SLIVERBOUND
1049 Words
Chapter Two
Nobody moved.
Rain hit the windows in uneven bursts while Ava stood frozen near the kitchen, staring at the door like it might break apart at any second.
The woman still had a tight grip on her wrist.
“The Blackwood bloodline destroyed your family.”
Ava pulled her hand free. “Stop saying things like that.”
Another knock came.
Steady. Patient.
Whoever stood outside wasn’t in a hurry.
That somehow made it worse.
Ava swallowed hard and looked back at the woman. “Tell me what’s going on.”
The woman opened her mouth, then stopped when the doorknob shifted slightly.
Not enough to open.
Just enough to remind them someone was standing right there.
Ava’s pulse jumped.
“Ava.” The man’s voice came again, quieter this time. “We need to talk.”
Something strange happened to her chest when he spoke. Not fear exactly. It felt warmer than that. Familiar in a way that made no sense.
She hated it immediately.
The woman noticed her expression and looked alarmed.
“He’s already affecting the bond.”
“The what?”
Before she could answer, a loud crash echoed somewhere downstairs.
Ava flinched.
Then came shouting.
A deep snarl followed, so animalistic it barely sounded real.
The woman went pale.
“They found you too quickly.”
“Who found me?”
“Rogues.”
Ava stared at her blankly. “You keep saying words like I’m supposed to know what they mean.”
Another crash shook the building.
This one is closer.
Ava heard footsteps running in the hallway outside, followed by a scream that cut off abruptly.
Her stomach dropped.
The woman moved toward the window and carefully pulled the curtain aside.
“Oh no.”
Ava hurried over despite herself.
Several figures moved through the parking lot below in the rain. Some looked human. Some definitely did not.
One massive wolf lunged across the hood of a car while another slammed a man into the pavement hard enough to crack concrete.
Ava stumbled backwards from the window.
“What the hell—”
The apartment door burst open before she could finish.
A man stepped inside first.
Tall. Broad shoulders. The dark coat is soaked from the storm outside.
Everything about him felt controlled right down to the way he held himself, but there was something dangerous under it too. Something sharp enough to cut through the room.
His eyes landed on Ava.
And stayed there.
The noise outside faded for a second.
Ava became painfully aware of her own heartbeat.
The man looked exhausted. Not physically—something deeper than that. Like he hadn’t slept properly in a long time.
Then his gaze dropped briefly to the silver necklace around her throat.
His expression changed.
Not much.
Just enough for her to notice.
“You kept it,” he said quietly.
Ava frowned. “Do I know you?”
Something flickered across his face before disappearing again.
“No,” he said. “But I knew your mother.”
The room went completely still.
Behind him, two other men entered the apartment. One had a scar across his jaw and a kind of expression that suggested he trusted no one. The other looked younger, tense, already scanning the room for threats.
Neither of them spoke.
They were all watching the first man.
Watching him as he mattered more than anyone else there.
The woman beside Ava lowered her eyes slightly.
Respect. Fear. Maybe both.
“Alpha Kael,” she said carefully.
So this was him.
The Alpha.
Ava looked back at him and immediately wished she hadn’t.
Something was unsettling about the way he looked at her. Not like a stranger. Like someone trying to confirm something impossible.
“You need to come with us,” he said.
Ava let out a short laugh. “Absolutely not.”
The scarred man muttered something under his breath.
Kael ignored him.
“It isn’t safe here anymore.”
“You think?”
Another howl echoed outside.
Closer now.
Ava jumped before she could stop herself.
Kael noticed.
His eyes narrowed slightly, not in judgment—more like concern, which somehow annoyed her more.
“You can hear them clearly already,” he said.
“What does that mean?”
Nobody answered right away.
The silence made her skin crawl.
Finally, Kael spoke again.
“How much has she told you?”
“Not enough,” Ava snapped before the woman could respond. “Apparently I’m not human, wolves are real, and now people are trying to kill me. So maybe start from the beginning.”
Kael studied her for a long moment.
“You’re part of Shadow Pack.”
The words meant nothing and everything at once.
Something twisted painfully in her chest when he said them.
“I don’t remember any pack.”
“You were a child when it happened.”
Ava looked between him and the older woman. “When what happened?”
Kael’s jaw tightened slightly.
“Shadow Pack was destroyed almost twenty years ago.”
The room suddenly felt too small.
“And my family?”
He held her gaze.
“They died that night.”
Ava stared at him, waiting for him to say something else.
Something that made it less awful.
He didn’t.
A sharp pain hit behind her ribs before she could stop it. Not physical exactly. More like grief showing up years late.
The older woman moved closer. “Ava—”
“You knew?” Ava asked quietly.
The woman looked down.
That was answer enough.
Something inside Ava cracked a little.
“All this time?” she whispered.
“I was trying to protect you.”
“By lying to me?”
Before the woman could answer, Kael suddenly turned toward the open doorway.
Every muscle in his body went still.
The scarred man beside him inhaled sharply.
“What is it?” Ava asked.
Nobody answered.
Then she heard it.
Footsteps.
Slow.
Dragging slightly against the hallway floor outside.
A low growl followed.
Not human.
Not completely wolf either.
Kael stepped in front of her automatically.
The movement was so quick and instinctive that Ava blinked.
The scarred man cursed under his breath.
“They’re inside the building.”
- Writer
