The Silver-Loaded Rifle

Chapter 1 The Silver Bullet

The cabin door shattered inward, splinters of pine flying across the room.

Killian filled the doorway, both hands locked around a silver-loaded rifle. Alpha power pressed into the cabin until the rafters creaked. The muzzle followed me when I shifted in front of Maeve.

Lyla clung to his arm and shook beneath a thick wolf-fur cloak. My cloak. I had spent a month weaving it for Killian’s last birthday, and he had sworn no one else would ever wear it.

Behind me, the silver wolf whimpered. I stopped trying to calm her and faced him.

“Killian, what is this?” I stood between the rifle and the shivering wolf.

Her name was Maeve. No one else knew she was here, or that every treatment had cost me blood. Keeping her alive had been mine to carry for ten years.

He ignored my question and kept the rifle trained on Maeve.

“Get away from that beast, Serena.”

Lyla sobbed and pushed up the sleeve of my cloak. A few thin scratches crossed her arm. “Killian, I only came for a healing poultice. My head hurt, and that monster lunged at me!”

He lowered the rifle long enough to take her arm. “Are you alright? Did it bite you? Let me see.”

He ran his thumb over the scratches and checked each one.

Blood from my split palm dripped onto the floorboards. I had cut it open moments ago to feed Maeve a calming herb. A red trail ran between us, but Killian never looked down.

Once, he had checked my injuries that way.

“She’s lying. Maeve wouldn’t hurt anyone. Lyla reeked of something bitter. She startled her.”

“Enough!” Killian snapped. “I’m tired of your games. Your jealousy.”

He stepped over the broken door. Pine cracked under his boots as he looked from me to the wolf.

“I know what this is. You’ve been sneaking around for weeks, hiding this thing. You couldn't stand me bringing someone else into the pack, could you? So you made sure I had to pay attention to you.”

My eyes burned. For ten years, I had bled for his family and hidden Maeve from wolves who would have killed her on sight. He reduced all of it to a bid for attention.

I spread my hands wider to shield Maeve. “You don’t understand. You can’t do this. Please, just listen to me.”

“Listen to you?” His laugh had no humor in it. “I have been listening, Serena. Lyla isn't the only one who says you’ve grown cold and secretive. I defended you.”

He gestured with the rifle toward Lyla, who burrowed her face into his shoulder. “But this? Hiding a cursed beast, letting it attack a helpless Omega? This is the proof. You’ve lost your mind.”

“She is not a beast.”

“Don’t force this, Rena.” He lifted the rifle.

He had used that name through years of softer moments. “You always come to your senses. Be a good mate and step aside. I’m putting this creature down before it hurts anyone else.”

He had always waited for me to yield.

The rifle did not change that expectation.

I always had before.

But not tonight.

I planted my feet in front of Maeve and looked straight at him.

“No.”