Chapter 3

Kade

Liam’s empty chair irritated me more than it should have. Not because I begrudged him the day off. Abby turned eighteen only once, and Liam guarded their birthday traditions almost as fiercely as he guarded her. Still, the office felt wrong without him.

“The eastern patrol counted six rogues,” Ryan, the head of patrol, said. “They crossed near the river, then pulled back before reinforcements arrived.”

I studied the map spread across my desk. Six. Not enough for an attack. Too many for a coincidence.

“How many injured?”

“Three. Nothing life-threatening.”

“No one missing?”

“No, Alpha.”

That should have reassured me. It didn’t.

Rogues usually attacked because they wanted something—food, territory, revenge. These didn’t seem interested in any of that. Lately, they crossed our borders, tested patrol routes, then disappeared before we could corner them.

They were looking for something.

“Double the river patrol until morning,” I said. “Keep the northern rotation unchanged. I don’t want them knowing we’ve shifted resources.”

“Yes, Alpha.”

Everyone left.

Except Sloane.

She sat across from me with tomorrow’s patrol schedules spread over one knee, a pen tucked between her fingers.

“You’re going to wear a hole through that map.”

I glanced up. She smiled.

Sloane had spent most of the evening beside me, rearranging rotations and handling things that were never officially her responsibility. She always did.

After my father died, she had been there through the worst of it. She knew Moonhaven nearly as well as I did. People already treated her like a future Luna, and I had never discouraged them.

She closed the folder, stood and came around the desk. “You’re impossible when Liam isn’t here to annoy you.”

“He usually annoys me more.”

“Yes, but then I get to enjoy it.”

She leaned against the edge of my desk, close enough that her knee brushed mine.

I looked at her. Dark honey-blonde hair fell over one shoulder. Her sweater had slipped slightly at the collar, exposing the smooth line of her neck.

There had never been a dramatic moment when Sloane and I became more than friends. We kissed, eventually slept together, stopped for a while, then started again. Somewhere along the way, everyone decided where it was heading.

Sloane touched the back of my neck. “You’re thinking too loudly.” Her thumb brushed beneath my ear. “When was the last time you went an entire evening without discussing rogues?”

“I don’t remember.”

“That is deeply unattractive.”

I caught her wrist. “You seem devastated.”

She smiled. “I’ll recover.”

She bent and kissed me. I kissed her back. There was nothing awkward about it. There never was with Sloane. I knew the way she tilted her head, the hand she would slide into my hair, the soft sound she made when I pulled her closer.

I cared about her. Trusted her. Wanted her. And for months, I had been telling myself that perhaps that was enough.

She drew back just enough to look at me. “My place?”

I almost said yes.

Then something hit me. Heat tore through my chest. My entire body locked.

Knox surged forward so violently that my grip tightened around Sloane’s wrist.

She frowned. “Kade?”

Then I smelled it. Faint beneath the cold air drifting through the cracked window. Warm honey and vanilla.

My pulse slammed against my throat.

Knox went wild.

Mate. Find her.

I released Sloane. I stood so abruptly the chair struck the wall.

Eight years. I had been waiting eight years for this.

I grabbed my coat.

Sloane caught my arm. “What happened?”

“I need to go.”

“Go where?”

“I don’t know yet.”

Her eyes searched mine. Then realization flickered across her face. “You found her.”

“I’m not sure.”

But Knox was.

Mate.

Sloane’s hand dropped from my arm. For half a second, I saw something raw in her face. Then it disappeared.

“Do you want me to come?”

“No.” The answer was immediate. Too immediate.

Her jaw tightened.

I softened my voice. “I need to understand what’s happening first.”

She nodded once. We had known each other too long for either of us to pretend this meant nothing.

“Kade.”

I stopped at the door.

“Be careful.”

The scent strengthened the moment I stepped outside. Knox drove me forward. I followed it through Moonhaven, past the packhouse grounds and toward the residential roads.

The deeper I went into town, the more familiar the scent became. Beneath the new, intoxicating pull was someone I already knew.

