Chapter 24-Honor
Back in the Den
“How can I track her?” I ask, forcing the question past the knot in my throat.
Her lips curve—not kindly, but cleverly.
“You’re mated, right? You exchanged bites? Maybe claw marks?”
I nod once. A sharp, jerking motion.
“Yes. I scratched her, uh, hips.”
“And what did she do?”
“Rosalind bit me.”
Yes, she did, and it was the proudest moment of my life—I just didn’t know it yet.
My sweet mate claimed me with a growl and a kiss, and her teeth in my flesh like she was made for me. I’ll never forget it.
“Then it’s simple,” Leya says, her voice velvet over steel. “Track the matebond.”
I blink. “Track the what? The matebond?”
My Bear surges, snapping against my ribs, ears perked, growling in agreement.
Yes. Find her.
My pulse roars.
Suddenly, everything is clearer.
Of course. It’s not just instinct. It’s not just scent.
This bond between us is real. It’s ancient, magic, primal.
And it connects us.
Even now.
Even through pain and fear and distance.
Even if she doesn’t want me to find her.
“I can do that?” I rasp.
“If the bond is strong enough,” Leya says, stepping aside. “And I think it is.”
I’m already moving—not running this time, not like a man on the brink—but moving with purpose.
Because now I have something better than rage.
I have a weapon.
The bond.
And Lord help anyone who thinks they can keep me from her.
“Wait, son. You’ll need backup.”
I turn, chest heaving, every instinct screaming to go. To tear through the dark until I find her or burn the world down trying.
“I’m sorry,” I say honestly. “I can’t wait.”
“But you don’t even know how to track the matebond, Honor!” Hope shouts.
Fuck.
She’s right.
I stop so abruptly my boots scrape the floor. The pressure in my chest spikes, pain and panic tangling until it’s hard to breathe.
I rake a hand through my hair, forcing myself to stay here—present—even though every second away from my Rosie feels like a blade twisting deeper.
“How do I do it?” I ask. I don’t care how raw it sounds. “Tell me.”
Hope steps closer, tears glassing her eyes. “First, you let me—and Miles—and the Devlins help. Okay?”
I meet her gaze. She’s scared. Not just for me. For Rosie.
She cares about her, my Bear notes quietly. Not accusing. Observant.
“Okay,” I say, voice rough.
“You have a Clan now, Honor,” Miles adds, clapping a solid hand on my shoulder. “We don’t do this alone.”
He’s right. I can feel it—the invisible threads settling into place around me.
The weight of belonging.
The steadiness of it anchoring my Bear, giving him something to brace against instead of tearing free.
“Okay,” I say. “Okay. Tell me everything.”
Daniel clears his throat. “First—what Rosalind reported about in the woods behind your home.”
Miles and Hope both stiffen, eyes snapping to him.
“What?” Miles growls. “She saw something?”
“Yes and no,” Daniel admits. “More like heard stuff. Growls. A couple of scratches on trees. She said it felt strange. Like signs of territorial marking. I told her to wait until I had more Enforcers free to investigate.”
A low snarl builds in my chest before I can stop it.
“Fuck,” Miles mutters. “I thought I was just on edge—hearing things because of what happened to Hope last year.”
Marcus’ gaze sharpens.
“Describe the markings.”
“Claw scoring on trees,” Daniel says. “Too deep for a black bear cub. Too deliberate for an animal. And there were scents—masked, but wrong. Not Barvale. But because of that trouble with Hunter Vampires in the past, I told her to wait. It’s on my to do list, Marcus,” he says, but I know he’s angry with himself.
“It’s not your fault, Daniel. We’ve been hard pressed for Enforcers with all the changes going on right now. Rosalind is strong and smart, but if she was upset, not thinking clearly, not paying attention, then she could’ve walked right into a trap.”
“What’s a Hunter Vampire?”
The question rips out of me before I can stop it. Fear makes my hands shake, my Bear pacing hard under my skin.
Marcus answers first.
“A monster. A mindless feeder. No hierarchy. No subtlety. If they were in Barvale, we’d already know.”
His gaze slides to his brother. Sharp. Assessing.
“This feels different.”
“Could be rogues,” Daniel says quietly.
Miles stiffens like he’s been struck.
“You don’t think?” he mutters. Then louder, angrier. “Fuck.”
My Bear surges, hackles up. “What?”
Miles exhales hard, dragging a hand over his face.
“My old Clan wasn’t just traditional. They were warmakers. Soldiers. Bears who lived for orders and bloodshed. They sent some of them after me once—men who served under me—to hunt me down and attack.”
The room goes still.
“Why?” I demand, heat flooding my veins.
