Maya's POV
I'm dragging an unconscious Dominic through the hallway when the wolves find us.
Four of Marcus's enforcers round the corner, blocking our path. Behind me, I can hear Silas and Vanessa still fighting in the office—crashes, snarls, the sound of furniture splintering.
I'm alone. Dominic's dead weight in my arms. And four massive wolves are stalking toward me like I'm prey.
The council wants to see you, Maya, the lead enforcer says. His name is Garrett—no relation to my father, just cruel irony. Come quietly and we won't have to hurt the Beta.
My wolf surges forward, protective and furious. Touch him and I'll rip your throat out.
Garrett laughs. You shifted twelve hours ago, little girl. You don't even know how to use your claws yet.
He's right. I don't. But I'm about to learn.
When he reaches for Dominic, my wolf explodes outward. I don't fully shift—don't have time—but my eyes flash gold and power floods through me. Alpha power. The kind that makes weaker wolves submit.
Garrett stumbles back, his eyes going wide.
I said DON'T. TOUCH. HIM. Each word comes out as a growl.
The other three enforcers exchange glances. They weren't expecting this. Weren't expecting me to have this much dominance this soon after my first shift.
Neither was I.
Stand down, Garrett orders me, but his voice wavers. The council has
I don't care what the council wants. I adjust my grip on Dominic, keeping him upright. You're going to let us pass. Now.
We have orders
A door slams open behind the enforcers. Iris appears, holding a—is that a frying pan?
MAYA, RUN!
She swings the pan at the nearest enforcer's head. It connects with a satisfying CLANG. The wolf goes down hard.
In the chaos, I move. Half-carrying, half-dragging Dominic past the confused enforcers, Iris running beside me with her makeshift weapon raised.
Where are we going? she pants.
Dad's study. There's a panic room—Dad showed me when I was ten
We burst through the study doors. I slam them shut and throw the deadbolt just as footsteps thunder down the hallway behind us.
Maya! Iris is already moving furniture in front of the door. The panic room. Where?
I'm lowering Dominic onto the leather couch when his eyes flutter open. Still glazed from the wolfsbane, but conscious.
M'ya... He tries to sit up, fails. The council... can't let them...
Shh. Save your strength. I brush hair off his forehead, and even that small touch makes the mate bond sing. How do I stop them from breaking our bond?
His hand catches mine weakly. Can't... break a true mate bond. Can only... make you think it's broken.
What?
Magic. Old pack magic. His words are slurred but urgent. They'll bring in... a bondseer. Make you believe... the bond never existed. Gaslight you... into accepting another mate.
Horror crawls up my spine. That's possible?
If you're weak enough. Confused enough. If they... convince you Dominic was just... guardian instinct, not mate bond... His eyes struggle to focus. Maya, you have to... remember. No matter what they say... remember what you felt.
Pounding on the study doors makes us both jump.
Maya Thornhill! Marcus's voice, smooth and terrible. Open this door. You're only making this harder on yourself.
Dominic's grip tightens on my hand. Panic room. Code is... your mother's birthday.
My mother died when I was three. But Dad never forgot her birthday. August 17th.
I find the hidden panel behind Dad's desk—a fake section of bookshelf. Enter 0817. The panel slides open, revealing a small room with reinforced walls.
Iris, help me get him inside.
We're lifting Dominic when he suddenly grabs my wrist hard enough to bruise.
Listen to me. His eyes are clearer now, intense despite the poison. If they separate us... if they convince you the bond isn't real... look at your left shoulder blade. I marked you. During the shift. My wolf... couldn't help it.
Marked me? But I didn't feel
You were in too much pain. But it's there. My mark. Proof we're mates. He pulls me closer, his voice dropping to barely a whisper. And Maya? I'm sorry. For pushing you away. For being a coward. If we survive this... I'm claiming you properly. Screw tradition. Screw what anyone thinks. You're mine.
The words hit me like lightning. Before I can respond, the study doors explode inward.
Marcus stands in the doorway, flanked by a dozen wolves. And behind them—
A woman I've never seen before. Ancient, with white hair and eyes that glow silver. She's wearing robes covered in symbols I don't recognize.
A bondseer.
