BOUND BY BLOOD, BURNED BY FATE

The forest hadn’t changed. Same towering pines. Same cold wind whispering through the leaves. Same bloodstains buried beneath the soil from old battles fought and won. But he had. Kade stepped over the pack’s border, muscles tense, senses alert, heart pounding harder than any battle drum. Three years of warrior training had carved him into steel—faster, colder, unbreakable. Until her scent hit him. Wildflowers and rain. A scent he’d once memorized on bare skin, in stolen nights beneath a blood moon. A scent that haunted his nightmares and his waking moments alike. Aria. He followed it like a starving man, instincts overriding reason, until the trees parted and revealed a small cottage on the edge of the pack grounds. There she was. Bent over in the garden, her hair longer now, falling in soft curls past her waist. Slender arms trembling as she picked up a small child clinging to her legs, a boy no older than two. The child laughed—soft and pure—until a door slammed open behind them. Then everything changed. Lucan. Kade’s brother. Alpha of the pack. Cold-hearted, power-drunk, and mated to her. “Did I tell you to let the brat wander, Aria?” Lucan’s voice cracked across the yard like a whip. She flinched. Kade saw it—felt it—and his beast stirred. She didn't look up. She only murmured, "He’s just a child." Lucan’s hand twitched. Kade stepped forward without thinking, his growl low and lethal. Aria finally looked up—and froze. Their eyes locked. Her lips parted in a silent gasp. The child turned his head toward Kade... and those eyes—gods, those eyes—were unmistakable. Blue-gray. Just like his. The world tilted. Blood roared in Kade’s ears. His brother’s mate. His former lover. His child? His fists clenched as Lucan’s arm rose. And then came the choice that would change everything: walk away... or claim what was never meant to be his. Kade didn’t remember crossing the yard. One moment, Lucan’s hand was raised. The next, it was caught mid-air, fingers locked in Kade’s iron grip. The Alpha snarled. “Unhand me, brother.” Kade’s voice was a quiet storm. “Touch her again, and I will break you.” Aria's gasp cut through the silence, her trembling body pressing the child tighter to her chest. Lucan’s eyes flicked between them, something dark and suspicious blooming behind his smirk. “You’re back five minutes, and already forgetting who leads this pack?” Lucan hissed, wrenching his arm free. “You’ve lost your place, Kade. Don’t think your rank gives you the right to interfere in my mating bond.” Kade said nothing. His gaze never left Aria. She stood frozen, pale and beautiful, eyes wide with fear—and something else. Something that felt like a whisper from the past. “Aria…” he breathed. Her lips quivered. “You shouldn’t be here.” “I had to come back.” “Not here,” she whispered. Her eyes darted to Lucan, then to the little boy nestled in her arms. “Not now.” The boy looked up at him again. Curiosity gleamed in those blue-gray eyes. Kade’s chest tightened painfully. His heart whispered the impossible. Yours. Lucan noticed it too. He turned slowly, predator-like, toward Aria. “Inside. Now.” Aria didn’t argue. She cast Kade one final glance—pleading, terrified—and obeyed, clutching the child and disappearing through the door. Kade’s hands curled into fists. “What the hell did you do to her?” he demanded, voice low. Lucan chuckled. “She’s mine, Kade. You had your chance, and you left. She’s marked now. Claimed by the Alpha.” “She doesn’t love you.” “Love?” Lucan sneered. “Who needs love when you have loyalty—and a child to bind her?” Kade’s pulse roared in his ears. “Is he mine?” Lucan’s smirk faltered for just a second. “He’s mine. You’d do well to forget she ever existed.” But Kade couldn’t forget. Not the nights they shared, not the secret touches, not the way Aria had cried when he left. Not that child’s eyes. He turned and walked away—body tense, thoughts spiraling, rage simmering beneath his skin. But it wasn’t retreat. It was calculation. Because now he knew: Aria was suffering. His brother was lying. And somewhere inside that house was the one thing that could unravel everything—the truth. And Kade would uncover it. Even if it meant destroying the man who shared his blood.