HIS SAVAGE VOW

Neutral Ground

*Chapter 5: Neutral Ground*

My apartment smelled like coffee, old books, and lavender soap.

Safe. Human. Mine.

I’d picked the place for one reason: it had one entrance, no back windows on the ground floor, and a fire escape on the second. If things went bad, I had an exit.

Kade showed up exactly at 7 PM.

Of course he did. Alphas didn’t do late.

He didn’t knock. He just stood in the hallway outside my door, big and too much for the space, holding a brown paper bag.

“Food,” he said when I opened the door. “You didn’t eat.”

I hadn’t.

I stepped aside and let him in.

Kade’s eyes swept the apartment the second he crossed the threshold. Cataloging exits, checking for threats, noting everything. It was annoying. And hot. Damn it.

“Nice place,” he said, setting the bag on my kitchen counter. “Small. Secure.”

“I’m not hiding,” I said, grabbing plates. “I’m efficient.”

He smirked. “Right.”

We didn’t talk while we ate. Roast beef, mashed potatoes, something that smelled like home. He remembered. Of course he remembered.

I hated that it mattered.

When we finished, I pushed my plate away and leaned back.

“Talk,” I said. “What’s Damon planning?”

Kade wiped his mouth, all Alpha control now. No more teasing.

“He’s going to challenge the bond,” he said. “Argue that you suppressed your wolf for five years. That it invalidates the mate claim.”

“That’s bullshit,” I said. “Suppression doesn’t break a bond.”

“No,” Kade agreed. “But it gives the Council an excuse to intervene. If they declare you unstable, they can place you under pack guardianship.”

Translation: they’d lock me up. Again.

My stomach twisted.

“So we fight it,” I said.

“We fight it,” Kade agreed. “But we need proof. Proof that you’re stable. That you’re not a danger.”

“And how do we do that?”

Kade’s eyes darkened.

“You let me in.”

I went still.

“Excuse me?”

“The bond,” he said. “If I can access it, I can show the Council it’s intact. That you’re in control. That we’re compatible.”

“No.” The word came out fast, sharp.

“Not happening.”

“Selene—”

“No.” I stood up, pacing the small kitchen. “You don’t get to be inside my head, Kade. Not again. Not after what you did.”

His jaw clenched.

“I’m not asking to control you,” he said. “I’m asking to help you.”

“I don’t need your help.”

“You do,” he said quietly. “And you know it.”

I stopped pacing.

Because he was right. And I hated him for it.

The bond pulsed between us, restless. It wanted what he wanted. It always did.

“Fine,” I said finally. “But on my terms.”

Kade nodded once.

“Your terms.”

“Not tonight,” I said. “I need time.”

“Okay.”

We stood there in the silence, tension thick enough to cut with a knife.

“Why are you doing this?” I asked suddenly. “Why fight for me now? After everything you said?”

Kade’s eyes softened, just a fraction.

“Because I was wrong,” he said. “And because I’d rather lose you hating me than lose you forever.”

The honesty hit harder than any threat.

I didn’t know what to say to that.

So I said nothing.

Kade took the hint. He stood up, gathering the empty containers.

“I’ll leave you alone,” he said. “For tonight.”

He walked to the door, then paused.

“Selene.”

“Yeah?”

“Don’t open the door to anyone but me,” he said. “Damon’s people are watching.”

I nodded.

“I know.”

The door clicked shut behind him, and the apartment felt too quiet.

I sank onto the couch, hands shaking.

Letting Kade into the bond felt like handing him a loaded gun and hoping he wouldn’t pull the trigger.

But if I didn’t, Damon might take everything again.

My phone buzzed. Unknown number.

_“Little wolf. Run while you can. He won’t save you this time.”_

Damon.

I deleted the message.

I wasn’t running.

Not anymore.

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