Then it hit me.

Abby.

She had turned eighteen that morning. She had shifted tonight.

My stomach dropped.

No.

Knox slammed against me.

She’s ours.

“That’s impossible.”

He snarled in answer.

Abby.

The child I had carried out of a house filled with blood and smoke.

The girl in an oversized sweater, rolling her eyes at Liam and blushing when Sloane teased her about finding her mate.

Knox pushed harder.

She is not a child.

I knew that. But knowing Abby had grown up and seeing her as my mate were two different things.

I reached Liam’s porch. Light still burned downstairs.

My heartbeat hammered.

I had always imagined my mate as someone older. Someone ready to stand beside an Alpha from the moment I found her.

Someone like—

I stopped that thought before I finished it.

Knox didn’t.

Sloane is not ours.

I opened the door.

Liam turned from the stairs. “Kade? What happened?”

The scent of honey and vanilla hit me at full strength. My vision sharpened.

“Where is she?”

Liam frowned. “Who?”

“Abby.”

Then I heard her voice. “Kade?”

I looked up. She stood on the stairs. And everything inside me stopped. The bond slammed into place.

Knox roared with triumph.

Mate.

Abby stared at me. Then her expression transformed. Wonder first. Then happiness.

She smiled at me as though the Moon Goddess had handed her exactly what she had always wanted.

And that terrified me more than anything else. Because my body wanted to answer. I wanted to cross the room. Touch her. Pull her against me and bury my face against her neck until that scent was everywhere.

I had always known Abby was pretty. I had just never looked at her this way before. I hated that my body had understood the difference before my mind did.

Her smile faltered. She had seen my face.

Liam looked between us. His expression sharpened. “What the hell is going on?”

I forced the words out. “She’s my mate.”

Abby took one step down.

I stepped back.

Pain flashed across her face.

Knox turned on me.

Go to her.

I couldn’t.

“Abby,” Liam said quietly. “Give us a minute.”

Her eyes returned to me. I knew the question in them.

Why aren’t you happy?

I had no answer that wouldn’t hurt her.

“Please,” Liam said.

She swallowed and went upstairs. Every step pulled against something inside me.

Liam jerked his head toward the kitchen. I followed him. The moment we were out of the hallway, he turned on me. “Talk.”

I rubbed both hands over my face. “I don’t know what the hell I’m supposed to do.”

Some of the tension left his face. “What do you mean? It’s Abby. You’ve known her almost her whole life.”

I said nothing.

Liam studied me. Then understanding settled over his face. “You don’t want her.”

“That’s not what I said.”

“Then what is the problem?”

I exhaled hard. “She just turned eighteen. She met her wolf tonight. She has no experience with any of this.”

“Neither did you when your father died.”

My jaw tightened. “I didn’t have a choice.”

Liam went still. “And Abby does?”

I looked at him.

“You’re already deciding for her,” he said. “You haven’t even given her the chance to decide whether she wants this.”

“This isn’t only about what she wants.”

“Of course not. It’s about the pack.”

“Yes.” I paced away from him. “Moonhaven needs someone who can step into the Luna role now. Someone who already understands what it takes.”

His expression changed. “Sloane.” Then Liam gave a short, humorless laugh. “Right. Of course it has to be her.”

Knox snarled. So did I.

“Choose your next words carefully.”

“She’s my sister. I’ll say whatever the hell I want.” He held my gaze. “Or do you expect me to stand here while you talk bullshit about her and keep my mouth shut?”

For a moment, neither of us moved.

Then Liam’s voice dropped. “You’ve been waiting eight years to find your mate, Kade. Eight years. And now she’s standing upstairs.”

My gaze lifted toward the ceiling.

Abby.

My mate.

Knox pressed forward inside me.

Liam’s voice softened. “You don’t have to make her Luna tomorrow. Give her a chance. Give her time.”

Time.

That was the one thing I didn’t have.

I looked back at him.

“She can’t be my Luna.”