The diner on Route 9 sat right on the edge of the neutral zone. It smelled of burnt coffee, old grease, and rain.

Caden, Alpha of the Ironridge Pack, sat in the corner booth. He was a massive man with a jagged scar cutting across his jawline. He smelled of iron and damp earth. He was a pragmatic, battle-hardened leader who had hated my father for a decade.

I slid into the booth across from him. I didn't offer a polite smile. I reached into my bag and slid a folded map across the sticky table.

"Silverfang has held the river border for ten years," I said. My voice was steady. "Support my petition at the Pack Council, and I will redraw the line to the old boundary."

Caden didn't touch the map. He leaned back and studied me. His Alpha aura pressed against the edges of the booth, heavy and testing. I didn't lower my eyes. I pressed my thumb hard into the inside of my wrist and held his gaze.

"You're offering land you don't own yet, little wolf," Caden rumbled.

"I'm offering land my father stole from you," I corrected smoothly. "I have the financial records. I have the elders. I have the votes to strip his title. But pack law requires an outside Alpha to back the petition. I need you to prove this is a regional grievance, not just a family dispute."

Caden picked up his coffee mug. "Richard is a snake. But he's a powerful snake. Why should I risk my pack's neck for his runaway daughter?"

"Because you know I'm right," I said. "And because if you don't back me, Richard will eventually come for the western ridge. You've seen his patrols pushing the boundary. He won't stop until he controls the whole valley."

Caden's eyes narrowed. "What about Black Moon? Alpha Lucas casts a long shadow these days. Word is, he's close to your family. Close to your sister."

At the sound of Lucas's name, a sharp, violent ache flared in my chest. My wolf whimpered, scratching at the walls of my ribs. I forced my face to remain perfectly blank.

"Alpha Lucas has his own territory," I said, my voice dropping into a cooler register. "This is my fight. My pack. I don't need Black Moon's permission, and neither do you."

Caden stared at me for a long, heavy minute. He was looking for a crack in my armor. He was looking for the weak, broken girl who had fled three years ago.

He didn't find her.

Finally, the corner of his mouth twitched upward. He reached across the table and extended a large, calloused hand.

"You've got a spine, Ariya. I'll give you that."

I took his hand. His grip was crushing, but I squeezed back just as hard. The alliance was sealed. I had done it. On my own terms, with my own strategy. I didn't need Lucas to save me. I was going to save myself.

The drive back to Silverfang territory took an hour. I drove with the windows down, letting the cold wind bite my cheeks. The phantom pain of Lucas's eyes—so full of glacial hatred on my porch yesterday—still throbbed in my veins. The memory of his taillights disappearing into the dark made my throat tight. But I pushed it down. I locked it away. I had an army to build.

I pulled into the main pack house parking lot just before noon. I needed to drop off a formal request for the elder council meeting. It was a mundane task, but one I had to do in person.

The sun was bright. A dozen pack members were milling around the courtyard, chatting and carrying supplies.

"Ariya!"

The voice was high, sweet, and perfectly pitched to carry across the open space.

I stopped. Lana was walking toward me. She wore a pristine white dress that looked too expensive for a casual Tuesday, and her hair was styled in soft waves. She smelled of synthetic vanilla and raw ambition.

Several pack members turned to watch us.

Lana reached me and threw her arms around my shoulders. I held my breath, suppressing the urge to shove her away. She squeezed me tight, playing the part of the overjoyed, caring sister.

"It's so good to see you out and about," Lana said loudly, making sure the nearby warriors heard her. "We've all been so worried about you. Healing takes time."

She pulled back just enough to look at my face. Her smile was radiant. But her eyes were pure poison.

She leaned in close, bringing her lips to my ear. Her voice dropped to a vicious, mocking whisper.

"Don't embarrass yourself by hanging around, Ariya," she hissed. "Lucas has already chosen his Luna. He told me everything last night. Father is giving him the eastern ridge zoning rights to secure the proxy votes. Once the council approves the alliance, I'll be wearing his mark."

My heart stuttered. The image of Lucas sinking his teeth into Lana's neck made my wolf snarl violently in my mind. The jealousy burned like acid in the back of my throat.

But then, her actual words registered.

*The eastern ridge zoning rights. The proxy votes.*

My father had sworn to the pack elders that the eastern ridge was protected land. If he was using it as a bribe in an alliance negotiation, it was a direct violation of pack law. That was a closed-door legal strategy. Lana shouldn't have known about it. The only way she knew was if Richard was feeding her confidential pack information to help her lock down Lucas.

She had just handed me the exact missing piece I needed.

I didn't flinch. I didn't frown. I looked at Lana, let a soft, pleasant smile touch my lips, and gently patted her arm.

"Thank you, Lana," I said, my voice perfectly even and just loud enough for the onlookers to catch. "You're always looking out for me. I hope you get exactly what you deserve."

Lana's fake smile faltered for a second. She searched my eyes for tears, for anger, for anything she could use to paint me as the crazy, jealous ex-mate. I gave her absolutely nothing.

I stepped around her and walked into the pack house.

That evening, the cabin was quiet. The only sound was the scratch of my pen.

I sat at the small wooden table, my evidence file open under the dim overhead light. I wrote down Lana's exact words. *Eastern ridge zoning rights. Proxy votes.*

I cross-referenced it with the financial ledgers I had copied from Maren. It fit perfectly. Richard was bleeding the pack dry to buy his own power, and he was using Lana's desperation for status to do it.

Lana thought she was winning a man. She didn't realize her loose lips had just handed me the sword to cut off her father's head.

I closed the folder. The net was tight. The trap was set. Now, I just had to spring it.

The neutral-ground training field was loud. It smelled of kicked-up dirt, stale sweat, and crushed pine needles. I stood near the edge of the bleachers, organizing a crate of water bottles.

