Anna's POV

My chest moved up and down as I struggled to breathe. My knuckles hurt from hitting Derrick's face, but it was a good kind of pain. His blood was on my hand. He was curled up on the floor like a ball, making weak, pathetic sounds.

I looked away from him. I saw Ronald Reed holding my phone. He was staring at me like he couldn't believe his eyes. His golden eyes were wide. I didn't care that he was a famous Alpha King. I didn't care that he was strong enough to kill me with his bare hands.

I walked up to him and grabbed my phone.

"This belongs to me," I said sharply.

Ronald didn't try to stop me. He didn't growl. When our fingers touched, I felt a spark of electricity shoot up my arm. It made my skin tingle. That strange "mate bond" was trying to pull at my heart. It wanted me to stay. It wanted me to jump into his arms.

I looked at Derrick one last time. I spat on the floor right next to him.

"You were right about one thing, Derrick," I said with hate in my voice. "You are just a placeholder. You are nothing compared to a real man."

I didn't wait for the Twin Alphas to speak. I could feel Ryker watching me with hungry eyes, but I didn't look back. I marched out of the office. The guards in the hall moved out of my way quickly. They looked like they were afraid of me.

I ran down the big stairs. I burst through the front doors of the palace and ran to my motorcycle. I hopped on and started the engine. It made a loud, angry roar. I didn't look back at the palace. I didn't want to see them watching me go.

I sped away from the Silverfang gates. I drove fast through the city traffic. The cold wind hit my face and dried my tears before they could fall. Every time I stopped at a red light, I felt a pull in my chest. It felt like an invisible string trying to pull my bike back to the palace.

"No," I whispered. "Never again."

I finally reached my small apartment. I parked my bike, ran inside, and locked the door. I used all three locks and the chain.

I ripped off my leather jacket and threw it on the floor. I walked back and forth in my small room. My heart was still beating very fast. The room felt too small.

"This can't be happening!" I yelled at the ceiling.

I looked out the window at the moon.

"Is this a joke?" I screamed at the Moon Goddess. "I loved a man for years, and he treated me like trash! Now you give me two more? Just because of a bond? I won't do it! I am not a prize for two Kings!"

I was shaking with anger and fear. People always told me I was a "weak omega" because I didn't have a wolf. Derrick had used me like a toy. Why would the Twin Alphas be different? They probably just wanted me so they could have children or look good at meetings.

"My name is Anna Russell," I said loudly. "I am a biker. I am an orphan. I am independent."

I walked to the table and picked up my silver gun. I took it apart carefully. I cleaned it and put the bullets back in. It was the only thing that made me feel safe. If those Alphas tried to take me like property, I would fight them.

I went to the bathroom and washed the blood off my hands. I looked in the mirror. My lipstick was messy, but my eyes looked strong. I didn't look like a girl who needed a mate. I looked like a girl ready for a fight.

"No more pack," I whispered. "No more mates. No more lies."

I stayed alone for hours. I turned off my phone. I sat on my bed with my back against the wall. I held the gun in my lap. I tried to ignore the empty feeling in my heart where the bond was calling for the Twins. I listened to the sounds of the city and the rain hitting my window.

I was going to live my own life. I would work at a garage. I would ride my bike. I would be my own boss.

I must have fallen asleep for a moment, but a loud noise woke me up.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

It wasn't a normal knock. It was the sound of heavy footsteps in the hallway. They were slow and strong. The floor seemed to shake under the weight.

Then, I smelled them.

The scent came through the cracks of the door. It smelled like a storm. It smelled like wood and cold rain. It was the smell of power. It was the smell of the Twins.

My heart hit my ribs very hard. My skin started to tingle. The pull in my chest got so tight I could hardly breathe.

They were here.

I grabbed my gun tightly. I didn't move. I didn't make a sound. I watched the shadows of two big men under my door.

"Anna," a voice called out. It was Ronald. His voice was soft, but he sounded like a leader. "Open the door. We need to talk."

I didn't answer. I just pointed my gun at the door and waited.

Ronald's POV

The office was quiet after Anna left. The only sound was Derrick crying on the floor. I stood there staring at the empty door. My hand still felt warm from holding her phone. My skin felt like it was buzzing. Every part of me wanted to run after her and hold her until she knew she belonged to us.

When she first ran in and shot my brother, I thought she was a spy. I thought an enemy pack sent her to kill us. I was ready to kill her. But then she moved. She breathed. She looked at us with eyes full of fire.

The Moon Goddess does not make mistakes. She gave the two most powerful Alphas a mate who has no wolf, rides a bike, and carries a gun.

"Get him out of here," I said. My voice was as cold as ice.

The guards grabbed Derrick. He looked like a broken toy. As they dragged him away, I thought about the video I saw on her phone. I saw how the pack treated her. I saw them throw her into the mud like she was trash.

