CLAIMED BY THE BLACK RIDGE ALPHAS

Chapter 5. The Bond That Should Not Be

They gave me a small room upstairs with a lock that worked from the inside. Damien said it was for my protection. The way Knox posted himself in the hallway said it was also to keep me from leaving.

I sat on the edge of the narrow bed until the sky started to lighten. No sleep. Just the same loop of howls and glowing eyes and three men who had turned my garage into something I still didn’t have words for.

A knock came near dawn. Damien entered first, then Knox, then Ryder. An older man with silver at his temples followed them. He looked at me like he already knew the ending of a story I hadn’t read.

“I’m Gideon Wolfe,” he said. “Pack elder. Sit if you want. Or stand. Your choice.”

I stayed on my feet. “Someone better start talking in full sentences.”

Gideon nodded once. “You felt it the day they walked into your garage. The pull. The way the air settled when you were near them.”

I looked at Damien. “You brought him to translate?”

Damien’s voice was steady but tight. “He knows more about this than we do.”

Gideon continued. “You’re a pack-bond. Rare. Human. Your presence stabilizes fractured alphas. Your scent eases the constant edge of the wolf. In return the bond ties your life to the pack’s survival. Once it starts, it does not stop clean.”

I let out a short breath. “So I’m a fix.”

Knox spoke from near the door. “You’re more than that. But yes. You quiet things that have been loud for years.”

Ryder rubbed the back of his neck. “I don’t stay put easy. Around you the need to keep moving slows down. That part’s true.”

I turned to Damien. “You knew.”

“I suspected. I didn’t have proof until the moon forced the issue.”

“You still brought me here.”

“I brought you here to keep you breathing. The rest came after.”

Gideon’s voice stayed even. “Leaving will hurt all four of you now. Staying will change you in ways you can’t map yet.”

I crossed my arms. “You always deliver news like this before breakfast?”

“Only when the moon doesn’t give us the luxury of waiting.”

Damien stepped closer. “Ask whatever you need.”

“What happens if I walk out that door today?”

Knox answered. “The pull gets worse. For you. For us. And Marcus Black will smell the weakness the second it opens.”

I frowned. “Who is Marcus Black?”

Damien’s jaw flexed. “Rival pack leader. Old blood between us. He has waited for a crack in Black Ridge. You are that crack if he finds out what you are.”

Ryder added, “He won’t ask polite questions. He’ll take.”

I looked between them. “You’re telling me I went from fixing bikes to being a target because the three of you can’t keep your wolves quiet without me.”

Damien didn’t flinch. “Yes.”

“That’s not fair.”

“I know.”

Knox’s voice dropped. “None of this is fair. My control has been thin for a long time. Your scent is the first thing that settled it. I don’t like needing that. I still do.”

Ryder leaned against the wall. “I keep waiting for the urge to ride off and not come back. Around you it gets quieter. That scares me more than the teeth and the fur.”

I rubbed a hand over my face. “So what do you want from me right now?”

Gideon answered. “Time. Protection. Honesty going forward. The bond has already started. Fighting it blind will only make the edges sharper.”

I stared at Damien. “You should have told me the second you suspected.”

“I should have. I didn’t. That is on me.”

“You’re damn right it is.”

Knox shifted his weight. “You’re angry. Good. Stay angry. Just stay where we can keep you alive while we figure out the rest.”

Ryder’s mouth tilted without humor. “We’re not asking for forever tonight. We’re asking for you not to walk into a bullet because we were too slow with the truth.”

I paced once across the small room. “I want every answer from here on. No more careful versions. No more waiting until the moon forces it.”

Damien nodded. “You have that.”

“And I want to leave this room when I choose.”

“After the sun is fully up and we know the younger ones are stable. Then yes.”

Knox watched me without blinking. “You feel it too. The pull. Don’t pretend you don’t.”

“I feel a lot of things right now. Most of them make me want to throw a wrench at all three of you.”

Ryder almost smiled. “That’s fair.”

Gideon moved toward the door. “I’ll leave you to it. The pack will want updates. I’ll keep them short.”

He left. The room felt smaller with just the four of us.

I looked at each of them in turn. “I stay for now. Not because I trust you. Because walking out blind seems dumber than staying and demanding better.”

Damien’s shoulders dropped a fraction. “That’s enough for this morning.”

Knox’s voice came quiet. “Thank you.”

The words sounded like they cost him.

Ryder pushed off the wall. “We’ll get you coffee. Real food. Then we talk next steps.”

I nodded once. The fight had gone out of my voice but not out of my chest.

Outside the window the first real light touched the tops of the trees. Inside the room the three of them stood in a loose half-circle, waiting, watching, already tied to me in a way none of us fully understood yet.

I had come here to drop off a bike and collect a paycheck.

I had the clear, sharp sense that the bond they named had already started tightening, quiet and irreversible, and the next stretch of road was going to demand more from all of us than any of us were ready to give.