Chapter 3 The Alpha's Uncle

Riven Draven smiled like he had already won.

That was the first thing I noticed.

Not the silver of his hair. Not the familiar cruelty in his eyes. Not the fact that he carried Kaiden’s scent beneath the colder, older rot of something I could not name.

His smile.

It was calm. Patient. Almost fond.

As if finding me alone in a clearing after my dead mother had been dragged into the mist was not horrifying at all.

As if this was exactly where he had expected me to be.

I tightened my fingers around my mother’s pendant until the sharp edges bit into my palm.

“You asked Hollowmere to send me home?” I repeated.

The word scraped against my throat.

Home.

Nightveil was not my home.

Hollowmere had never felt like one either.

Riven stepped closer, his black coat moving around him like smoke. “You were promised to this pack long before you were born.”

My heart slammed once, hard.

“No.”

His smile deepened. “Your mother never told you?”

“My mother was taken from me when I was seven.”

“Yes.” His eyes glinted. “That was inconvenient.”

Cold crept through my veins.

Inconvenient.

He said it like he was talking about bad weather. Like my entire childhood had been nothing more than a slight complication in whatever twisted plan he had made.

A growl rose from my chest.

It startled me.

Riven’s gaze dropped to my throat, and something like hunger flashed across his face.

“There she is,” he murmured. “Still caged. Still poisoned. But not gone.”

My wolf pushed beneath my skin, a shadow stretching against old chains.

I backed up a step.

Riven followed.

“Stay away from me.”

“After waiting thirteen years?” he asked softly. “No, little Thorne. I do not think so.”

The trees around us whispered.

Or maybe that was only the mist.

Behind me, the distant sounds of fighting still tore through the forest. Snarls. Crashing branches. The roar of wolves clashing with whatever corrupted creature had attacked Kaiden.

Kaiden.

The bond pulsed at the thought of him.

Warm.

Sharp.

Terrifying.

Riven’s eyes flickered to my chest, as though he could see the bond glowing beneath my ribs.

His smile vanished.

“So it is true,” he said. “He touched you.”

I lifted my chin. “That seems to bother you.”

His expression hardened.

“You have no idea what he has ruined.”

A bitter laugh escaped me. “Funny. Everyone keeps saying that about me.”

Riven lunged.

I barely moved in time.

His hand sliced through the air where my throat had been. I stumbled sideways, slipping on damp leaves, my breath catching as the world lurched beneath me. He was fast. Faster than any wolf I had ever seen in human skin.

But I had spent my whole life dodging fists, claws, insults, punishment.

Fear had taught me balance.

Pain had taught me speed.

Riven came at me again.

I ducked beneath his arm and ran.

The pendant burned in my fist. Branches whipped my face as I plunged deeper into the forest, away from the cliff, away from the battle, away from the silver-haired monster who shared my mate’s blood.

My mate.

The thought nearly made me trip.

No.

Kaiden Draven was not mine.

I had known him for minutes. He was Nightveil. He was an enemy Alpha. He was the monster Hollowmere had used to terrify children into staying close to home.

But my body did not care about pack borders or old hatred.

The bond knew him.

My wolf knew him.

And when Riven’s footsteps came after me, swift and silent through the mist, it was Kaiden’s name that tore through my mind.

Help me.

I did not say it aloud.

I did not need to.

The bond between us snapped tight.

Somewhere in the forest, a furious roar shook the trees.

Kaiden had felt me.

Riven cursed.

I looked over my shoulder.

Mist curled around him like living hands as he followed, his face no longer patient or amused. He looked angry now. Truly angry.

Good.

I wanted him angry.

Angry men made mistakes.

I forced myself faster, though my lungs burned and my feet screamed against stone and roots. My torn white dress caught on a branch. I yanked hard, ripping the skirt nearly to my thigh.

Riven laughed behind me.

“Still running in ceremonial silk,” he called. “Magnus always did have a cruel sense of theatre.”

I spun around so quickly he almost crashed into me.

“You know Magnus.”

His brows lifted. “Of course.”

“You made a deal with him.”

“I made many deals with many desperate men.”

“What did he get for poisoning me?”

