The Pack (Completed Series)

Chapter 5 - Elias

She was real.

Kael's message had come through in the middle of the storm, nothing more than a pulse of intent through the tether that connected our pack—raw, urgent, and full of something I hadn't felt from him in a long time: hope.

He'd found her.

Aria.

The lost one.

I moved through the cabin like a ghost, bare feet silent on the hardwood floor, drying herbs in one hand, a folded blanket in the other. The place was already clean, but I couldn't stop myself. The nervous energy made my hands useless unless they were doing something.

I lit another candle. Rearranged the cushions on the couch. Folded the same blanket again. The hearth fire cracked low behind me, throwing amber light across the stone walls.

The cabin wasn't fancy, but it was ours—half lodge, half sanctuary. A place of safety and silence, hidden deep in the heart of the forest. Wards in the walls, symbols etched into the foundation. Protected.

It needed to feel like home.

Because Aria had never had one.

I could feel her energy already, faint and flickering, riding Kael's like a second heartbeat. She was scared. Tired. Guarded. I remembered what it was like, being that alone. Being hunted.

I'd been fifteen when Kael found me, barely clinging to life, my change incomplete and my body trying to burn itself from the inside out. Kael had saved me. Given me a place. A reason to keep breathing.

Now it was her turn.

The front door slammed.

I jumped, heart skipping.

"Easy," came a familiar voice—gruff and low and carrying just enough sarcasm to sting. "She's not even here yet and you're already twitching like a rabbit in a trap."

I turned as Ryker strode in, soaked to the knees and coated in trail mud, a bag of firewood slung over one shoulder. Taller than Kael, rougher around the edges, Ryker looked like the forest had carved him from bark and bone. Every line of his face was carved from suspicion.

"You don't have to stalk around like a wraith," I muttered. "She's not a threat."

Ryker dropped the wood with a thud. "She's a wild card. That's worse."

I narrowed my eyes. "You're already writing her off?"

"I'm not writing her off. I'm being realistic." Ryker peeled off his jacket and tossed it near the fire. "We don't know who she is, or what's in her blood. We especially don't know what Kael's doing bringing her here without warning."

"She's pack," I said, voice quiet.

"She's a myth," Ryker countered. "A girl that shouldn't exist. A stray who's got every sick bastard from the Blackfangs licking their chops to put pups in her. You know what she means to them."

I flinched. "She didn't choose any of that."

"No," Ryker said, sitting hard on the couch, eyes sharp. "But that doesn't mean she won't bring it all down on us."

We fell into silence, fire crackling between us.

I looked toward the front door, my heart aching.

"She's not just a girl," I said finally. "She's the missing thread. The one Kael's been carrying in his soul since the day we found that blood trail by the river and nothing else. He knew she was alive. He felt it."

Ryker said nothing.

I looked back down at the folded blanket in my hands.

"She doesn't even know what she is yet. What we are to her. She's probably terrified."

Ryker stood again, pacing now. "That's what worries me."

I raised a brow. "That she's scared?"

"That she's feral." Ryker met my eyes. "Kael brings her in too fast, too raw... She might tear the whole bond apart before it even forms. That's a lot of power to put in the hands of someone who doesn't know if we're her family... or her enemy."

I didn't answer. Instead, I walked to the windows, staring out into the storm, feeling the pull of Kael's approach like a distant drumbeat in my blood.

"She'll come through the trees," I murmured, almost to myself. "Wet, exhausted, angry. But she'll be here."

I placed the folded blanket on the bench beside the door.

"And we'll be waiting."