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 my Beta sitting across from me.

“The eastern patrol counted six rogues,” said Ryan, the head of patrol. “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.

A few months ago, Alpha Rowan had told me about a rogue breach in his territory. The attack itself had been minor, but by morning one of his young she-wolves was gone. They had never found her. It had always struck me as strange.

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, looking up from the map. “Keep the northern rotation unchanged. I don’t want them knowing we’ve shifted resources.”

“Yes, Alpha.”

Everyone left.

Except Sloane.

She sat in the leather armchair across from me, tomorrow’s patrol schedules spread over one knee and a pen tucked between her fingers.

“You’re going to burn a hole through that map.” Her tone was light, teasing.

When I looked up, she gave me that familiar, easy smile.

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

After the attack took my father, 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. An Alpha could survive without a Luna. A pack wasn't meant to.

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

“He usually annoys me more.”

“True, but at least I get to enjoy it.”

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

“Can’t recall.”

“Tragic.” Her smile broadened. “Deeply unromantic.”

I caught her wrist, holding her steady. “You seem devastated.”

“I’ll recover.”

She leaned down and pressed her lips to mine. I met her halfway, slipping into the practiced ease between us. 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. I trusted her. I wanted her. For months, I'd been telling myself that was enough.

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

I almost said yes.

Then heat tore through my chest. My entire body locked as Knox surged forward so violently that my grip tightened around Sloane's wrist.

She frowned. “Kade? What is it?”

Then I smelled it, faint beneath the cold air drifting through the cracked window.

Warm honey and vanilla.

Knox went wild. MATE. FIND HER.

I dropped Sloane’s arm and shoved back from the desk so hard my heavy wooden chair crashed into the paneling behind me.

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

I grabbed my coat.

Sloane was on her feet instantly, her hand gripping my forearm. “Kade, talk to me. What just happened?”

“I have to go.”

“Go where? What’s wrong?”

“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 slipped from my arm. For a second, hurt showed plainly on her face. Then it was gone.

“Do you want me to come with you?”

“No.” The refusal came out too fast, too sharp. “I need to understand what’s happening first,” I added, lowering my voice. We had known each other too long for either of us to pretend this meant nothing.

She gave a single, rigid nod. “Be careful.”

The scent strengthened the moment I stepped outside. Knox dragged me through Moonhaven, past the packhouse grounds and toward the residential areas.

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,” I muttered into the empty dark.

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.

She is no child, Knox warned.

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

I reached the bottom of Liam’s porch steps, the front windows throwing pale yellow light across the lawn.

I had always imagined my mate as someone older. Someone already comfortable in her wolf, ready to stand beside an Alpha and handle everything that came with the title.

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’s wrong? Did the border—”

The scent of honey and vanilla hit me at full strength. My jaw locked. “Where is she?”

Liam frowned. “Who?”

“Abby.”

“Kade?”

Her voice drifted down from the top of the stairs.

I looked up, and everything in my chest went dead quiet. 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, pull her against me, and breathe in that impossible scent until Knox finally stopped tearing at me from the inside.

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 a hesitant step down toward me.

I took half a step 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. The farther she moved from me, the harder Knox pushed to follow.

Liam jerked his head toward the kitchen. 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’s never had to carry responsibility like that.”

“Neither did you when your father died.”

“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’s already prepared for that responsibility.”

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.”