There you are, niece. Marcus's smile is victorious. Making quite the scene. Assaulting pack enforcers, harboring a poisoned Beta, refusing a council summons. He shakes his head sadly. This behavior suggests instability. Perhaps the shift affected your mind.
Stay away from us. I position myself between the door and Dominic.
Us? Marcus's eyebrow rises. My dear, there is no 'us.' Beta Ashford is your guardian, nothing more. This... attachment you feel is simply confused gratitude. Perfectly normal for a newly shifted wolf.
That's a lie.
Is it? The bondseer steps forward, her silver eyes boring into mine. Tell me, child. When did you first feel this... connection to the Beta?
Something about her voice makes my thoughts fuzzy. I... during my shift...
And before that? Did you feel anything supernatural? Any indication from the moon?
I try to remember, but the memories are getting slippery. Did I feel the bond before the shift? Or was it just a crush? Just wishful thinking from a girl who'd loved Dominic since she was sixteen?
I... My head hurts. I thought I felt...
You thought. But thinking and knowing are different. The bondseer moves closer, her voice like honey and poison mixed. The trauma of shifting can create false bonds. Make you attach to whoever was there, whoever helped you through the pain. It's not real, child. Just your wolf seeking safety.
No. I shake my head, trying to clear it. No, we're mates. I felt it. We both felt it.
Did you? Or did you feel gratitude? Relief? The natural response to someone protecting you during a vulnerable moment?
Doubt creeps in. What if she's right? What if what I felt was just my desperate, traumatized wolf clinging to Dominic because he was there?
Look at your shoulder, Dominic rasps from the couch. Maya, look at your shoulder blade. The mark—
The Beta is delirious from wolfsbane, Marcus interrupts smoothly. He doesn't know what he's saying. Bondseer Morrigan, please continue.
The bondseer's eyes glow brighter. There is no mark, child. No mate bond. Only confusion and misplaced feelings. You know this is true.
I... I try to reach back, try to feel for a mark, but my arms won't move right. Everything feels wrong. Disconnected.
Maya! Dominic is trying to stand, fighting through the poison. Don't listen to her. She's in your head—
Two enforcers grab him, forcing him back down.
Leave him alone! I lunge forward, but Marcus catches my arm.
Easy, niece. We're trying to help you. To free you from this delusion so you can move forward with a proper mate. He nods to the bondseer. Morrigan, if you would?
The bondseer places her hand on my forehead.
Pain explodes through my skull. Images flood my mind—but they're wrong. Memories changing, shifting, rewriting themselves.
Dominic pulling away when I tried to kiss him at seventeen. (Did that happen? I don't remember that.)
Dominic telling my father he didn't want to be my guardian. (No, that's not right. He accepted immediately.)
Dominic with Vanessa, laughing, telling her Maya was just a responsibility. Nothing more. (Lies. These are LIES.)
You see? The bondseer's voice echoes in my head. He never wanted you. The bond you felt was fantasy. Your desperate heart creating something that doesn't exist.
No... But my voice sounds weak even to my own ears.
There is no mate bond, child. There never was. You are free to choose a proper mate. Someone who actually wants you.
Through the pain and confusion, I hear Dominic roaring. Hear furniture breaking. Hear Iris screaming my name.
But it all sounds so far away.
The bondseer's magic is wrapping around my mind like chains. Making me forget. Making me doubt.
Look at your shoulder, a voice whispers. Dominic's voice. I marked you. Proof we're mates.
I try. Fight through the fog to reach for my shoulder blade. My fingers brush fabric. Skin. And then—
There.
A raised mark. Fresh. Still healing. In the shape of a crescent moon with a wolf's pawprint in the center.
Dominic's mark.
Proof.
The fog in my mind shatters.
I rip away from the bondseer, from Marcus, stumbling backward. You're lying. You're all LYING.
The bondseer's eyes widen in shock. Impossible. My magic should have—
I have his mark! I turn, yanking down the shoulder of my shirt so everyone can see. Right here! Dominic marked me during the shift. We're MATES. True mates. And no amount of your magic can change that!
Silence falls over the room.
Marcus's face goes pale. Then red. Then absolutely furious.
Seize her, he snarls.
The enforcers move.
But before they can reach me, the window behind Dad's desk explodes inward for the second time today.
Silas crashes through, shifting mid-air. He lands in wolf form between me and the enforcers, hackles raised and teeth bared.
