Chapter eight: The Brother She Found
824 Words
Jake didn’t hug her.
That was the first thing Lena noticed.
He stood a few feet away, shoulders tense, eyes scanning the alley behind her instead of looking at her. Not relief. Not warmth. Calculation.
“You shouldn’t have come,” he said.
The words hit harder than a blade.
Lena swallowed. “I’ve been looking for you for three years.”
Jake’s gaze flicked to Rafe. Recognition flashed there — and something darker. “You brought him?”
Rafe didn’t move. Didn’t blink. He stood tall, coat damp from rain, power radiating off him like heat from asphalt. “Careful,” he said evenly. “You’re standing in my territory.”
Jake’s jaw tightened. “I don’t belong to any territory.”
Rafe’s expression didn’t change. “Everyone belongs to someone.”
Lena stepped between them.
“Enough,” she snapped. “Jake. Talk to me.”
For a second — just a second — she saw her brother. The boy who used to steal her fries. The one who promised he’d always protect her.
Then it was gone.
“You don’t understand what’s happening,” Jake said. “The packs aren’t just fighting for territory. They’re preparing for something bigger.”
Rafe’s eyes sharpened. “War?”
Jake shook his head slowly. “No. A purge.”
Silence fell heavy between them.
Lena felt it — that shift in the air. The storm turning.
“Explain,” Rafe ordered.
Jake laughed softly. “Still commanding rooms, Volkov? Your father would be proud.”
Something cold passed through Rafe’s expression.
Lena noticed.
She always noticed.
“My father doesn’t get to claim my victories,” Rafe said quietly.
There it was — the crack. Small. Controlled. But real.
Jake’s gaze moved between them. “You don’t know what they’re building,” he said. “They’re rounding up wolves. Lone wolves. Weak bloodlines. Anyone who doesn’t pledge loyalty.”
Lena’s stomach dropped.
Lone wolves.
Like her.
Rafe’s jaw flexed. “Which pack?”
Jake hesitated.
That hesitation was everything.
Rafe stepped forward — not aggressive, not loud — but the air shifted around him like gravity bending. “If you’re lying,” he said calmly, “I will know.”
Jake held his ground. “It’s not one pack. It’s an alliance.”
Lena’s pulse pounded in her ears.
An alliance meant something worse than a turf war.
It meant strategy.
It meant planning.
It meant blood.
“And you?” Rafe asked. “Where do you stand in this?”
Jake didn’t answer.
That was answer enough.
Lena felt it — the fracture splitting through her chest.
“You joined them?” she whispered.
Jake’s voice softened. “I survived.”
Rafe’s hand brushed Lena’s lower back — steady, grounding. Not possessive. Not yet. But protective.
She hated how much she leaned into it.
“You’re working with the packs hunting lone wolves,” she said, voice breaking despite herself.
“They’re cleaning the bloodlines,” Jake said. “Strengthening the city.”
Rafe’s eyes went black.
“That,” he said quietly, “is how monsters justify slaughter.”
The tension snapped.
Footsteps echoed from the far end of the street.
Not random.
Coordinated.
Rafe didn’t hesitate. “We’re leaving.”
Jake grabbed Lena’s wrist. “You don’t get it. If you stay with him, you’ll be marked.”
Rafe’s voice dropped dangerously low. “Let her go.”
Jake held on.
For a split second, Lena felt it — the collision of two alphas.
Then Rafe moved.
Fast. Controlled. Deadly.
He broke Jake’s grip without harming him, stepping between them, body shielding hers.
“Touch her again,” Rafe said, voice calm in the way that meant violence was seconds away, “and I stop being diplomatic.”
Lena’s breath caught.
No one had ever stood between her and danger like that.
No one had chosen her.
Jake stepped back slowly. “You think he’s protecting you?” he said to Lena. “He’s using you. Just like everyone else in this city.”
Rafe didn’t deny it.
That scared her more than if he had.
Sirens howled in the distance — not police.
Pack signal.
Jake’s expression shifted. Regret? Fear? She couldn’t tell.
“You need to run,” he said. “Tonight they start collecting.”
Collecting.
The word hollowed her out.
Rafe grabbed her hand this time — not subtle, not accidental.
“Move,” he ordered.
She ran with him.
Not because she trusted him.
Not because she forgave her brother.
But because when the storm finally broke — when the city turned into a battlefield — there was only one wolf she wanted at her back.
And it wasn’t the one she shared blood with.
Behind them, Jake didn’t follow.
Ahead of them, the city lights flickered — like something ancient had just awakened beneath it.
And somewhere in the shadows, the purge had already begun.
- Writer
