Night Fang's Law
1279 Words
Chapter 3: Nightfang’s Laws
I’d been in Nightfang territory for six hours and I’d already broken three rules.
Rule one: Don’t make eye contact with a warrior unless you want a challenge.
Rule two: Don’t wander outside the main compound after dark.
Rule three: Don’t speak to Damien unless he speaks to you first.
I broke all three before breakfast.
The Nightfang compound wasn’t like Blackthorn’s pristine stone halls and gardens. It was built into the side of the old mine, half industrial, half fortress. Steel gates, concrete walls, training rings carved into the rock. It smelled like oil, sweat, and wolf.
And no one bowed.
That was the first thing I noticed. In Blackthorn, omegas kept their eyes down. Here, the warriors glanced at me, assessed me, and moved on. No pity. No disgust. Just evaluation.
“Stop staring,” Damien muttered beside me.
We were walking through the training yard. He’d insisted on bringing me himself. Shirtless, pants low on his hips, scars tracking across his ribs like a map of old wars. He looked more dangerous awake than he had as a wolf.
“I’m not staring,” I said.
“You are.”
“I’m trying not to get killed by accident.”
A wolf lunged at a dummy in the ring, tearing it open with claws. The crowd cheered. One of them, a scarred woman with a shaved head, nodded at me. Not friendly. Not hostile. Acknowledgment.
Damien noticed. “That’s Mara. My Beta. Don’t piss her off.”
“Noted.”
He stopped at the edge of the ring. The fight paused. Fifty pairs of eyes turned to us. To me.
“Pack,” Damien said, voice carrying without effort. “This is Luna Vale. She’s my mate. She’s under my protection. You hurt her, you answer to me. Understood?”
A beat of silence.
Then a chorus of low growls. Not aggression. Acknowledgment. Pack acceptance.
Mara stepped forward, eyes sharp. “She’s wolfless.”
“So was my mother,” Damien said flatly. “Problem?”
Mara held his gaze for three seconds, then gave a single nod. “No problem, Alpha. Welcome to Nightfang, Luna.”
It was small. But in pack culture, that nod meant everything.
I exhaled for the first time since leaving Blackthorn.
The “welcome tour” turned into a trial by fire.
Damien took me to the mess hall, where fifty wolves were eating, arguing, and mending gear. The second we walked in, the room went quiet.
A young wolf, maybe eighteen, stepped forward. “Alpha. We heard about Blackthorn’s rejection. Is it true she’s…?”
“Wolfless,” Damien finished for him. “And my mate. You got a problem with that, Cole?”
Cole swallowed. “No, Alpha. Just… Blackthorn’s gonna come for her. For you.”
“Let them,” Damien said. “We’ve been waiting eight years for an excuse.”
The room erupted in approval. These wolves didn’t fear war. They lived for it.
A plate was shoved into my hands. Stew, bread, meat. Real food. Not the watery slop omegas got in Blackthorn.
“Eat,” Damien ordered. “You’re too thin.”
I ate. My hands shook. Not from fear. From relief. No one was watching me to see if I d@o.ropped a crumb. No one was commenting on my worthless human form.
For the first time in twenty-one years, I wasn’t being judged for what I lacked.
I was being protected for who I was.
It didn’t last.
The alarms started at noon.
Deep, guttural sirens that shook the mine walls. Warriors grabbed weapons and moved without thinking. Damien was on his feet instantly, pulling me behind him.
“What’s happening?” I asked.
“Blackthorn scouts,” Mara said, already shifting. “They crossed the south border. Three wolves.”
Damien’s eyes went flat. “They’re testing us.”
“Let me handle it,” Mara said. “You stay with her.”
Damien hesitated. Then nodded. “If one hair on her head is harmed, I’ll skin Kade myself.”
Mara shifted and bolted. The compound emptied in thirty seconds.
Damien turned to me. “Stay inside. Don’t shift. Don’t run. If I say hide, you hide.”
“Why would Kade send scouts?” I asked. “He rejected me.”
“Because he knows the bond is real,” Damien said, and his voice was pure steel. “And because if he can’t have you, he doesn’t want me to either. It’s not about you, Luna. It’s about control.”
I didn’t like that answer. But it felt true.
We didn’t have to wait long.
The doors slammed open twenty minutes later. Mara dragged a bloodied Blackthorn scout inside, throwing him to his knees in front of Damien.
“Alpha,” she said. “He says he has a message from Kade.”
The scout looked up, blood dripping from his mouth. His eyes found me and widened.
“Alpha Kade demands you return Luna Vale to Blackthorn,” he gasped. “She is pack property. Her rejection was invalid without council approval.”
Damien laughed. It wasn’t a good sound.
“Invalid?” He crouched, grabbing the scout by the throat. “You watched him reject her in front of the entire pack. You heard him release her. Now he wants her back because he realized he made a mistake?”
The scout choked out, “He says if you don’t return her by sunset, Blackthorn will declare war.”
Damien let him go. He stood, turning to me.
“Well, Luna,” he said quietly. “Looks like you’re popular.”
I swallowed. “What are you going to do?”
Damien smiled. Cold. Certain.
“What I should’ve done eight years ago.”
He looked at Mara. “Send the response.”
Mara grinned, sharp and feral. “What should it say, Alpha?”
Damien’s eyes never left mine.
“Tell Kade Luna Vale is now Luna of Nightfang. And if he wants her back, he can come take her himself.”
That night, I couldn’t sleep.
Damien had given me a room on the top floor. Big, warm, safe. But my head was spinning.
A knock came at the door.
“Come in,” I said, already knowing who it was.
Damien entered, wearing only sweatpants, hair damp from a shower. He didn’t approach the bed. He leaned against the doorframe, watching me.
“You didn’t run,” he said.
“Where would I go?” I replied. “I have nowhere else.”
“You could’ve tried.”
I sat up. “Why didn’t Kade fight you at the ceremony? If the bond was that strong, why let you take me?”
Damien’s jaw tightened.
“Because he’s afraid,” he said. “Of the council. Of losing power. Of admitting he wanted you.”
“And you’re not afraid?”
Damien stepped closer. He didn’t touch me.
“I’m afraid of losing you,” he said quietly. “But I’m more afraid of living without trying.”
The air between us thickened. His scent—smoke and steel—wrapped around me, making my chest tight.
“You don’t have to sleep alone tonight,” he said. “Unless you want to.”
I should’ve said no. It was too fast. Too dangerous.
But when I looked at him, I didn’t see Kade’s cold control. I didn’t see pity.
I saw a man who’d just declared war for me.
And I was tired of being alone.
“Stay,” I whispered.
Damien didn’t need to be told twice.
- Writer
