Chapter 3 Ryker
We grew close to the Border Front Base when the trees changed colors. Green leaves shifted to red, orange, and rust. The air turned colder, sharper, a chill that made your lungs sting a little when you breathed in too deep.
I hated cold weather. All the women on base bundled up like they were about to go on an Arctic exploration. Coats, scarves, layers for days, barely any cleavage in sight. Tragic, really. Not that I’d been looking much lately.
I hadn’t had a taste for other women since Rowan. She was the kind of drug that ruins the rest; once you’ve had her, nothing else hits the same. And I was a fucking junkie.
After that, he banned humming. And whistling. And anything else that made noise.
Now I was stuck in the convoy, bored out of my fucking mind.
I thought about waking Kitten up to keep me company, but she was fast asleep, snoring softly.
Cade had forced her to down one of her chill-pills before we hit the road, so she was dead to the world.
She looked so cute, all drugged up and dopey, like a tiny, sleepy zombie.
I had no clue she could be this docile, although deep down, I was missing her fiery spirit.
When Dr. Michaels came by to check on her a few days ago, he’d prescribed a heavy sedative to help manage her emotions, keeping the worst of her anxiety at bay.
She’d been through hell, and he thought keeping her calm would be good for recovery.
What he didn’t realize was that we had another reason for wanting her sedated. We needed to keep her wolf locked away.
Tally warned us that her transformation was tied to negative emotions.
Fear, rage, grief, or any powerful surge of feeling could trigger it.
And right now, with everything she’d been through, her emotions were all over the fucking place, unpredictable and dangerous.
If she lost control, even for a second, the consequences could be catastrophic, not just for her, but for all of us.
Command would send us to the colonies as punishment for not reporting Rowan, and she would end up in some underground laboratory getting poked and prodded.
According to Tally, it would take time until she could control her shift without the medication.
Even with the sedative, we had to stay alert, watching her and managing her moods.
Talon could hear her thoughts through their shifter bond now.
He always knew before we did when she was heading toward volatility.
One look from him, and we knew what came next: slip the chill-pill into her hand and tell her to swallow. No arguments or complaints.
“I swear to God,” Talon muttered from the other side of the convoy, arms crossed, jaw tight. “She could have gotten herself killed. Or worse. They almost—”
"They didn't," Cade said sternly.
"I know that. But if she hadn't shifted, and we hadn't gotten to her in time…" Talon's voice trailed off in thought. He cracked his knuckles and neck trying to soothe his restless wolf.
“We need to make her understand,” Cade said. “When we get to the Border Front, this ends. No more games. No more stunts. We’re not coddling her anymore.”
“Kitten’s not going to like that.”
“She doesn’t have to,” he said coldly. “The brat just has to endure it.”
I glanced back at Rowan. Bruises bloomed across her arms and jaw, deep purple and yellow, evidence of the assault.
Fury burned low in my chest at the sight.
Those pathetic excuses for alphas had dared to lay hands on her, to stain her skin like they had any right.
I would have cut every finger off their hands if Rowan hadn't killed them first.
Killian flew into a feral rage when we pieced together what had happened, pounding their already limp bodies with his fists, until they were a pulp beyond recognition. Both corpses looked a lot like chili when he had finally satiated his rage.
Killian then carried Kitten upstairs, but hadn't touched or looked at her since. He was staying far away from Rowan, sulking because she'd betrayed his trust and stolen his keycard.
Even now, he refused to take part in our discussion about her, staring out the window, ignoring us. Although I hadn't missed the way his jaw clenched at the mention of her assault. I watched the scar carved across his face stretch as he stiffened and fought the urge to growl.
“We gave her space, gave her freedom. Hell, even privileges. What did she do? She tried to escape,” Cade said.
Talon’s fist clenched. “She’s a danger to herself and us. She can't do this again. Especially not at the Border Front. It will get someone killed.”
Cade’s voice dropped low and deadly serious. “No, she can't. She won't.”
I glanced at them both. “So what? Do we lock her down? No more privileges? Treat her like a prisoner?”
“She is a prisoner, at least for now,” Cade said. “No freedom until she proves she can be trusted.”
I scoffed. “She treats our control like a challenge. Like pushing back is a game. Why can’t she see we’re just trying to keep her safe? Most omegas—”
“Rowan isn’t like most omegas,” Talon cut in. His voice was calm but firm. “Especially not anymore.”
Cade nodded. “He’s right. She’s not.” He tightened his grip on the wheel. “Which means we can’t treat her like one.”