“Because I refused a direct order from my Alpha,” Miles says.
The roar tears out of me before I can stop it.
The walls seem to vibrate with it. Rage, fear, protectiveness—everything crashing together.
“Fuck, I—I’m sorry, Honor,” Miles says quickly, stepping toward me but keeping his posture open. Submissive. Honest.
“If it’s them, we’ll find them. I swear it. And they will pay.”
“Honor,” Hope says softly, moving to Miles’s side. “Please don’t be angry with him. He refused an arranged mating. That’s why he left. That’s how he came here. That’s how he found me.”
She swallows, places her hands on her gently swelling abdomen.
“Everything he did led him to us.”
My chest tightens. I scrub a hand over my face, forcing myself to breathe.
“Shit. I’m sorry,” I say roughly. “I know—it’s not your fault.”
“It might be,” Miles replies quietly. “And if it is, I’m more sorry than you’ll ever know. But I will do everything in my power to fix it.”
“Me too,” Hope whispers.
I look between them, then back to Marcus.
“This old Clan. Who were they?”
“The Willow Creek Clan,” Miles answers grimly.
“They don’t exist anymore,” Marcus says, “They were dismantled by the Shifter Council last year. Disbanded. Their Alpha—Tiegs—is dead. No one’s sure how.”
“Families pledged to other Clans,” Daniel adds. “The rest scattered.”
“Shit,” I mutter.
I’ve seen this before—just on the human side of things.
Broken militias. Disbanded units. Men who lose their cause but not their hunger for violence.
They disappear, regroup, wait.
Then they strike.
Slow terror. Surgical cruelty.
My stomach turns cold.
“What do they want with her?” I whisper, already hating the answers forming in my mind.
“Don’t go there, son,” Marcus says firmly. “Not right now. Focus on getting her back.”
He’s right.
But God help me, I’m a mess.
All I can think is Rosie—alone, scared, maybe hurt—and the fact that while I was fumbling through feelings I didn’t understand, she was doing her job.
Watching out for me.
Trying to resist the pull of fated mates—because fuck yes, that is what we are.
Keeping the Shifter secret.
Just trying to protect everyone.
Even me. Especially me.
My hands curl into fists. The room falls silent.
“She knew,” I say hoarsely. “She knew something was out there. And she still went.”
The realization lands like a blow.
When she was running from my rejection? She was running toward danger.
Guilt slices through me. Hot. Immediate.
“She thought I rejected her.”
Hope’s breath catches. “Oh, Honor.”
“I didn’t mean to,” I say hoarsely. “I was trying to protect her. I didn’t know what I was becoming.”
“We know,” Leya says. “And you’ll fix all that. But first, you need to focus on the bond.”
She’s right.
Good Alpha fem, my Bear chuffs inside me.
I’m playing catch-up with adjusting to having a beast speaking inside my head, but it’s not as strange as it should be.
Because I’ve always been here. Find our mate. Need her.
A shiver runs through me at my Bear’s words, but we won’t be too late.
I can’t be.
Not if I have anything to say about it.
Daniel ticks off points on his massive fingers, each word landing like a hammer.
“Okay, so let’s agree there’s been rogue activity near your property and now a missing she-Bear who is mated. If this is a group of Willow Creek Soldiers, that gives us motive—revenge—and opportunity. She was alone.”
My fists clench at my sides. Because she shouldn’t have been. And she never will be again after this.
“It also gives us a general location,” Marcus adds, stepping closer. “If we can get close enough, Honor, you should be able to feel her presence through your bond and locate her.”
A rush of heat floods my chest—hope mingled with panic.
I want that to be true.
I need that to be true.
“Exactly,” Leya says, turning her shrewd, soft gaze on me. “I know this world of supernaturals is scary at first, believe me. I’m a human. But the moment I met Marcus, I knew he was going to change my life forever.”
Her voice gentles. “If you feel for Rosalind even a fraction of what I feel for Marcus, then when the time comes—you’ll feel that bond. It’ll guide you. You just have to trust in yourself.”
I nod, barely able to speak through the emotion tightening my throat.
Then suddenly everything kicks into gear—fast.
Tablets and phones are out, digital maps unfurled, territory data loaded, and Daniel is dragging over a binder with every patrol report Rosalind filed about the woods behind Hope’s house.
Daniel also hands Miles a list, and that big Grizzly starts pacing, checking off names from memory.
His voice turns clipped, cold, focused.
“These were the ones Tiegs trusted with covert missions. Soldiers. Assassins. Enforcers,” he says, marking names.
Daniel goes through the list with him. “These in red are confirmed dead. These are in custody. These are unaccounted for.”
