The Return

I knew he was coming.

The whole pack knew. We'd been preparing for weeks, territory negotiations with Shadowmoor. Diplomatic protocols. Polite smiles and careful words.

What we weren't prepared for was this.

The doors opened.

And Kane Ravencrest walked back into the hall where we'd destroyed him.

Ten years.

Ten years since I watched them drag him through these doors. Since I heard him screaming his innocence while our alpha, his own father, pronounced him guilty.

Ten years of silence.

Ten years of carrying a secret that ate me alive.

He wasn't the boy they'd exiled.

That boy had been lean and desperate, eighteen years old with terror in his silver eyes.

This man was something else entirely.

Tall. Built like a predator had carved him from stone. Dark hair longer now, brushing his shoulders. Scars visible on his hands, his neck, the edge of his jaw.

And those silver eyes had seen things. Done things.

The terror was gone. Replaced by something worse.

Certainty.

"Alpha Kane of Shadowmoor." Our herald's voice shook slightly. "Welcome to Ravencrest Hall."

Kane walked forward.

Slow. Measured. Every step deliberate.

The wolves around me shrank back. I felt their fear, this was the Butcher of the Borderlands. The wolf who'd clawed his way to alpha through blood and bodies.

He stopped at the center of the hall.

"Alpha Garrett." His voice was rougher than I remembered. Deeper. "You look old."

My alpha, his father, sat rigid on his throne.

"Kane." No warmth. No welcome. "You've done well for yourself."

"No thanks to you."

Silence.

The tension coiled tight enough to snap.

I stood with the other pack officers. Beta position, right flank.

I'd earned this rank through years of service. Years of burying my guilt beneath duty.

I didn't deserve it.

But I'd taken it anyway.

Kane's gaze swept the hall.

Cataloging. Assessing.

It passed over me.

And stopped.

My lungs locked.

He was staring at me. Through me. Into me.

Those silver eyes pinned me like prey.

And then I felt it.

Pain.

Sharp and sudden, radiating from my chest.

Something snapping into place. Something that had been waiting my whole life.

The mate bond.

No.

No, no, no.

Not him. Anyone but him.

The man I'd helped destroy. The boy I'd let them exile. The friend I'd betrayed.

The fates couldn't be this cruel.

His expression didn't change.

But I saw his hand curl into a fist at his side.

He felt it too.

"Well." His voice carried across the silent hall. "That's inconvenient."

Everyone was staring.

At him. At me. At the invisible force pulling between us, something they couldn't see but could definitely scent.

Mate bonds weren't subtle. Especially ones this strong.

"We should begin negotiations." Alpha Garrett's voice was strained. "Kane..."

"We should." Kane didn't look away from me. "But first, I want to know why your Beta looks like she's seen a ghost."

"Kane..."

"Actually, I know exactly why." His smile was sharp as a blade. "Because she has."

He walked toward me.

The wolves parted. No one wanted to be in his path.

I stayed still.

I'd spent ten years running from this moment. I couldn't run anymore.

He stopped three feet away.

Close enough to touch. Close enough to feel the bond screaming between us.

"Kenna Vale." The name landed like a slap. "Still the loyal Beta, I see."

"Kane." My voice held, barely. "Welcome back."

"Is it welcome?" He tilted his head. "Or is it tolerance?"

"We're here for negotiations..."

"We're here because your pack wants something mine has." His voice went low. "And I'm curious what you're willing to pay for it."

The bond pulsed.

Want. Need. Rage.

All knotted so tight I couldn't tell which was his and which was mine.

"This is inappropriate." Alpha Garrett rose from his throne. "Kane, you will conduct yourself..."

"Will I?" Kane didn't turn. "Strange. I don't remember you having authority over me anymore, Father."

The word landed like a blow.

Garrett flinched.

For a moment, just a moment, his composure cracked.

Regret? Shame?

Gone before I could be sure.

"The negotiations will proceed as planned." Luna Helena spoke from beside her mate. "Personal matters can be addressed privately."

Personal matters.

Her own son. The mate bond connecting him to her Beta.

Personal matters.

Kane finally looked away from me.

"Fine." He stepped back. "We'll negotiate. But know this..."

His gaze swept the hall one more time.

"I didn't come here to make peace. I came here to take what I'm owed."

The negotiations began.

Territory. Resources. Border rights.

Kane sat across the table from his father, speaking in clipped sentences about land and livestock like he hadn't been dragged from this very room ten years ago.

Like he hadn't been screaming.

Like his mother hadn't turned her face away.

I sat in my position. Took notes. Provided information when asked.

And felt the bond searing through my ribs with every inhale.

He didn't look at me again.

Didn't acknowledge my existence.

The rejection was worse than his anger.

The first session ended at sunset.

"We'll continue tomorrow." Alpha Garrett's voice was tired. "Your delegation will be housed in the east wing."

"Of course." Kane stood. "Separate from the pack. As befitting... visitors."

The word dripped with irony.

He left without looking back.

His delegation followed, a dozen wolves, all watching us with barely concealed hostility.

The doors closed.

And I finally let myself breathe.

"Beta Kenna."

Luna Helena's voice. Sharp.

"Yes, Luna."

"You will avoid Alpha Kane during his stay. The mate bond is... unfortunate. But it cannot interfere with negotiations."

"Understood."

"The pack comes first."

"Always."

She walked away.

And I stood there, in the hall where I'd helped destroy the man who was apparently fated to be mine.

The mate bond clawed at my ribs.

Demanding.

Hungry.

Furious.

You could have saved me.

His words from ten years ago. The last thing he said before they threw him into the wild.

You could have saved me.

I could have.

I didn't.

Now the fates had bound us together.

And I had no idea if he wanted me as his mate or his punishment.