I felt a heavy weight of guilt in my stomach. While Ryker and I were away for eight years, our pack had become mean. They had bullied our mate. They had insulted the most important person in the Silverfang Pack because she was a "weak" omega.

"They laughed at her, Ryker," I whispered. My claws started to grow. "They threw her out into the rain."

Ryker was leaning against the desk. His eyes were glowing gold. He touched the cut on his shoulder and smiled. It was a scary look. "I know. And we will make them pay for every tear she cried. But first, let's go get her."

We didn't need a map. An Alpha King always knows the smell of his mate. We walked out of the palace. We ignored the guards bowing to us. When we got outside, we changed into our wolves.

My wolf was a huge golden beast. Ryker's wolf was a giant black monster. We ran through the Silverfang land. Our paws hit the ground like thunder. We didn't care if the pack leaders were watching. We didn't care that she didn't have a wolf. All we cared about was her smell. It smelled like rain and wood.

She was close. She was hiding in a small, cheap apartment. It was a place for poor people. It made me very angry. Our mate was living in a dump while Derrick lived in a palace.

We reached the building and changed back into men. Ryker fixed his jacket. He looked very serious.

"She is scared," Ryker said, sniffing the air. "Scared and angry."

"She has a reason to be," I said.

We walked into the building. The stairs made noise under our weight. My heart was beating very fast. I was an Alpha King. I had killed many enemies. But standing in front of this girl made my hands shake.

We reached her door. I could hear her breathing on the other side. She was waiting for us. I could smell the gun oil and her leather jacket.

"Anna," I called out. I tried to keep my voice calm. "Open the door. We need to talk."

There was no answer. It was very quiet.

I looked at Ryker. He was ready to kick the door down. I held up my hand to stop him. I didn't want to scare her. I wanted her to trust us.

"Anna, we know what they did to you," I said louder. "We saw the video. We are not here to hurt you. We are here to take you home."

"I am home!" she yelled from inside. "Go away! I don't want a mate! I don't want a pack! Just leave me alone!"

Her voice was full of pain. It hurt my heart. She had been treated so badly that she didn't believe in the mate bond anymore. She thought we were liars.

"We are not leaving," Ryker growled. "You shot me, little wolf. You have to talk to me."

I took a deep breath and knocked again.

Suddenly, the locks clicked. One. Two. Three.

The door opened. She was standing in the middle of her room. She looked amazing. She wore her black leather jacket and tight pants. Her hair was pulled back tight. Her red lips were pressed together.

But she had a gun. She held it with both hands and aimed it at my chest. Her eyes were strong and brave.

"One more step and I will shoot both of you," she said. Her voice was steady. She wasn't shaking at all.

I looked at Ryker. He was looking at her with hungry eyes. He didn't care about the gun. He loved that she was a fighter. He loved that she didn't care about our titles.

I looked back at Anna. I could see a golden string of light connecting the three of us. It was the mate bond. It was glowing in the dark room. She felt it too. I could see her eyes get wide.

"You can shoot me if you want, Anna," I said softly. I took a small step toward her. "But you belong with us. And we are going to destroy anyone who hurts you."

Anna's finger was on the trigger. She looked into my eyes. She was trying to see if I was lying.

I looked at my brother. I knew what he was thinking. The hunt was just starting. We had found our Queen. We would not stop until she was sitting on the throne with us.

"The Silverfang Pack belongs to us," Ryker said in a low, scary voice. "And you belong to the Kings."

Anna's POV

"Get out," I said. My voice was shaking now.

The Twins didn't move. They just stood there in my tiny apartment, looking at me like I was the most precious thing in the world. It made me want to scream.

"Anna," Ronald said softly. He took another small step forward. "Put the gun down. Please."

"No!" I shouted. I stepped back until my spine hit the wall. "You don't get to come here and act as if you care! You don't know me! You don't know what I've been through!"

Ryker's golden eyes were burning into me. He looked like a predator watching his prey. But there was something else in his face, too. It looked like... pain?

"We know what Derrick did," Ryker said. His voice was rough. "We saw the video. We saw how they treated you at that ceremony."

"And where were you?" I screamed. Tears were burning my eyes, but I refused to let them fall. "Where were you when they threw me out in the rain? Where were you when I had no one?"

Ronald's face twisted with guilt. "We were in the Highlands. We didn't know."

"I don't care!" I was shaking so hard now that the gun wobbled in my grip. "I don't care about your excuses. I don't care about this stupid mate bond. I just want you to leave me alone!"

Ryker moved so fast I didn't see it coming. One second, he was across the room. The next second, his hand was wrapped around the barrel of the gun, pushing it down gently but firmly.

"We're not leaving," he said. His face was inches from mine. I could smell him. He smelled like the forest after a storm. "You can fight us. You can hate us. You can shoot us if you want. But we are not leaving you alone ever again."

