The canopy overhead was a dense, interlocking weave of ancient pine and oak, blotting out the midday sun and casting the forest floor into a permanent, bruising twilight. Below the heavy branches, the sound of rhythmic footfalls crunched through the dry undergrowth.
Ryan took the lead, his pace steady and athletic. Timothy and Mona ran side-by-side behind him, their movements fluid with the newfound grace of their wolves. Further back, Jess struggled. They had slowed the pace significantly for her benefit, but the gap was still widening.
Suddenly, the sound of running stopped. Jess came to a dead halt, her lungs burning. She stood there, body slick with sweat, her face a deep, frantic flush. She shoved her shoulder-length black hair away from her face and wiped a single, wayward tear from her cheek. Her chest heaved like a kettle about to burst.
The others noticed the silence and turned back, walking toward her. Jess was muttering to herself, a frantic pep talk, until the pressure finally snapped.
"Fuck it," Jess snapped, her voice cracking the stillness. She stood up straight. "I'm angry."
"What's going on?" Ryan asked, his tone confused.
"Now that you're all wolves, you can probably smell it," Jess said. "From the second I wake up, to every fucking moment of the day, I probably just stink of anger. And I'm really, really fucking angry." She looked at her three friends, a deep well of emotion rising inside her. She felt abandoned, alone, and left behind.
"All of us together have been struggling through all of this... bullshit! And now everything's different. I'm jealous of all of you. That you're wolves. And I'm exactly the same." Tears fell from Jess's eyes as she tried to wipe them away, feeling stupid for crying. "I keep hearing in my head how it happened for each of you. You felt scared or endangered or whatever the fuck, and you shifted. And I'm so pissed that your life has been so easy. That the threat of death is enough for you to shift."
In her mind, the memories of being raped, tortured, and abused flashed vividly—a lifetime of trauma that had made her so resilient that the mere "threat of death" didn't phase her anymore. She was trapped in this useless skin because she couldn't be scared so easily.
"I'm scared all the time," she rubbed her nose on her bare arm, growing more irritated. "But not enough!"
Ryan couldn't believe the words falling out of Jess's mouth. He knew it was hard for her, but he didn't know what it was like in her head—how isolated she must feel being the only one unable to access their wolf.
Mona reached out subconsciously, gripping Timothy's hand for comfort. She didn't know how to be around her anymore; everything had just gotten so hard so fast.
"I'm really just so fucking mad and tired and sad and I feel completely alone and I'm alone in a way that is just so unfair," Jess continued. "Days, weeks ago, I could bet you would understand. And now I know you won't. I mean, just—whatever. I said it and now you know. Thomas said I should say it, and I did." She wiped the tears that refused to stop falling, feeling vulnerable and stupid for even opening her mouth.
"I don't want to be a wolf," Mona blurted out in one breath. "I want to tear my own skin off most of the day. There's just so much information coming into my body that I hate it. I don't exactly feel like myself. It's all I can think about most of the time. So I just don't think about you or... you know, anyone."
Timothy hadn't known those thoughts were plaguing his mate. He could feel her unease, but he had assumed it was the discomfort of having to live beside the various men she'd been with before him—even the Alpha's son. He was just trying to give her time, dealing with the new, raw possessiveness of a mate who wished no one had ever touched her before.
"Okay, uh... I think about killing Luca and Jameson every second of the day. I fantasize about breaking Jameson's legs—disemboweling him. Of drowning Katie in a toilet because she's a fucking bitch. Because of the strength I have, it's so hard to hold myself back. So, if we're all talking about what's going on in our heads, that's mine. It's quite homicidal and it feels like my quiet thoughts have gotten louder since I have the ability to act on them."
Mona hadn't expected that. Hearing that he was plotting revenge on her behalf made her chuckle. Jess found herself laughing as well. They were all so fucked, with so much shit batting around in their heads that it was impossible to even pretend to be good friends.
"You know nothing's different between us, Jess," Ryan said in an overly dramatic voice meant to lighten the mood. "I am still your handsome, tall, good-looking, funny friend, and that will never change. You will still get all of those traits in me, I promise."
Ryan didn't think it was right to pretend he was struggling. He loved being a wolf; it was the best he'd ever felt. But his true fears were for the people he loved. He was constantly worried about Trinity and his brother, Grayson—their safety was the only thing that clouded his thrill.
A bout of contagious laughter took over the group, born of released stress and weeks of suppressed fear. They began to walk forward, feeling as if they'd finally decided to be honest with each other.
Trinity heard the laughing throughout the forest—easy and honest. She walked toward the sound, hiding among the expansive brush of the trees above. She crawled to the edge of a branch, looking down to see her friends. Ryan had his arm wrapped around Jess's shoulders as they all laughed together. Mona and Timothy were holding hands.