He glanced at me. “We set clear boundaries and strict rules. She follows them, or the consequences will escalate. This isn’t about control; it’s about survival. Ours and hers. Our job is to keep her safe.”
“Which she’s made pretty damn clear she can’t do on her fucking own,” I muttered.
Silence stretched as we all considered what could have happened to her.
Finally, Cade broke the silence. “When we get to the Border Front, Rowan’s on lockdown.
No unsupervised movement. No privileges.
We'll rotate shifts and keep our eyes on her every second. If she thought we were controlling before, she hasn't a clue what’s coming. And there will be consequences. She’s going to be punished hard enough that she remembers her mistake every time she sits down for the foreseeable future. ”
“She’s going to hate us,” I said, barely able to contain my grin at the thought of getting to spank Kitten's plump ass again while she glared at me. I loved when my fiery omega was mad. My star player was getting hard just thinking about her angry little scowl and reddened butt.
“She’s made it clear she already does,” Cade said flatly. “But if it keeps her breathing, it’s worth it.”
"Dibs on spanking her!" I said giddy.
"She's getting a hell of a lot more than a spanking. She's long overdue for punishment. Talon and I discussed a few ideas…" Cade said, trailing off in thought.
I glanced at Tally and saw his bright yellow eyes gleaming with excitement, clearly envisioning whatever deviant punishment they’d dreamed up for Kitten.
I wondered why Rowan’s eyes hadn’t started glowing the way Talon’s had after his awakening. All shifters had a physical trait that set them apart. Yellow eyes marked them as something other, a stark warning of their predatory nature. Rowan's eyes were still that bright baby blue, which drew me in.
Her wolf's red fur coat was also unlike anything we’d ever seen.
Shifters were always grey, black, or brown, but never red.
That kind of coloring just didn’t happen.
Combined with her eyes, Rowan looked distinctly abnormal from other shifters.
We wouldn't have been able to keep her secret if she hadn't.
Maybe it was the suppressants, or that her awakening came so late, but something told me it went deeper than that. A quiet instinct in the back of my mind whispered that she wasn’t quite like Talon or the others.
I pushed the thought aside. Rowan was already different enough. If she stood out any more, the target on her back would only grow.
"Are we almost there yet? I'm fucking bored and can't wait to get started with Kitten's punishment," I asked, trying to redirect my own pessimistic thoughts.
“Ryker, if you ask if we’re almost there one more time, I’m leaving you on the side of the road and you can walk to base,” Cade threatened again.
“Besides, we’re on duty first thing tomorrow. Patrol starts bright and early at 0700. Our pet's punishment will have to wait,” Talon added.
“Already? Seriously? You think Command could have at least given us a day to unpack?"
“You were the one eager to get off checkpoint duty,” Cade said.
“Now you’re back on patrol. Command’s been waiting for us to return.
A direworg horde bigger than anything we’ve seen on our side of the wall, killed two alphas last week.
Now they want us sweeping the patrol radius, looking for where the mutated are getting through. They think there’s a breach.”
“Obviously there’s a breach. How else would anything get through the wall into New Arca?” I snorted.
“Well, we need to find it, because if we can’t find it on our side, you know they’re going to send us to the other side to search. I hate going north,” Talon said bitterly.
A handful of isolated shifter packs lived in the far north.
They stayed hidden, but we sometimes encountered their castoffs.
Those who had lost control and become slaves to their beasts.
Some were aggressive, feral creatures with no reason left in them.
Others simply wandered, living like animals, completely severed from their humanity.
Talon hated them.
To him, they were a warning. Proof of what could happen if he ever slipped. A glimpse of his own future if he failed to keep a tight grip on the reins.
“This isn’t just about finding the breach,” Cade said.
“Command wants to know why creatures are suddenly pushing toward New Arca. They usually avoid the wall because it’s fortified, so something’s changed.
I wouldn’t be surprised if we’re deployed north soon, and if that happens, Rowan comes with us.
We can’t leave her alone like this. She needs to be ready.
Talon, Ryker, you’re in charge of training her.
She has to control her shift and learn how to defend herself. ”
Until then, Rowan was a huge fucking liability. She was unpredictable and needed constant protection, not just from outside threats, but from herself. Keeping her safe meant controlling her every move, managing her emotions, and stopping any chance of a shift at the wrong time and place.
When we got to base, there wouldn’t be any more hand-holding or gentle warnings.
Kitten was about to experience the full extent of our tight control.