The Alpha’s Hidden Mate

Trespasser

Chapter 5: Trespasser

Kade’s POV

Kade felt it before he heard anything — a spike of

fear through the bond so sharp it nearly buckled

his knees.

He was three rooms away, halfway through

demanding answers from Marcus Hale, when the

feeling hit him like a fist to the ribs. He didn’t wait

for Marcus to finish his sentence. He was moving

before his brain caught up with his body, shoving

through the front door and out into the dark,

following the pull in his chest like a compass

needle spinning toward true north.

He found them at the tree line.

A man had Lena’s arm in a tight grip, too close, his

stance all wrong — not pack posture, not anyone

Kade recognized from Ashwood’s ranks. Kade’s

vision narrowed the way it used to before a fight,

every other sound in the world dropping away

except the low, ugly murmur of the stranger’s

voice and the sharp, furious hitch of Lena’s

breathing.

“Let go of her,” Kade said. He didn’t shout it. He

didn’t need to.

The stranger’s head snapped up, and for a fraction

of a second, something flickered across his face —

recognition, maybe, or calculation. Then he smiled

wider and didn’t let go.

“Alpha’s son,” the man said. “Didn’t realize the

mutt exile was already spoken for. Guess I’ll have

to be quick about it.”

Kade closed the distance in three strides and

didn’t bother with words this time. He grabbed

the man’s wrist and twisted until bone ground

against bone, until the stranger’s grip on Lena

broke and he staggered back, cursing.

“Ashwood pin,” Kade said, nodding at the man’s

collar, voice flat and cold. “You’re not wearing that

right. Who gave it to you?”

The man’s eyes darted toward the trees, toward

escape, and Kade saw the decision form half a

second before the man made it. He bolted.

Kade let him go.

It cost him something to make that choice —

every instinct screaming to chase, to catch, to

make the man answer for grabbing Lena in the

dark on pack land that was supposed to be safe.

But Lena was standing three feet away, arms

wrapped around herself, breathing hard, and the

bond in his chest was screaming louder than his

instinct to hunt.

He turned to her instead.

“Are you hurt?”

“No. I don’t think so.” Her voice shook more than

she probably wanted it to. “He came out of

nowhere. I was just—” She stopped, jaw

tightening, like she’d caught herself about to say

too much.

“You were what?”

Lena looked away, toward the pack house, toward

the window where a light had just clicked on. “I

overheard something. Marcus Hale, talking to

someone. About my family. About Thornridge.”

Kade went very still.

“What did you hear?”

“That Thornridge might already know something

about me,” Lena said. “Something that could tell

them exactly where to hit your pack.” Her eyes

came back up to his, sharp now instead of scared.

“Is that true? Am I the reason people are going to

die?”

Kade didn’t answer right away. He couldn’t, not

honestly, because the truth was he didn’t know

yet — and the not-knowing was eating him alive.

“I don’t know what Marcus meant,” he said finally.

“But I intend to find out tonight. And whatever it

is, you’re not facing it without me standing next to

you.”

Something in Lena’s face cracked open — not

quite trust, not yet, but a door swinging an inch

wider than it had been an hour ago.

“That man knew who I was,” she said quietly. “He

called me The exiled he wasn’t guessing.”

Kade’s blood went cold as the pieces clicked into

place.

“Then someone here already told him,” he said.

“Which means we don’t just have a threat outside

these walls.”

He looked back toward the pack house — toward

the light still burning in Marcus Hale’s study

window, toward every dark hallway and locked

door

inside a building he’d trusted his whole life

without question.

“We have one inside them, too.”