15. Sloane
FIFTEEN
SLOANE
Moisture still clung to Sloane's skin as she wrapped the plush towel around herself, her body humming with a bone-deep satisfaction.
Every nerve ending felt alive, sensitized from Ronan's touch, and the mate bond pulsed between them like a living thing.
She could still feel the phantom touch of his hands on her body, and the way he'd claimed her so completely against the shower wall.
This could be real, she thought, watching Ronan towel off his magnificent body beside her.
The sight of water droplets trailing down his muscled chest made her want to reach out and touch him again, to convince herself this wasn't some elaborate dream.
For once, she wasn't calculating escape routes or wondering when the other shoe would drop.
Instead, she found herself imagining a future here at Hale Lodge—working alongside Ronan and Kozue, teaching self-defense classes, maybe even exploring this triad mate bond.
The thought of permanence, of belonging somewhere, should have terrified her.
Instead, it filled her with a fierce warmth.
The wolf shifter revelation that had sent her reeling two days ago now seemed to slot into place like a missing puzzle piece.
Of course Ronan could turn into a massive black wolf—it explained the predatory awareness in his blue eyes, the way his presence commanded respect without effort, the protective instincts that seemed hardwired into his very being.
And if this pack of wolves could offer her the stability and community she'd never dared hope for, then maybe her chaotic past had been preparing her for exactly this moment.
The bathroom door suddenly swung open.
Kozue stood in the doorway, his green eyes taking in the scene with swift, painful comprehension.
His gaze moved from Sloane's flushed skin and damp hair to Ronan's towel-clad form, and she saw the exact moment understanding hit him.
His jaw tightened, but beneath the flash of hurt in his expression, concern dominated his features.
"Sloane," he said, his deep voice carefully controlled. "There's someone by the name of Tasha down in the lobby asking for you. She looks pretty rough—like something really bad happened to her."
The words hit Sloane like a battering ram, driving all thoughts of mate bonds and futures from her mind as ice flooded her veins.
"Oh god," she breathed, her heart hammering against her ribs.
Those two men—the ones who'd tried to kidnap her after her fight—they must have come back for Tasha when they couldn't find her. This was her fault. She'd brought danger to the one person who'd looked out for her in the underground circuit, the one person she actually trusted.
Without a word, she dropped her towel and rushed past Kozue into Ronan's suite, frantically gathering her scattered workout clothes from the floor. She didn't care that both men could see her naked—modesty was a luxury she couldn't afford when Tasha was hurt because of her.
"Sloane—" Kozue's voice followed her as she yanked on her sports bra, panties, and leggings with jerky, desperate movements.
"Take her downstairs now," Ronan commanded Kozue, his Alpha authority cutting through the tension as he moved toward his closet with swift efficiency.
Kozue nodded, though his eyes remained fixed on Sloane's face. "Sloane, try to calm down," he said quietly.
She looked up at him, guilt clawing at her throat. "I can't. I'm sorry," she said, the words rushing out. "And what happened between Ronan and me—it just sort of happened after our workout session."
Something flickered in Kozue's expression—hurt, resignation, maybe understanding. "It's fine," he said, but the tightness around his eyes suggested it wasn't.
But there wasn't time to unpack the complications of the triad bond or her feelings for both men. Tasha was downstairs, injured because of her, and that was the only thing that mattered right now.
They rushed out of Ronan's suite together, taking the stairs two at a time down to the main level.
Sloane's heart pounded with each step, guilt and fear warring in her chest. She'd been so caught up in the fantasy of belonging here, of building something with Ronan and Kozue, that she'd let herself forget the danger she'd brought to their doorstep.
The lobby's warm lighting felt harsh against her eyes as they emerged from the stairwell. She spotted Tasha immediately—slumped in one of the leather chairs near the massive stone fireplace, her athletic frame looking smaller than Sloane had ever seen it.
"Tasha," Sloane breathed, rushing forward.
Her friend looked up, and Sloane's stomach clenched at the sight. Tasha's left eye was swollen nearly shut, the skin around it already darkening to an ugly purple. Dried blood crusted her lower lip, and she held herself carefully, as if her ribs ached.
"What happened?" Sloane demanded, dropping to her knees beside the chair.
Ronan appeared at Kozue's shoulder, now dressed in jeans and a dark sweater, his presence commanding even in his haste. Tasha's sharp eyes assessed both men with the wariness of someone who'd learned to read threats quickly.
"It's okay," Sloane said, following her gaze. "You can trust them. This is Ronan, the general manager here, and Kozue, the assistant manager. They're good people."
Tasha nodded slowly, wincing at the movement. When she spoke, her voice was rough. "I was kidnapped by those two men—the ones from the other night. They took me to meet their employer." She paused, her dark eyes finding Sloane's. "Some guy named Darius Kade."
The temperature in the room seemed to plummet. Sloane felt Ronan and Kozue go rigid behind her, their sharp intakes of breath audible in the suddenly charged silence.
"He told me if I didn't tell him exactly where you were, he would kill me," Tasha continued, her matter-of-fact tone belying the tremor in her hands. "So I had to tell him. But they still beat the crap out of me and left me for dead in an alley. I came here as soon as I could to warn you."
