Chapter One
Tyson
By eight in the morning, I had already issued one punishment, reassigned two patrols, and threatened to personally drag a seventeen-year-old wolf out of bed if he missed training again.
Nightward was functioning.
That did not mean it was functioning well.
I sat behind my desk with a stack of reports in front of me while Luka worked at the smaller table near the window. He had been assigned three pages of mathematics and had completed half of one.
Shayne stood across from my desk, reading the incident report I had handed him.
“He had wolfsbane?” he asked.
“He had alcohol laced with it.”
“At seventeen?”
“Yes.”
Shayne’s expression hardened.
Wolfsbane was controlled for a reason. In small amounts, it intensified alcohol. In larger amounts, it could put a young wolf into a fever, trigger an uncontrolled partial shift, or shut down the connection between wolf and human entirely.
Adults were permitted measured amounts during certain pack celebrations.
Anyone under eighteen was forbidden from touching it.
“What did you give him?” Shayne asked.
“Two weeks of morning labour, no evening privileges, and supervised training with Axel.”
Shayne winced. “Axel before sunrise?”
“He should have considered that before drinking.”
Luka looked up from his worksheet. “What are evening privileges?”
“Nothing you need to worry about,” I said.
“That means it’s interesting.”
“It means finish your work.”
He stared at me for several seconds, then slowly lowered his eyes to the page.
Shayne folded the report. “His mother asked if you’d reconsider.”
“No.”
“She says he was pressured by older wolves.”
“He still drank it.”
“He’s seventeen.”
“Exactly.”
Shayne leaned one hand against my desk. “You remember being seventeen?”
“Yes.”
“I’m not sure you do.”
Konan stirred beneath my skin.
He is challenging you.
Shayne always challenged me.
That was why he was still standing there while most wolves would have lowered their eyes and accepted the ruling.
“He could have harmed himself or another wolf,” I said. “My decision is final.”
Shayne held my stare for a moment before nodding.
“Fine.”
Luka muttered something under his breath.
I looked toward him. “Speak clearly.”
He kept writing. “I said you like saying that.”
“Saying what?”
“My decision is final.”
Shayne coughed into his fist.
I ignored him.
“Because it is,” I said.
“That doesn’t mean you have to enjoy it.”
“I don’t enjoy it.”
Luka lifted his head and gave me a look that said he did not believe me.
The boy was becoming far too bold.
Unfortunately, I knew exactly who had encouraged it.
I looked back at Shayne.
He smiled innocently.
A knock sounded at the door.
“Enter.”
Axel stepped inside only after receiving permission, closing the door behind him. His shoulders were tense, and Steele pressed faintly against the pack link.
That immediately put Konan on alert.
“What happened?” I asked.
“Western patrol found tracks outside the boundary.”
Shayne straightened.
“How many?” I asked.
“Two confirmed. Maybe three.”
“Nightward?”
“No.”
The room changed.
Even Luka felt it. His pencil stopped moving.
“Fresh?” I asked.
“Within twelve hours.”
“Direction?”
“Northwest, then they doubled back toward the ravine.”
“Trying to hide their trail?”
“That’s what Canyon thinks.”
Konan rose fully inside me.
Emberfang.
The same thought passed through me.
I stood and walked toward the territory map mounted along the wall. The western boundary was heavily forested, with a steep ravine cutting through the lower section. Difficult terrain. Easy to hide in if someone knew where patrol routes overlapped.
Someone had known.
“Who was stationed there last night?” I asked.
“Micah and Benton.”
“Where are they now?”
“Waiting outside.”
“Send them in.”
Axel opened the door and spoke quietly to the wolves in the hallway.
Two young men entered a moment later. Both bowed their heads.
“Alpha.”
I remained beside the map.
“Explain how three wolves reached the western boundary without being detected.”
Micah swallowed. “We patrolled the route twice.”
“That was not my question.”
Benton glanced at him before answering. “There was a sound near the lower creek. We thought something had crossed there.”
“You both left the northern section?”
“Yes, Alpha.”
“For how long?”
“Maybe twenty minutes.”
Shayne’s jaw tightened.
Twenty minutes was enough time to cross the outer markers, examine the fence, and disappear.
“Who ordered you to leave your assigned route?” I asked.
“No one.”
“Then why did you?”
Benton’s eyes lowered. “We thought it was necessary.”
“You thought.”
Neither answered.
Konan pushed against me, anger hot beneath my skin.
Weak patrols invite attack.
He was right.
The last time Nightward had underestimated movement along its borders, Emberfang had entered under darkness.
My father died near the eastern gate.
My mother never made it out of the command house.
I had been twenty years old, covered in blood, with a dying Alpha’s power tearing through my body and a two-year-old brother screaming somewhere behind me.
Six years had passed.
I still remembered every sound.
“Your assignment was the northern western route,” I said. “If you suspected movement near the creek, one of you should have linked Axel while the other held position.”
Micah nodded quickly. “Yes, Alpha.”
“You abandoned your section and left Nightward exposed.”
“We’re sorry.”
“Sorry does not protect this pack.”
The words came harder than I intended.
Luka shifted behind me.
I felt his eyes on my back.
I drew a slow breath.
“Both of you are removed from independent patrol for one month. You will retrain under Axel and Canyon. Until they clear you, you do not guard a boundary without supervision.”
Micah’s face fell, but he bowed his head. “Yes, Alpha.”
Benton did the same.