Miles freezes, fingers hovering above a name. I step in behind him and look over his shoulder.
Landon Bennet.
The name makes my Bear snarl loud in my chest. I don’t even know him—but I know him.
His very name carries a stain, a weight. It carries blood.
“Where’s Landon Bennet?” Miles asks, voice flat and dark.
“Don’t know,” Daniel replies, frowning. “Last seen heading west after the Clan was broken up.”
“Fuck,” Miles mutters. “He’s a real piece of shit. Vicious. He was always power-hungry. Wanted the Clan to go back to the old ways. Where the males ruled over the women and no one had a say in shit. If he’s the one who took Rosalind…”
He doesn’t finish the thought.
I’m grateful. Because I can’t hear it. Not now.
I’m already on the edge, my Bear straining, ready to rip through flesh and bone.
“We’re gonna get her back, son,” Marcus says, his voice a low rumble that wraps around me like steel.
And somehow, I believe him.
I nod.
Everyone closes ranks around me. Voices layer. Plans form. Strategies sharpen.
It’s overwhelming—but it’s also grounding.
Because I’m not alone.
For the first time since I’m out of the service, since I’m back in the states—since she was taken—the panic pulls back, just a little, making room for something stronger.
Resolve.
When every scrap of information is on the table, when no one has anything left to offer but strength and teeth, Miles nods at me.
It’s time.
We don’t bother with vehicles. There’s no point.
Miles convinces Hope to stay behind, and I can see the fight in her, but she knows she’s carrying more than just herself now.
“Get her back,” she says to me fiercely, grabbing my hand. “Bring my friend home.”
I nod. I will.
There is no other option.
Then I turn.
And I join my Clan—Marcus, Daniel, and two more massive Black Bears—fall in line behind me. One of them has light fur, so fair it’s almost white. Another looks more like a Grizzly Bear, like Miles, and he carries scars across his ribs that say he’s no stranger to war.
Then come the Polars. Four of them.
They tower, silent and grim. One has a glacial hue to his thick coat, eyes like chipped ice. The others are pure white, monstrous, and unrelenting.
And beside me is Miles, already breathing heavy, his Grizzly rumbling under his skin.
I shift last—it’s slower, painful, but I don’t care. I need to find her and this is my best chance.
Fur erupts. Bones realign.
My human skin tears away, and what’s left is my other form.
My Bear.
Bigger, badder than I’ve ever been.
Feral. Focused. Alive with the matebond pulsing like a drumbeat through my veins.
I throw my head back and let out a roar.
The others join me.
And then we run—into the forest, into the night, toward her.
Toward my Rosie.
Hold on, Sunshine.
I’m coming.
We move like shadows through the forest—massive paws pressing into damp earth, breath fogging the cold night air.
There’s no trail to follow.
No scent strong enough. Just instinct and a kind of ancient knowing humming through my blood.
But then, I hear it.
“I’m your Alpha now, son,” Marcus’s voice brushes against my mind, low and firm as a heartbeat. “We can sometimes speak like this—in our Bear forms. Through the mind link. Now listen close. Look inward. Reach for your matebond. Feel it. See it. Use it to find her.”
I stumble, just a bit, the sheer weight of it hitting me. That word.
Alpha.
I swallow thickly.
My Bear closes his eyes and it’s like I can feel the bonds to the Clan burning inside me—alert, thrumming with energy that crackles like lightning beneath my skin.
He's ready. And both my Bear and human side trust the other Bear, the Alpha, instinctively.
I haven’t felt connected this way in, well, ever. But I know what it’s like to trust a team, a friend, a blood brother. So I do, now.
I close my eyes.
Not to see the trail.
But to feel it.
I don’t chase scent. I don’t track broken branches or paw prints.
I reach deep—inward—to the place that still aches. The place that burns.
The place that knows her.
I think of the way she’d looked at me—right before everything exploded.
The soft gasp when she bit me.
The heat of her skin, the sound she made when I touched her.
The way that bond snapped into place like it had been forged before time even began.
Rosie, I breathe—not aloud, but in the language of my soul.
And the bond? That shimmery gold thread linking me to her?
It answers.
It pulls.
It thrums.
A living cord strung between us—tight, urgent, there.
“Honor?” Miles’ voice filters through the Clan link. “Do you feel her?”
“I’ve got her,” I say, the words a promise wrapped in steel. “She’s alive.”
Around me, the forest seems to exhale.
“Then let’s go get her,” Marcus growls, and I feel the others echo it—Miles, the Polar Bears, even Daniel’s grizzled energy sparking with fury and readiness.
And this time?
I don’t go alone.
I’m with my Clan.
And together, we’re going to get her back.
Mate.