I tried to pull the gun away, but his grip was like iron. Ronald moved closer, boxing me in between them. I should have felt trapped. I should have felt scared.

But all I felt was that stupid golden thread pulling at my heart.

"Let go," I whispered.

Ryker let go of the gun. Both Twins stepped back, hands raised like they were surrendering.

"We'll go," Ronald said quietly. "But we're not going far. We're going to camp outside your building tonight. If you need us, if anything happens, we'll be right there."

"I won't need you," I said. But my voice didn't sound convincing even to my own ears.

Ryker smiled. It was a dark, knowing smile. "We'll see, little wolf."

They turned and walked out. I slammed the door behind them and locked all three locks. Then I put the chain on for good measure. I pressed my back against the door and slid down to the floor.

My whole body was shaking. I could still smell them in my apartment. That forest smell. That storm smell. It made my chest ache.

"No," I whispered to myself. "I don't need anyone. I don't need them."

I stood up and went to the window. I pulled back the curtain just a little bit and looked down at the street.

They were there. Both of them. Sitting on two massive black motorcycles parked right in front of my building. They weren't looking up at my window. They were just sitting there like guards. Like sentinels.

Ronald was on his phone, probably calling someone. Ryker was cleaning his fingernails with a knife like he had all the time in the world.

Something stirred deep inside my chest. It wasn't my heartbeat. It was something else. Something that had been sleeping for a very long time.

My wolf.

I gasped and put my hand over my heart. For years, I thought I was broken. I thought I didn't have a wolf because I was weak. But now I could feel her. She was faint, like a whisper in the back of my mind, but she was there.

And she was whispering one word over and over.

Home.

"No," I said out loud. "They are not home. Home is here. Alone and safe."

But my wolf didn't agree. She was reaching out toward those two men sitting on their motorcycles. She wanted to go to them.

I yanked the curtain closed and backed away from the window.

I needed to clear my head. I needed to think. I walked to the bathroom and splashed cold water on my face. When I looked up at the mirror, I barely recognized myself.

My eyes looked wild. My hair was messy, and my hands were still shaking.

"Get it together, Anna," I told my reflection. "You are strong. You survived Derrick. You survived the pack turning on you. You can survive this."

I walked back into my tiny living room and sat on my old couch. I put the gun on the coffee table in front of me. Then I just sat there in the dark, listening to the sounds of the city outside.

Hours passed. I didn't move. I could still feel the Twins outside. It was like I had a radar in my chest that told me exactly where they were.

It was almost midnight when I heard them talking. Their voices drifted up through my open window.

"She's still awake," Ryker said. "I can hear her heartbeat."

"Give her time," Ronald replied. "She's been hurt. She needs to learn to trust again."

"I want to break down that door and carry her out of this dump," Ryker growled.

"I know. But we can't force her. She has to come to us on her own."

I closed my eyes. Part of me wanted to open the window and yell at them to go away. But another part of me, the part where my wolf was whispering, felt safe knowing they were there.

I must have dozed off on the couch because a loud crash woke me up.

Glass exploded everywhere.

I screamed and rolled off the couch, grabbing my gun. My heart was pounding so hard I thought it would burst out of my chest.

A brick was lying in the middle of my floor, surrounded by broken glass from my window.

There was a piece of paper tied to the brick with a string.

My hands were shaking as I picked it up and unfolded it.

The words were written in red marker. They looked like they were written in blood.

TRAITOR WHORE.

I heard thundering footsteps on the stairs. The Twins had heard the crash. They were coming.

"Anna!" Ronald's voice boomed through the door. "Open up! Now!"

I was frozen, staring at the note. My vision was going blurry. Someone had just thrown a brick through my window. Someone knew where I lived.

Someone wanted me dead.

The door shuddered as someone pounded on it.

"Anna, open this door, or I'm breaking it down!" Ryker roared.

My legs finally moved. I stumbled to the door and fumbled with the locks. My fingers wouldn't work right. The chain kept slipping.

Finally, I got it open.

The Twins burst in like a storm. Ryker's eyes were glowing gold. Ronald's claws were out. They looked around the apartment, taking in the broken window and the brick on my floor.

Ryker picked up the note. His face went deadly calm. It was scarier than if he had been angry.

"Who did this?" he said quietly.

I shook my head. I couldn't speak. I was shaking too hard.

Ronald was suddenly in front of me. His warm hands cupped my face gently.

"Are you hurt?" he asked. His eyes searched my face and body for injuries. "Did the glass cut you?"

I shook my head again.

Ryker was at the window, looking down at the street. "Whoever did this is gone. But they were here. They were watching."

Ronald pulled me against his chest. I should have pushed him away. I should have told him I didn't need comfort.

But I was so tired of being alone.

I grabbed onto his shirt and finally let the tears fall.