“My ruling is final.”
They left after being dismissed.
Shayne waited until the door closed.
“A month?”
“They failed.”
“They made one mistake.”
“One mistake at the border can bury half a pack.”
Silence followed.
Axel did not argue. He usually agreed with me in the room, even if I knew he sometimes softened my orders once he was outside it.
Shayne had no such restraint.
“You can correct them without making them believe they’re useless,” he said.
“I did not call them useless.”
“You did everything except use the word.”
Luka watched us openly now.
I looked at him. “Math.”
He sighed dramatically but returned to the worksheet.
“Double the western patrol,” I told Axel. “Canyon takes the first team. Diego reviews every border report from the last month. I want unusual scents, broken markers, missed links, everything.”
“Already started,” Axel said.
“Good.”
“I’ll join Canyon,” Shayne said.
“No.”
His brows lifted. “No?”
“You’re staying inside the central territory.”
“Why?”
“Because if this is Emberfang, I need my Beta where I can reach him.”
“You can reach me through the link.”
“I said no.”
Blaze bristled through Shayne’s presence.
Konan answered with a low internal growl.
For one sharp moment, the office seemed too small for both of us.
Shayne stepped closer.
“Being Beta does not mean sitting safely behind you while everyone else takes the risk.”
“And being Alpha means deciding where you are most useful.”
“I’m useful at the border.”
“You are useful alive.”
His face changed slightly.
He knew what I meant.
Shayne had been beside me during the war. He had dragged me away from my father’s body while Emberfang wolves closed around us. He had taken a blade meant for my throat and nearly bled out before Maia’s predecessor managed to stop it.
I was not losing him because he wanted to prove something.
Again.
“You remain here,” I said.
Shayne’s jaw flexed.
Then he lowered his head once.
Not submission.
Acceptance.
There was a difference.
“Yes, Alpha.”
Luka looked between us. “That sounded painful.”
Shayne glanced at him. “It was.”
I returned to my desk. “Axel, take the patrol wolves to the training grounds. I’ll join you in ten minutes.”
Axel nodded and left after being dismissed.
Shayne remained.
“You’re going to fight Canyon while angry,” he said.
“I’m going to train.”
“You fight harder when you’re angry.”
“Then he should defend himself better.”
Shayne smiled faintly. “There he is.”
Luka pushed his worksheet away. “Can I watch?”
“No.”
His entire face collapsed. “Why not?”
“Because the outer training field is closed until we know who crossed the border.”
“You said the training grounds were inside.”
“They are.”
“Then I can watch.”
“No.”
“That makes no sense.”
“It does to me.”
He stood. “You never let me do anything.”
“That is not true.”
“You wouldn’t let me climb the south wall.”
“Because you fell.”
“I almost made it.”
“You broke your wrist.”
“It healed.”
“You do not have a wolf yet. It took three weeks.”
“Three weeks isn’t forever.”
I stared at him.
He crossed his arms and stared back.
Konan huffed.
He is stubborn.
He is a Stone.
That was the problem.
Shayne leaned toward Luka. “I could take you to the observation platform.”
“No,” I said.
“I wasn’t asking you.”
“You should have been.”
Luka’s mouth twitched.
I pointed at him. “Do not smile.”
That made it worse.
A knock sounded again.
“Enter.”
Bailey opened the door, but she did not cross the threshold until I looked at her.
“Sorry,” she said. “Someone escaped me.”
A small blur shot past her legs.
“Ty!”
Tatum ran directly into the office, curls bouncing and shoes striking the floor far louder than someone her size should have managed.
Every wolf in the pack knew when Tatum was approaching.
She announced herself like a marching band.
I caught her when she collided with my legs.
She threw both arms around my knees.
“Up.”
I lifted her automatically.
She studied my face with serious brown eyes.
“Mad.”
“I’m working.”
“Mad,” she repeated.
“I am not mad.”
Shayne turned away to hide his expression.
Tatum grabbed both sides of my face and pressed a loud kiss against my cheek.
“Better.”
Luka laughed.
I looked at him.
He immediately covered his mouth.
Tatum spotted him and twisted in my arms. “Luka!”
“I’m doing schoolwork,” he said, as though that had ever stopped her.
She reached for him.
I set her down, and she charged across the room. Luka pretended to be annoyed right up until she climbed onto his lap. His arms came around her before she could fall.
“You’re heavy,” he told her.
“No.”
“Yes.”
“No!”
He lowered his voice. “Don’t tell anyone, but you’re my favorite.”
Tatum grinned.
“I heard that,” Shayne said.
“You weren’t supposed to.”
For a few seconds, the room softened.
Then Diego’s voice entered my mind through the pack link.
Alpha, I found something in last week’s western reports.
Konan went still.
What?
A scent near the ravine. It was dismissed as old.
Emberfang?
A pause.
Possibly.
I looked toward the windows, beyond the central buildings and the forest surrounding them.
Six years ago, Emberfang had taken my parents.
They would not take anyone else.
Not Luka.
Not Shayne.
Not one wolf under my command.
“Shayne,” I said.
He heard the change in my voice immediately.
“What is it?”
“Get Canyon.”
His expression hardened.
“And tell the pack the western boundary is closed.”
Luka’s arms tightened around Tatum.
I met his eyes.
He knew enough not to argue this time.
Something had stepped onto Nightward land.
And if it belonged to Emberfang, it was about to learn why no wolf crossed my borders twice.
