Chapter 9
1366 Words
Gwen
The cold night air bit at my cheeks as I stepped into the woods, bare feet padding across packed earth. I needed to run. To breathe. After dinner, the walls of the Alpha’s home had felt suffocating, the polite smiles and pointed stares unbearable.
I stripped in the shadow of a birch tree, folding my dress and tucking it under a root. Akira surged forward, her impatience matching mine.
Run, she whispered.
I ran until my legs shook, until the forest blurred past me in streaks of green and silver. The wind screamed through my fur, cold and sharp like it was trying to carve out the ache still buried in my chest.
Akira didn’t speak at first. She just ran—our shared grief poured into the ground beneath our feet, into the frost-tipped leaves that snapped beneath our paws. The quiet of the woods wrapped around us like a balm.
Then I felt it.
A ripple of presence.
My hackles rose before I even saw him. A wolf—massive, dark as shadows with streaks of deep gray running through his shoulders. He stepped from between the trees like a phantom, eyes locked on mine. They glowed gold in the moonlight, ancient and calm.
I didn’t know him. And yet...
He bowed his head in greeting.
Akira nudged forward cautiously. Friend or foe?
He didn’t answer in words. Instead, he dipped low in play—a sign of peace. And just like that, the tension in my shoulders began to bleed away.
We circled one another slowly. Curious. Careful.
"You’re not from here," I said, my voice thick inside our shared space. "Who are you?"
Achilles, he answered after a long moment. His voice was gruff and smooth like stone on leather. "You?"
"Akira."
There was something strange about him. Not just the sheer size—though he towered over most wolves I’d seen—but something underneath. A calm, controlled energy. Not packless, but not part of this one either.
We didn’t speak again for a while, but I stayed. I don’t know why. Maybe because it was the first time in days I felt seen—really seen—and not judged. Not touched with pity or expectation.
Eventually, Achilles stepped back. The distant sound of pack howls echoed faintly.
"Will I see you again?" I asked.
"If you come back."
Then he disappeared into the trees, and I stood there under the moonlight, heart pounding, unsure if I’d imagined the whole thing.
Prince Cain
I didn’t shift until I was well out of Gwen’s scent range. Back near the abandoned trailhead, I grabbed the clothes I’d stashed behind a log and dressed quickly. My heart was still pounding—not from the run, but from her.
Akira was even more breathtaking in her wolf form. She was large—tall and muscular for a female—but it suited her. Her fur was thick and rich red like molten copper, streaked with snowy white across her chest and the tips of her paws, like she’d dipped them in ice. Her eyes... goddess, her eyes. Even in that form, I saw the quiet grief and iron resolve smoldering beneath.
She carried her pain like a blade, ready to strike.
My wolf had lunged forward the moment he saw her, desperate to close the space, to nuzzle and submit and claim. But I’d held him back.
Not yet.
If I moved too fast, if she sensed what I was hiding, she might run.
So instead, I let him play. I let him dance just at the edge of the truth.
"She’s strong," I murmured aloud once we were alone again. "Too strong for this place."
The moon glowed through the trees, cold and perfect. My hands clenched at my sides.
I’d spent most of the last two years buried in my royal obligations, unraveling corruption and rooting out secrets. But this—this was the first time I’d felt the weight of it.
I couldn’t let Karl bury her.
Not her.
I glanced back toward the trees where she’d disappeared.
"Come back to me, little fox."
But the moment our wolves touched minds, I knew.
She is mine.
Gwen
By the time I got home, the moon was high and my lungs burned with cold air. I leaned against a tree, letting Akira fade so I could shift back, breathing hard.
"What do you think of him?" I asked her softly, wrapping my arms around myself.
Achilles is... different, Akira said slowly. Powerful. He watches with intent, not hunger.
"You like him."
I don’t trust easily.
"That’s not a no."
A faint, satisfied rumble echoed in the back of my mind.
But I had liked him. There was a strange gentleness under the dominance. Not soft—but aware. He hadn’t pressed me. He hadn’t pushed. And he had looked at me like I wasn’t broken.
Cain
Back in the packhouse, I shut the guest room door, double-checking the latch, then tapped the silver charm in my bracelet. The enchantment shimmered faintly before cloaking the room in a privacy ward. No ears beyond these walls.
From my bag, I pulled the my burner phone phone. A secure royal line linked only to one place—the palace.
I tapped the screen. Two rings.
"Finally," came Cole’s voice, low and steady. "Been waiting all day."
"Did someone die yet?" Cash’s voice cracked through next, rough and cocky. "Or do we have to wait ‘til the Ball for the drama?"
"Calm down," I muttered, pacing the room. "I’m fine. But I found her."
Silence. Then:
"Her her?" Cole asked, all business now.
"Our mate?"
"Yes," I said. My voice caught slightly. "Her name’s Gwen. She’s here. In this pack."
Cash let out a low whistle. "Damn. That fast?"
"It was instant. The moment our eyes met, the bond was there. My wolf knew. And hers… I think it’s buried, but it’s there. She just doesn’t know what to do with it yet."
"Do we come now?" Cash said eagerly. "We’ll fly overnight. I’ll rip the door off whatever room she’s in and claim her before sunrise—"
"No," I cut in sharply. "Absolutely not. That’s the fastest way to get her hurt."
"She’s ours, Cane."
"And she’s also under the control of a dangerous Alpha, surrounded by secrets I haven’t even begun to dig through." I ran a hand through my hair. "If Karl finds out who I am, everything falls apart. The investigation. Our chance to take down this brothel ring. Gwen’s safety."
Cole exhaled slowly. "You think Karl suspects something?"
"Yes. He was sizing me up from the second I arrived. Asking questions, probing. If he finds out I’m royalty, or that I’m here because of our parents' investigation..."
"Then we lose everything," Cole finished grimly.
"But come on," Cash said, "Is she hot?"
I let out a short breath. "She’s… stunning. Red curls like flame, a face you can’t stop looking at, even when you know you should. There’s something fragile about her, but it’s buried under steel. She's got a quiet power—you can feel it even when she doesn’t speak."
Cash whistled. "Damn. Sounds like you’re already halfway gone."
"More than halfway," I admitted. "And that’s why we do this right."
Cash grumbled, but his tone cooled. "So we wait."
"You wait. I’ll stay close. Gain her trust. And when the time’s right, I’ll bring her to the palace."
"She okay?" Cole asked more softly. "Like, really okay?"
I hesitated. "She’s... surviving. She’s strong. But I see it in her. She’s trapped. I don't know why but the Alpha here has been laying commands on her for years."
Cole hummed quietly. "She’ll need all three of us."
"I know. But not yet."
"Fine," Cash relented. "But when it’s go-time, I’m not letting you hog her for another week."
I allowed a rare smile. "Noted."
We ended the call. I stood for a long time after, staring into the dark outside the window, heart aching with the weight of what lay ahead.
But she was worth every risk.
Gwen. Our mate.
And I would bring her home.
- Writer