Sloane's world tilted. She turned to look at Ronan, whose face had gone pale beneath his tan. "Who is Darius Kade?"
Ronan's blue eyes were hard as ice when they met hers. "The Alpha who I'm pretty sure murdered my family twelve years ago. He's the leader of the Kade pack—our enemy."
Her stomach clenched with a sick realization that made her want to vomit.
She hadn't just brought random danger to Hale Lodge.
She'd led their greatest enemy directly to their door.
The safety she'd finally begun to believe in, the future she'd dared to imagine—it was all crumbling around her, and it was entirely her fault.
Ronan's voice cut through the tension. "Emerson."
The front desk manager materialized with the swift efficiency that made her indispensable, but her usual cheerful demeanor shifted to focused concern the moment she took in Tasha's battered appearance.
"Get her to our healer Augustine," Ronan commanded, his Alpha authority leaving no room for discussion. "Tell him it's urgent."
Sloane's mind reeled as the pieces clicked into place. The pack community. Of course there would be other wolves living nearby, probably in those cozy homes she'd glimpsed scattered through the forest.
"Can you walk?" Emerson asked Tasha gently, her voice carrying the kind of practiced calm that suggested she'd handled injured people before.
Tasha nodded, though she winced as she pushed herself up from the leather chair. "I've had worse."
"I'm going with you," Sloane said immediately, stepping forward to support her friend's other arm.
But Tasha shook her head with stubborn determination. "No. You need to stay here and figure out what to do." Her dark eyes found Sloane's with fierce intensity. "I'll be fine."
"Well, you're staying in my suite tonight," Sloane said firmly. "I can stay with Ronan or Kozue."
The words left her mouth before she'd thought them through, and she felt heat creep up her neck as both men's gazes sharpened on her. Ronan and Kozue exchanged a loaded look that spoke of complicated territory she wasn't sure she was ready to navigate.
Tasha just nodded, too exhausted to argue. "Thanks."
Emerson slipped her arm around Tasha's waist with practiced gentleness. "Come on, honey. Let's get you patched up."
Sloane watched them disappear through the lodge's front doors, Emerson's steady chatter already working to distract Tasha from her pain.
The silence that followed felt heavy with unspoken tensions—the shower she and Ronan just shared, Kozue's hurt at being excluded, and now the very real threat bearing down on them.
She turned back to face Ronan, her stomach churning with guilt and fear. "So this Darius Kade—this Alpha wolf killed your family?"
Kozue stepped closer, his green eyes serious. "We don't know that for a fact, but there's enough speculation and evidence that suggests he did. But Ronan hasn't acted on it because he didn't want to start a pack war without absolute proof."
The weight of what she'd brought to their doorstep crashed over her like a tidal wave. She'd just put every person in this lodge and the surrounding community at risk.
"What are we going to do to protect Hale Lodge?" she asked, forcing her voice to remain steady despite the panic clawing at her. "He's going to send his men looking for me here, and I don't want to bring any more danger to this place or your pack."
Ronan's expression shifted into the commanding Alpha mode she'd glimpsed during the rogue attack.
"We can't stop running our business. I won't give Darius that satisfaction.
And we can't afford to spook our guests.
So we have to pretend that everything's fine.
But I'll have all our pack enforcers running constant patrols—day and night, triple duty.
Two enforcers stationed at our front entrance, probably one at all critical entry points just to be safe. "
The action plan should have reassured her, but instead it only amplified her crushing sense of responsibility. "This is all my fault," she said, the words scraping her throat raw. "I never should have had Gerri bring me here. I put you all in danger."
Before she could retreat into the self-blame spiraling through her mind, both men moved simultaneously. Kozue stepped forward from her left while Ronan approached from her right, and suddenly they were each taking one of her hands.
The moment their skin connected, that intense electrical awareness flooded her body again—the triad mate bond singing with recognition and completion.
Her pulse hammered as warmth spread from their joined hands up her arms and straight to her core, temporarily drowning out her guilt in pure sensation.
"Gerri was right to bring you here. She knew what she was doing," Kozue said, his voice firm with conviction. "We will protect you with our lives."
Ronan's blue eyes blazed with fierce determination. "Yes. And our pack is well aware of the dangers of our world and of Darius Kade. We're no strangers to his threats. But now he has an incentive to push at us harder."
The reality of their situation crystallized in her mind. She wasn't just some helpless human they needed to shelter—she was going to be a liability unless she could defend herself in their world.
"Well, then you two need to prepare me for this," she said, meeting each of their gazes in turn. "Teach me how to fight a wolf."
Ronan and Kozue exchanged another one of those wordless glances that spoke of years of shared leadership and trust. Something passed between them—agreement, strategy, maybe resignation that their mate was about to insist on throwing herself into danger.
"Alright," Kozue said finally, though his tone suggested he wasn't entirely happy about it. "We can teach you."
For the first time since Tasha had walked through those doors, Sloane felt a spark of hope. She might have brought this storm to their territory, but she wasn't going to hide behind their protection like some helpless survivor.
She was going to learn to fight back harder and stronger than ever before. Because now, she had something she wasn't willing to lose.