Riven stopped.

Only a few feet separated us now.

His silver eyes moved over my face slowly, and I hated the way he studied me, like I was a weapon he wanted to test.

“Survival,” he said.

My throat tightened. “From who?”

“From Kaiden.”

The answer struck strangely.

Kaiden had been a child thirteen years ago. Younger than Riven. Younger than Magnus. How could Magnus have needed survival from him?

Riven saw my confusion and smiled again.

“You truly know nothing.”

“I know enough to see you’re lying.”

“Am I?” He tilted his head. “Then ask yourself this, little Thorne. Why would Magnus risk war by sending you over the border unless he feared something worse?”

My pulse pounded.

“Because you asked for me.”

“Yes.” He took another step closer. “And because he knew Kaiden would feel the bond the moment he touched you.”

The forest seemed to tilt.

I backed away.

Riven continued, voice silk-soft and poisonous.

“Magnus did not send you here to die. He sent you here to test whether the bond still existed.”

I shook my head. “No.”

“Yes.”

“No.”

“Did Kaiden claim you?” Riven asked. “Did his wolf recognise you? Did your skin burn when he touched you?”

I hated him for knowing.

I hated myself more for the heat that spread across my chest at the memory of Kaiden’s hand around my wrist, his arm locking around my waist, his voice rough against my ear.

Tell me your name.

Riven’s face tightened as if he could smell the memory on me.

“That bond should have belonged elsewhere.”

My grip tightened around the pendant. “To you?”

He laughed.

This time the sound was genuinely amused.

“To me? No. I am not sentimental enough for Moon-gifted chains.” His eyes darkened. “But I know how to use them.”

I felt it then.

The faint pull.

Not from Kaiden.

From the pendant.

It tugged at something under my skin, a thread buried so deep I had never known it was there. My wolf stirred again, restless, confused, furious.

Riven’s gaze dropped to my hand.

His amusement vanished.

“Give me that.”

I looked down at the pendant.

The small silver moon lay against my palm, warm with impossible life. At first glance it looked simple. Tarnished. Old. But now, beneath the red moonlight, tiny markings appeared along the edge.

Runes.

The same kind carved into the boundary stones.

The same kind I had seen flashing in the memory.

Bind the child’s wolf.

“No,” I said.

Riven’s expression hardened.

“Do not be foolish.”

“That seems to be the main thing keeping me alive tonight.”

His lips curled.

Then the trees behind him exploded.

Kaiden burst through the mist in wolf form.

He was terrifying.

Massive black fur streaked with blood. Silver eyes burning with lethal rage. His jaws were parted, teeth bared, body low and ready to tear his own uncle apart.

The sight should have frightened me.

Instead, something inside me settled.

Safe.

The word whispered through me before I could stop it.

Riven glanced over his shoulder and sighed. “Nephew.”

Kaiden shifted mid-stride.

Bones cracked. Fur pulled into skin. One moment the black wolf stood between us. The next, Kaiden rose in human form, naked, blood-smeared, and more dangerous than any creature I had seen in my life.

I should have looked away.

I did not.

The Blood Moon painted his bare shoulders in red and silver. His chest rose and fell with controlled fury. Scratches marked his skin, healing even as I watched. He looked carved from violence and moonlight, every inch of him power restrained by a thread.

His gaze met mine first.

Not Riven’s.

Mine.

“Are you hurt?”

The question nearly undid me.

Not because it was gentle.

It was not.

It was harsh, clipped, almost furious.

But no one had ever sounded angry because I might be hurt.

“No,” I whispered.

His eyes dropped to my torn dress, my bleeding feet, the bruises blooming along my arms.

His jaw flexed.

I corrected myself. “Not worse than before.”

A muscle ticked in his cheek.

Behind him, several Nightveil warriors entered the clearing, some in wolf form, others shifting into human skin. One of them carried a deep wound across his shoulder. Another limped badly. The corrupted wolf was nowhere in sight.

Riven looked almost bored.

“You killed my messenger,” he said.

Kaiden did not take his eyes off me. “It was already dead.”

“Yes. That is rather the point.”

Kaiden finally turned to him.

