Chapter Ten
1508 Words
The moment Layla stepped into the library, Kane felt it.
A sharp, unnatural pull in his chest.
Like something invisible had just snapped tight between them.
He went still.
Across the war room, his pack continued arguing—voices overlapping, tension thick—but their words faded into nothing.
All he could hear was the echo of his own pulse.
Too fast.
Too loud.
Too wrong.
“She’s in danger.”
The words left his mouth before he fully registered them.
Silence fell instantly.
Every head turned toward him.
His Beta—Dmitri—leaned forward slightly, eyes narrowing. “You can’t possibly know that.”
Kane didn’t look at him.
His gaze remained fixed on nothing, on everything—on the invisible thread that tied him to her.
“I do.”
And that was the problem.
He shouldn’t.
Not like this.
Not this soon.
The bond wasn’t supposed to form yet.
Not until—
His jaw tightened.
No.
He wasn’t thinking about that.
Not now.
“She’s just a human,” another council member scoffed. “Fragile. Replaceable. Why are we wasting time—”
Kane moved before the sentence finished.
The wooden table split down the center with a deafening crack as his fist slammed into it.
The room shook.
No one spoke.
No one breathed.
Slowly, Kane lifted his head.
His eyes burned gold.
“She is under my protection,” he said, his voice low and lethal. “You will choose your next words carefully.”
A long pause followed.
Then—
Elder Mikhail exhaled, steepling his fingers. “You’re losing control.”
Kane didn’t deny it.
Because he could feel it.
The wolf beneath his skin was restless.
Agitated.
Hungry.
And all of it—every violent, unstable instinct—was centered on one person.
Layla.
“This isn’t about protection,” Mikhail continued. “It’s about the mark.”
Kane finally looked at him.
“And what you think it means.”
A flicker of something dangerous passed through Kane’s expression.
“You don’t know what it means.”
Mikhail’s lips curved faintly. “Don’t I?”
The temperature in the room seemed to drop.
“The last time that symbol appeared,” the elder went on, “it ended in blood. Entire bloodlines erased. Packs wiped from existence.”
Murmurs rippled through the room.
Kane said nothing.
But his silence was not agreement.
It was restraint.
Barely contained.
Mikhail leaned forward. “If the girl truly carries the sigil… then she is not a gift, Alpha.”
A pause.
“She is a warning.”
Kane’s fingers curled into fists.
“She’s not a threat.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I do.”
“And yet,” Mikhail said evenly, “you’ve already broken three laws for her.”
That landed.
Hard.
Kane didn’t respond.
Because it was true.
He had broken protocol the moment he allowed her to leave the club.
Broken it again by ordering surveillance.
And completely shattered it the second he stepped into human territory to save her.
All for someone he barely knew.
Someone he shouldn’t even be near.
“Your judgment is compromised,” another council member added. “The bond is influencing you.”
“There is no bond,” Kane snapped.
But even as he said it—
He felt it.
Stronger now.
Pulling.
Demanding.
Calling him toward her.
A faint flicker of pain echoed through his chest.
His head snapped slightly to the side.
Something had changed.
“She’s not safe,” he said again, more sharply this time.
Dmitri stood. “Then send a patrol.”
“No.”
The word came out like a growl.
“I’m going.”
“That’s exactly what you shouldn’t do,” Mikhail said. “If the prophecy is real, your proximity to her could accelerate it.”
Kane turned slowly.
“And if I don’t go,” he said quietly, “she dies.”
That silenced them.
Because they all heard it.
The truth.
Not speculation.
Not instinct.
Certainty.
Mikhail studied him carefully. “You’re willing to risk the entire Alpha line… for one human girl.”
Kane didn’t hesitate.
“Yes.”
The room erupted.
Arguments. Warnings. Anger.
None of it mattered.
Because Kane was already moving.
“Alpha—” Dmitri started.
“Hold the territory,” Kane ordered without looking back. “Increase border patrols. If anything crosses into our land—kill it.”
“And the girl?”
Kane paused at the doorway.
For a fraction of a second.
His voice dropped.
“She’s mine to deal with.”
Then he was gone.
—
The night air hit like ice as Kane stepped outside.
He didn’t waste time.
Didn’t hesitate.
