Dax POV
Kai’s words— “I’m okay with it. Claim her, mate her, swear her into the pack”—ring in my ears like a lifeline thrown into the storm raging inside me. Rune is a whirlwind, clawing at my insides with razor-sharp urgency, his howls a constant echo: Mate! Claim her! Protect her! The bond pulls at me like an iron tether, Kael’s wild honeysuckle scent still clinging to my memory from our last interrogation—intoxicating, maddening, impossible to shake. But she’s a rogue. A rogue who led the attack on our borders, who sank silver-tipped claws into pack land and drew blood. She could be tied to this “lost heir” chaos, to the traitor hiding among us. How can I trust her? How can I not?
I rake a hand through my hair, boots pacing the office hardwood floor, the creak of the boards matching t
