the Forbidden Knot

Shadows Within

The growl from the hallway slithered through the open study door like smoke, low and triumphant. My hand froze on the heavy oak, heart slamming against my ribs. Mia stood inches away, the singed canvas scrap trembling in her grip, her dark curls matted with rain and a thin line of blood tracing her cheek.

“Close it!” she hissed, shoving the door with her shoulder.

I threw my weight against the wood just as a heavy body collided with the other side. The impact rattled the frame. A clawed hand partially shifted scraped through the narrowing gap, leaving deep gouges in the oak. The acrid scent flooded the room, sharp and wrong, nothing like the clean cedar of Blackthorn wolves.

Mia slammed the bolt home. We stumbled back as the intruder threw itself against the door again, snarling. The ancient wood held, but it wouldn’t forever.

“Sienna,” Mia panted, eyes wide with a storm of fear and betrayal. “What have you done? That sketch… the hallway. I saw the way he looked at you. How long has this been happening behind my back?”

There was no time for gentle confessions. Another crash shook the door. I grabbed her arm, pulling her deeper into the study toward Ronan’s heavy desk. “I never wanted this. I swear on everything. It started as stupid dreams, paintings no one was supposed to see. Then your father touched my lip in the kitchen and… everything broke.”

Mia stared at me like I was a stranger. The hurt in her blue eyes cut deeper than any claw. “He’s my dad, Sienna. My father. And you painted him like you wanted him to” She cut herself off, swallowing hard. “The pack is bleeding because of these paintings. Because of whatever this is between you two.”

A window shattered somewhere downstairs. Distant gunfire and howls mixed with the roar of shifting wolves. Ronan was out there, fighting because of me. The thought twisted something deep in my chest terror for him, desperate relief that he was the kind of Alpha who would tear through the night to protect what he claimed.

The study door rattled violently. A voice distorted, male, familiar from the anonymous calls growled through the wood. “Little omega… come out. Kael sends his regards. He wants the Alpha’s weakness breathing. For now.”

Garrick. Or someone working with him.

Mia’s face hardened. Despite everything, her beta instincts kicked in. She moved to Ronan’s desk, yanking open drawers until she found a heavy silver letter opener and an old patrol radio. She tossed the radio to me. “Try to reach Dad or Jace. I’ll barricade.”

I fumbled with the radio while she dragged a heavy chair against the door. Static crackled. “Ronan? Alpha, it’s Sienna. They’re inside the house. Study. Please—”

A burst of noise cut through: Ronan’s voice, rough with command and fury. “Hold position. I’m coming. Do not open that door for anyone else.”

The connection died.

Another impact against the door splintered the frame. Claws raked deeper. The acrid scent grew thicker, mixed now with the metallic tang of blood. Mia positioned herself in front of me, letter opener raised like a pathetic dagger. In that moment, despite her anger, she was still protecting me. The realization made fresh guilt choke me.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” she whispered fiercely, not looking back. “I could’ve helped you fight it. Or at least… prepared.”

“Because admitting it made it real,” I said, voice small. “Because wanting your father older, dominant, completely off-limits makes me the worst kind of friend. I tried to bury it, Mia. The suppressants, the late nights painting anything else. But every time he looked at me…”

The door cracked. A shoulder rammed through, followed by a partially shifted face eyes glowing with Crescent Vale gold, teeth bared. Garrick’s scent was unmistakable now.

“Found you,” he snarled, voice thick around elongated fangs.

Mia lunged first, slashing with the letter opener. It caught the intruder across the arm, drawing blood, but he backhanded her hard. She crashed into the bookshelf, books tumbling around her. I screamed her name and grabbed the radio again, shouting for Ronan.

Garrick or the wolf wearing his scent kicked the chair aside and stepped fully into the room. His eyes raked over me with ugly satisfaction. “The Alpha’s little obsession. Kael will enjoy breaking you in front of him. Proof that even the great Ronan Donovan has a weakness that bleeds.”

He lunged.

I dodged behind the desk, heart in my throat. My omega instincts screamed to submit, to bare my throat, but something fiercer rose the same fire that drove me to paint Ronan in secret. I snatched a heavy brass paperweight and hurled it. It struck his shoulder with a sickening thud.

Mia groaned, pushing herself up, blood trickling from her temple. “Stay away from her!”

The intruder laughed, low and wet. “Two for one. Even better.”

Heavy footsteps thundered up the stairs outside multiple sets. Ronan’s roar split the air, pure Alpha command laced with primal rage. The intruder hesitated, head snapping toward the sound.

That hesitation cost him.

The study door exploded inward. Ronan filled the frame like vengeance given form shirt torn, blood streaking one arm, eyes blazing storm-gray fury. He shifted mid-leap, massive wolf form slamming into the intruder with bone-crushing force. The two wolves crashed through the doorway and into the hall in a blur of fangs and claws.

I rushed to Mia, helping her to her feet. She leaned on me, breathing ragged, but didn’t pull away. “He came for you,” she said quietly. There was no accusation this time only exhausted understanding. “I’ve never heard him roar like that.”

We stumbled to the broken doorway. The hallway was chaos. Ronan’s wolf tore into the intruder with lethal precision, but two more Crescent Vale wolves had reached the top of the stairs. Jace and several enforcers poured in from the side entrance, engaging them.

Ronan finished his opponent with a savage snap, then shifted back to human form, naked to the waist, blood and sweat gleaming on his scarred torso. His eyes found me instantly across the violence. The look he gave me raw possession mixed with relief stole what little breath I had left.

He crossed the distance in three strides and pulled me against his chest, one large hand cradling the back of my head. His heart thundered under my cheek. “You’re safe,” he growled, the words vibrating through me. “Both of you.”

Mia watched us, swaying slightly on her feet. The sight of her father holding me so openly seemed to drain the last of her resistance. “Dad… Sienna… we need to end this. The pack can’t survive secrets like these.”

Before Ronan could answer, Jace limped over, clutching his side. “Alpha. We drove them back, but they left something on the front steps. Another canvas. And a written demand.”

Ronan kept one arm around me as Jace handed him a blood-smeared note. His body tensed as he read it aloud, voice cold:

“Deliver the omega by dawn, or we paint the borders with Blackthorn blood. The choice is yours, Alpha. Your pack… or your obsession.”

Silence fell over the hallway, broken only by distant howls signaling the rivals’ retreat for now.

Ronan crushed the note in his fist. His thumb unconsciously traced my lower lip again, right there in front of Mia and the enforcers, a subconscious claim that sent heat and terror spiraling through me.

Mia looked away.

The estate lay damaged, blood on the floors, secrets dragged into the open. Dawn was only hours away, and the rival Alpha Kael had just issued an ultimatum that would force Ronan to choose between everything he had sworn to protect… and me.

Ronan’s grip tightened, his voice a dark promise against my hair. “They will not take you.”

But as the first gray light touched the shattered windows, I wondered whether protecting me would cost him the pack and whether Mia could ever forgive either of us if it did.