They looked carefree. To Trinity, it was hard to see the people closest to her just carrying on with their lives. They had an ease about them; they could laugh and enjoy themselves and lean on each other. And she was all alone—an outsider forced to watch from the boundary line. Her absence meant nothing to them. Her resolve felt less sturdy as the isolation swallowed her.
"You're not supposed to be over here!"
The stoic voice slithered into Trinity's ears with authority. Sighing, she looked over her shoulder to see Kale hovering at the base of the tree. Rolling her eyes, she jumped down, landing in front of him.
"I'm patrolling. I heard a sound," she said, defending herself.
"I don't remember laughter being a sign for concern. Come with me," Kale said in a tired tone as he led her out of the forest.
Kale kept his hand clamped firmly on Trinity's shoulder as they moved through the transition from the forest toward the heart of the pack. His grip wasn't a comfort; it was a restraint. To any passing wolf, it looked as if the Beta's right hand was escorting a prisoner back to a holding cell. Trinity played the part, keeping her head down and her eyes cast toward the dirt, looking every bit the guilty girl.
In a low, calm voice that barely moved his lips, Kale murmured, "Do you remember the day I told you to run?"
Trinity nodded silently. She kept her gaze on the ground, praying that the warriors patrolling the nearby training grounds wouldn't find their presence interesting enough to investigate.
"We need your help to keep someone quiet," he whispered into her ear. The words were so faint they were almost a vibration. Kale's instincts were humming on high alert; his eyes scanned every shadow and thicket, ensuring no one caught even a syllable of what he uttered.
"I don't understand how I could help with this," Trinity said, her own voice a confused breath.
"Trust me," he said, his tone turning tired and weighted. "We need your help."
They continued until the path narrowed and the trees grew so thick that the prying eyes of the pack house were finally cut off. Once he was certain they were entirely alone, Kale removed his hand from her shoulder. His body slacked with a visible wave of relaxation.
As they pushed deeper into the brush, Trinity realized exactly where they were headed. The landscape shifted toward the rocky outcrop that housed the underground cells. Her mind clicked—the guard. The one they had locked up after he had seen what she could do. She wondered if that was the complication.
Either way, a spark of nervous excitement flickered in her chest. Grayson was down there. Despite the wariness that now sat between them, she wanted to see how he was doing. Years of friendship and a deep, soul-level connection didn't just vanish. Her mind wandered back to her conversation with Alpha Adrian; how he expected her to be mated to a lower pack member for the whippings to stop.
"Kale, is there a way to fake a mate bond?" Trinity asked, keeping her tone casual as if asking about the weather.
"I don't know why anybody would need to do that. Yes," he said cautiously. He knew Trinity had a penchant for getting herself in trouble, and he had no desire to add another item to the list of things he had to report to her father.
"How would you do it?" she asked, keeping her eyes forward. She no longer needed him to guide her in the direction they were going. Her heart began to race as the cells' entrance loomed in the distance. They only had so much time before he would clam up.
"Let me just start by saying it's a stupid idea," Kale said, looking at her with a grimace. "Most wolves cannot control themselves when it comes to marking. It's a bad idea. You're more likely to just end up actually mated to someone who isn't even your destined mate."
"I'm not going to do anything that is stupid," Trinity said, looking at him through the corner of her eye. "Just tell me."
"Fine," Kale sighed, a sharp exhale of defeat. "You would need to find a wolf. He would need to bite with only his top canines. That means he either needs insane self-control, or you need to make sure his bottom canines do not bite into your throat. If they do, game over—the bond snaps into place."
He paused, thinking through the mechanics. "After that, everything else is pretty simple. Painful, but simple. You would need to add a bit of silver into the wound, making sure it doesn't heal over too soon. Ideally, you'd make sure there's a piece of silver in each puncture, then bandage over the top. You let the silver heal underneath the skin. It ensures the scar remains forever. After that, you just need to make sure your scents combine. The easy parts," he finished, waving a hand dismissively.
Trinity didn't agree with his sentiment. It wasn't easy to have pieces of silver embedded under your skin. The most minute amount of silver could make you feel like you were dying, and he said burying it under your skin on purpose was easy. He was out of his mind. She also didn't understand how to combine their scents.
"Why would you need to combine your scent? And what does that mean?"
Kale stopped in his steps, one eyebrow shooting up as he looked down at Trinity. For a moment, he had forgotten that she wasn't raised as a wolf among the pack.
"So... after someone is mated, their scent changes," he explained. "It's a mixture of the two of them."
"That can be faked?"
"Uh-huh."
"How?" Trinity stared up at him with her big blue eyes with gold flecks, practically begging for answers that he seemed too shy to give.
"Sex," Kale said, clearing his throat as he quickened his pace. "You need to have their fluid inside of you, and you will smell of them for days. At least two, maybe three. Just... let's not talk about this anymore."
He looked around cautiously one last time before entering into the underground cells.
Author's note:
There is so much fun things coming. Hope you enjoy the chapter. Don't forget to vote!