and still standing.
I know you came here because you’d rather freeze on Blackridge land than go back to Thornwood.
That tells me everything I need to know about your choices. ”
His words landed with a weight she couldn’t deflect.
“That’s enough,” Rhys continued. “That’s more than enough.”
Nadia’s vision blurred. She blinked hard, refusing to let tears fall. “The bond doesn’t mean you have to—”
“It means I’ll die before I let them take you back.” Rhys’s voice dropped, going rough and primal. “But it doesn’t mean I own you. Doesn’t mean you owe me anything. Doesn’t mean you have to accept it or acknowledge it or do a single thing you don’t want to do.”
The room held its breath.
Nadia stared at him. At the scars cutting across his face. At the way he held himself like every muscle hurt. At the distance he maintained between them despite every nerve in her skin pulling toward him.
“I don’t understand.” The words came small and uncertain.
Rhys’s expression softened. “But you will. Not today. Maybe not for a long time. That’s allowed.”
Jace cleared his throat. “Thornwood will come. Probably within the week. When they do, I’ll tell them you’re under Blackridge’s protection.
Council sanctions can land in days. Armed enforcement needs a week’s consensus from the seated alphas.
Thornwood is playing the gap. The council can issue censures and trade sanctions, but it can’t send warriors.
Most packs won’t risk a fight once they’re on record against the council. ”
“Council rulings carry weight.” Jace’s jaw tightened. “Last time a pack our size took a censure, their border went silent for a year. That’s the teeth behind the words.”
“That’ll start a conflict.” Nadia’s grip tightened on the mug.
“Let it.” Jace’s tone was level, final. “We’ve handled worse.”
“You don’t know what you’re—”
Blackridge doesn’t surrender wolves. That’s not negotiable.
Nadia’s chest locked. Something inside her shifted weight, not in fear but in something she couldn’t name, something that burned where the old wariness lived. Every wolf in the room felt it.
“I need—” She tried to stand. Her hip screamed. Her leg buckled.
Rhys moved.
He crossed the room in three limping strides, catching her before she hit the floor. His hands were gentle despite the strength in them, steadying her without restraining. The contact sent electricity through the connection between them. Nadia’s wolf rolled belly-up in answer.
Every muscle locked. Her pulse hammered against her ribs.
Rhys released her immediately. He stepped back, his hands raised, his expression blank despite the pain that flashed across his face. “Sorry. I shouldn’t have—”
“Don’t.” Nadia’s voice shook. “Don’t apologize for helping.”
“You’re afraid.”
Rhys’s expression changed. Understanding, maybe. Or recognition of a truth he already knew. He stayed back and let her regain her balance.
Pain pulsed through Nadia's hip. Her leg shook. She sank back into the chair before her body betrayed her again.
“You need medical attention.” Maren stepped forward, her tone professional. “That hip isn’t healing right.”
“It’s fine.”
“It’s not.” Rhys held the words steady. “I’ve seen enough injuries to know when something’s wrong. Let Rachel look at it.”
“Not yet.” She met Rhys’s gaze. “I can’t, not yet.”
He nodded slowly. “All right. The offer doesn’t expire.”
When you’re ready. Not if. When. Like he’d already decided she was staying. Like he could see a future where she wasn’t running.
The thought made something inside her crack.
Jace moved toward the stairs. “There’s a room on the second floor. Private. Lock on the inside. You can rest, think, decide what you want to do next.”
“I don’t have anything to—”
“We’ll bring supplies.” Maren’s tone was matter-of-fact. “Clothes, food, whatever you need.”
She stood carefully, testing her weight. The leg held. Maren moved to her side, not touching but close enough to catch her if she fell. Together they crossed to the stairs.
Nadia paused at the bottom step, looking back.
Rhys stood exactly where she’d left him, his leg bearing too much weight, his hands still clenched at his sides.
He watched her with an intensity that should have been frightening. Instead, it felt like being seen. Really seen, in longer than she could remember.
Nadia climbed the stairs, each step an effort. Maren stayed beside her, silent and steady. The second floor hallway stretched ahead, doors lining both sides. Maren led her to the last room on the right.
“Lock works from the inside only.” Maren pushed the door open. “No one can get in unless you let them. I’ll bring supplies in an hour. Knock three times so you know it’s me.”
The room was small but warm. A bed with thick blankets. A window overlooking the forest. A door that locked.
Safety. Or the illusion of it.
Nadia stepped inside. Her legs shook with exhaustion. “Why are you doing this?”
Maren paused in the doorway. “Because it’s right. Because you need help. Because—” She stopped, something complicated crossing her face. “Because every wolf deserves a choice. Especially about who they bond with.”
She left without waiting for an answer.
She locked the door instead.
Then she collapsed onto the bed, her body finally surrendering to exhaustion. The injury burned dully under her. Something low and warm began to register through the haze. The first real warmth in days.
She lay in her coat, fingers curled around the door handle.