My younger cousin, Ryder, jogged over from the sparring mats. He was grinning, his face flushed with exertion. He grabbed a water bottle from the crate and threw a heavy, sweaty arm around my shoulders.

"Good drill," Ryder panted. He was wearing his favorite faded navy-blue hoodie. It was a size too big on him, the cuffs frayed from years of use, but he refused to throw it away. He pulled me close in a quick, sideways hug. "Were you watching my footwork?"

"You're sloppy on your left side," I teased, leaning into his side.

Ryder laughed and ruffled my hair. It was easy with him. He was safe. He didn't play the political games the rest of my father's pack did.

Then, the air changed.

A heavy, suffocating pressure rolled across the open field. My inner wolf snapped to attention, her ears pinning back. I turned my head.

Across the dirt track, the Black Moon warriors were running combat drills. But their Alpha wasn't watching them. Lucas stood perfectly still by the tree line. His dark eyes were locked onto me. No, not just me. He was staring at Ryder's arm wrapped securely around my shoulders. He was staring at the faded navy-blue hoodie.

I didn't understand why his gaze looked so violent. I only knew that my heart was suddenly beating too fast against my ribs. Lucas's jaw was clenched so tight a muscle ticked rapidly in his cheek. He looked away a second later, turning back to his men, but the heavy, oppressive pressure in the air didn't fade.

Ten minutes later, I walked over to the corrugated metal equipment shed to grab more clean towels. It was quiet behind the bleachers. I opened the heavy metal door and stepped into the dim shade.

A large shadow blocked the sunlight.

Before I could turn around, a massive hand slammed the metal door shut. The loud bang echoed sharply in my ears.

A wall of dark cedar and woodsmoke hit me. My knees instantly went weak.

Lucas shoved me backward. My spine hit the cold metal wall hard. He stepped right into my space, trapping me. His Alpha aura exploded outward. It was so heavy, so dominant, that I heard a distant shout of surprise from the training field outside. Every wolf within fifty meters had probably just dropped their gaze to the dirt.

Lucas didn't care. He grabbed my wrists and pinned them against the metal above my head. His chest heaved against mine. He was so close I could feel the angry heat radiating off his skin.

His canines were half-extended. They grazed his bottom lip as he breathed.

"Who is he?" Lucas demanded.

His voice wasn't his usual cold, composed Alpha tone. It was a raw, guttural snarl that scraped against the quiet of the shed.

I stared up at him, my heart hammering violently against my ribs. "Lucas, let me go."

He didn't move an inch. He leaned his face down into the crook of my neck. He inhaled my wild jasmine scent like a starving man finally finding food. A violent shudder ripped through his massive frame.

"Who is the boy in the blue hoodie?" he growled against my skin. His voice actually cracked. "Tell me, Ariya."

This wasn't pack dominance. This was pure, unfiltered desperation. I looked up into his dark eyes. They were wild with a jealousy so deep it looked exactly like agony. He thought I had moved on. He thought I had found someone else.

My wolf whimpered. I wanted to wrap my arms around his neck. I wanted to tell him there was no one else. There would never be anyone else.

I pressed my thumbnail hard into my own palm to stay grounded. I forced my voice to stay flat. "He's my cousin. Ryder is my cousin."

Lucas froze.

The murderous rage in his dark eyes flickered. His chest stopped heaving quite so hard. He looked down at my face, searching my eyes for a lie. He didn't find one.

But he didn't step back.

For five long, charged seconds, he stayed pinned against me. His grip on my wrists loosened, but his hands didn't drop away. His gaze slowly dropped to my lips. The glacial, hateful mask he had worn for the past three days was completely shattered. He just looked like a man who was bleeding out.

My breath hitched. The severed mate bond roared between us, a phantom limb begging to be reattached. The air in the shed was so thick with cedar and jasmine I could barely breathe.

Then, Lucas closed his eyes. He swallowed hard. He pulled his crushing aura back into himself, stepping away from me like he had just been burned. Without a single word, he turned around, pushed the metal door open, and walked away.

I slid down the metal wall until I hit the dirt floor. My hands were shaking so badly I had to press my thumb into my wrist to stop them.

A minute later, heavy footsteps crunched on the gravel outside. Ryder walked around the corner of the shed. He stopped and looked in the direction Lucas had gone. Then he looked down at me sitting in the dirt.

"So," Ryder said. He crossed his arms over his navy hoodie. "What the hell was that?"

I pushed myself up. I brushed the dust off my jeans and kept my eyes firmly on the ground. "Nothing. Just pack politics. Black Moon and Silverfang don't get along."

Ryder scoffed loudly. "Pack politics? Ariya, his aura nearly flattened half the field out there. I couldn't even breathe for a solid minute." He took a step closer. His voice dropped, losing its usual playful tone. "And he was looking at you like he wanted to eat you alive."

"Leave it alone, Ryder," I warned.

Ryder didn't back down. He was one of the few people in my father's territory who knew the real reason I left three years ago. He knew about Alpha Richard's death threat. He knew I broke my own heart to save Lucas's life.

"He hasn't moved on," Ryder said flatly. "Anyone with eyes can see that. And you're the worst liar I've ever met."

"I told you to stay out of it," I snapped. My voice was harsher than I meant it to be. "It's over. It has to be over."

Ryder stared at me. He saw right through my flat, emotionless armor. He sighed and pulled the hood of his faded navy sweatshirt over his head.

"Yeah, okay," Ryder muttered, turning around to walk back to the training field. "I'll think about it."

I watched him go. The scent of dark cedar and smoke still clung heavily to my clothes. The trap was perfectly set for my father, but as my wolf cried out for her mate in the dark, I was suddenly terrified that I was the one who was caught.