The shift came fast.
Violent.
Bones cracking. Muscles tearing and rebuilding.
Power surging beneath his skin.
Within seconds, the man was gone.
And the wolf remained.
Massive.
Terrifying.
Unstoppable.
He ran.
Through forest.
Over rock.
Across distance that would take humans hours.
But even as he moved, something was wrong.
The bond—
It pulsed erratically.
Flickering.
Like a signal breaking.
His pace quickened.
Then—
Pain.
Sharp.
Sudden.
It tore through his chest like a blade.
Kane staggered mid-stride, claws digging into the earth as a low growl ripped from his throat.
Not his pain.
Hers.
His eyes burned brighter.
Something had found her.
—
Back at the compound, Dmitri stood alone in the fractured war room.
The others had dispersed, unease lingering in the air.
He stared at the broken table.
At the deep cracks carved into solid wood.
Then slowly…
He smiled.
“Finally,” he murmured.
A shadow shifted behind him.
“You’re certain?” a voice asked from the darkness.
Dmitri didn’t turn.
“I’ve never seen him like this,” he said. “He’s already lost.”
“And the girl?”
Dmitri’s expression darkened slightly.
“She’s exactly what we feared.”
A pause.
“Or better.”
The shadow stepped closer—but still remained obscured.
“Then it’s time.”
Dmitri nodded.
“Yes.”
His gaze lifted toward the night beyond the walls.
“Let the prophecy begin.”
—
Kane reached the edge of the city just as the bond flared again.
Stronger this time.
Chaotic.
Unstable.
His wolf slowed.
Head lifting.
Listening.
Feeling.
There—
A pulse.
Faint.
But unmistakable.
And layered beneath it—
Something else.
Something ancient.
Something that didn’t belong in this world.
A low, dangerous growl rumbled from his chest.
Too late.
He was too late.
—
The library doors were already open when he arrived.
Hanging slightly off their hinges.
The scent hit him immediately.
Blood.
Fear.
And something darker.
Something wrong.
Kane stepped inside slowly.
Silently.
The emergency lights flickered overhead, casting long, broken shadows across the room.
Books were scattered everywhere.
Shelves overturned.
The air still vibrated with leftover energy.
His wolf bristled.
This wasn’t a normal attack.
This was targeted.
Intentional.
He moved deeper into the room.
Then stopped.
The book.
It lay open on the floor.
Pages torn.
But one remained intact.
The symbol.
Kane’s eyes locked onto it.
And for the first time in years—
Something close to fear crept in.
“No…” he breathed.
He knew that mark.
He knew that prophecy.
He had spent years making sure it stayed buried.
Forgotten.
Gone.
But now—
It had found her.
Or she had found it.
Either way—
There was no stopping it anymore.
A faint sound broke the silence.
Kane’s head snapped up.
A whisper.
Weak.
Barely there.
“…Kane…”
His entire body went rigid.
“Layla.”
He followed the sound instantly—moving through the wreckage, every instinct locked onto her.
And then—
He found her.
Crumpled near the far wall.
Unmoving.
The mark on her wrist glowing brighter than ever before.
Too bright.
Too unstable.
Kane dropped to his knees beside her.
“Layla—”
His hand hovered just above her skin.
He couldn’t touch her.
Not like this.
Not when the mark was active.
Not when the bond was—
His jaw clenched.
No choice.
He pressed his hand against her shoulder.
The moment he did—
Power exploded.
A violent surge shot through both of them, knocking Kane backward as a shockwave tore through the room.
Glass shattered.
Walls cracked.
The lights burst completely.
Darkness swallowed everything.
And in that darkness—
Layla’s eyes snapped open.
Not brown.
Not human.
They burned with something ancient.
Something terrifying.
Something that made even an Alpha freeze.
Her voice wasn’t hers when she spoke.
It echoed.
Layered.
Wrong.
“The Alpha has come.”
Kane didn’t move.
Didn’t breathe.
Because in that moment—
He realized the truth he had been avoiding.
The prophecy wasn’t about destroying the Alpha line.
It was about choosing which Alpha would survive it.
And as Layla slowly sat up, power radiating from her in waves—
Kane understood something else.
He might not be the one she chooses.
- Writer