And he's not alone.
Elder Josephine steps through the broken window—she actually climbed through a second-story window at sixty-eight years old—followed by a dozen wolves I recognize. Dad's old guard. The ones loyal to him. To me.
That's enough. Josephine's voice cracks like a whip. Marcus Thornhill, you are hereby charged with conspiracy to manipulate a true mate bond—a crime punishable by exile under pack law.
Marcus's eyes go wide. You can't prove
We have witnesses. We have testimony. And we have a bondseer using illegal magic to alter a pack member's mind. Josephine's eyes are hard as stone. It's over, Marcus.
For a moment, I think he'll fight. Think he'll order his enforcers to attack.
Then he smiles.
It's the smile of a man who's been backed into a corner but still has one card left to play.
You want proof of a bond? He pulls out his phone. Fine. Let's see what your 'mate' really thinks of you, Maya.
He presses play.
Dominic's voice fills the room. She's twenty-three years old, Garrett. A child. I can't—I WON'T feel that way about her. You're asking the impossible.
My father's response: I'm not asking you to love her. I'm asking you to protect her.
And I will. As her guardian. Nothing more. Whatever feelings might exist... I'll bury them. Ignore them. She deserves better than a broken rogue who only knows violence.
The recording cuts off.
The room spins. That was Dominic's voice. Real. Not magic or manipulation.
Saying he'd never let himself love me.
I turn to look at him. He's staring at the phone, face white, eyes full of horror.
Maya, that's not—that was before—I didn't know about the bond
But Marcus is already talking over him, speaking to the gathered crowd.
You see? Even Beta Ashford admits the bond is one-sided. The girl's delusion. He never wanted her. Still doesn't. The mark could be anything—a scar from the shift, a wishful interpretation. There is no true mate bond here. Just a guardian trying to do his duty and a confused girl who can't accept rejection.
Murmurs run through the crowd. Doubt. Uncertainty.
Even Josephine looks troubled.
Maya... Dominic reaches for me.
I step back.
Because even though I felt the bond. Even though I have his mark. Even though he just told me he'd claim me...
That recording proves he spent years fighting his feelings for me. Years denying what we could be.
What if Marcus is right? What if the bond only snapped into place because I wanted it so badly? What if Dominic's wolf recognized mine, but his human side never wanted me at all?
I need air. I back toward the broken window. I need to think.
Maya, please— Dominic tries to stand but the wolfsbane is still working. He collapses back onto the couch.
I shift—fast, instinctive—and leap through the window before anyone can stop me.
Behind me, I hear Dominic screaming my name.
But I'm already running.
Into the forest. Into the darkness. Away from mate bonds and council politics and all of it.
I run until my wolf legs give out. Until I collapse in a clearing I don't recognize, shifting back to human and curling into a ball on the cold ground.
That's when I hear the footsteps.
Not wolf. Human.
I look up.
A man stands at the edge of the clearing. Tall. Handsome. Maybe thirty, with kind eyes and a gentle smile.
Maya Thornhill? he asks softly. I've been looking for you.
Who are you?
My name is Darius. Alpha of the Northridge Pack. He crouches down to my level, staying non-threatening. I heard what happened at the manor. I'm sorry. Truly. What your uncle did was unconscionable.
I don't respond. Just watch him warily.
I want to help you, Darius continues. I know what it's like to have a mate bond questioned. To feel like you're going crazy. I can protect you from Marcus. From the council. From all of it.
Why would you help me?
His smile turns sad. Because I know what it's like to lose a father. And because... He hesitates. Because I think we might be meant for each other, Maya. True mates. I've been feeling a pull toward Silverpine for months. Now I know why.
He extends his hand.
Come with me. To Northridge. We'll figure out the truth about your bond with Dominic together. But away from manipulation. Away from people who want to use you.
I stare at his hand.
Behind me, somewhere in the distance, I can hear wolves howling. Searching for me.
Dominic's howl rises above the rest. Desperate. Anguished.
Calling for his mate.
Or his ward.
I still don't know which.
Darius's hand remains extended. Patient. Offering escape.
And I have to choose.
Run back to Dominic—to uncertainty and doubt and a mate who spent years denying me.
Or take Darius's hand—and find out if I've been wrong about everything from the start.