The temperature seemed to drop.

“Explain why your scent is on the blood message.”

Riven smiled. “Because I sent it.”

A ripple of shock moved through the Nightveil warriors.

One male swore.

Another growled.

Kaiden did neither.

He only stared at his uncle, still as a blade before it falls.

“You asked Hollowmere for her.”

“I asked for what belongs to Nightveil.”

“She is not a thing.”

Riven’s eyes flickered toward me. “Not anymore, perhaps. Thanks to you.”

Kaiden moved so fast I barely saw him.

One second he was several feet away.

The next, his hand was around Riven’s throat, slamming him back against a tree hard enough to crack bark. The warriors surged forward but stopped when Kaiden’s command rolled through the clearing.

“Stay.”

The word slammed into my bones.

Every wolf froze.

Even me.

Riven laughed, though Kaiden’s fingers were crushing his throat.

“There he is,” Riven rasped. “Your father’s temper.”

Kaiden’s face went utterly cold.

“Speak of my father again and I will remove your tongue.”

Riven’s smile turned sharp. “Would that make you feel powerful, boy?”

The clearing went dangerously silent.

Boy.

The word was a weapon.

I saw it land.

Kaiden’s fingers tightened.

Riven’s skin darkened beneath the pressure, but his eyes remained bright.

“You think claiming her makes you stronger?” Riven whispered. “It makes you predictable.”

Kaiden leaned closer. “I have not claimed her.”

The words should have relieved me.

Instead, the bond twisted in my chest, irritated and wounded.

Ridiculous.

I did not want to be claimed.

I did not.

Riven’s gaze slid to me.

“No mark,” he said. “But the bond is awake.”

Kaiden’s shoulders tensed.

“And that means?” I asked before anyone else could speak.

Every eye turned to me.

I hated it.

I hated being looked at like a mystery, a weapon, a mistake.

I stepped forward despite Kaiden’s immediate growl.

“I am tired,” I said, my voice shaking but clear. “I am tired of being dragged, poisoned, offered, chased, and spoken about like I’m not standing right here. If my life is apparently important enough for everyone to betray each other over it, then someone is going to tell me why.”

Kaiden’s gaze softened by the smallest amount.

Riven smiled with something that looked almost like approval.

“There is Thorne blood in her after all.”

I lifted the pendant. “Why was my wolf bound?”

Kaiden went still as he saw it.

The warriors reacted too.

One of them took a step back.

“Where did you get that?” Kaiden asked.

“My mother.”

Riven’s smile faded.

Kaiden’s eyes sharpened. “Mira gave you that?”

“Her spirit did. Or whatever she is now.” My voice broke slightly, but I forced the words out. “Theron had it at the border. Then it appeared here after she vanished. It showed me a memory.”

Riven’s expression darkened.

Kaiden released his throat and turned fully toward me.

“What memory?”

I swallowed.

“Magnus. Elder Orick. A hooded man with silver scars on his hands. They held my mother down and talked about binding my wolf.” My eyes moved to Riven. “And Magnus said when the Nightveil Alpha came for his promised mate, he would find nothing worth claiming.”

The clearing erupted.

Growls. Curses. Shock.

Kaiden did not move.

His face had gone pale beneath the blood and moonlight.

“Promised mate?” I whispered.

Riven brushed bark from his coat, still smiling despite the bruises already forming around his throat.

“Ah,” he said. “That memory.”

Kaiden’s voice came out lethal. “What did my father do?”

Riven chuckled softly.

“Always so desperate to hate him.” He glanced at me. “Shall I tell her, or will you?”

I looked at Kaiden.

His silver eyes remained locked on Riven, but something had shifted in him.

Not anger.

Pain.

Old, buried pain.

“Tell me what?” I demanded.

Riven stepped forward.

Kaiden moved between us instantly.

Riven rolled his eyes. “You cannot protect her from history.”

“Try me.”

The threat should have stopped him.

It did not.

Riven looked over Kaiden’s shoulder, directly at me.

“Before you were born, Mira Thorne made a blood oath with Kaiden’s father. If her daughter carried the old blood, she would be given to Nightveil, bonded to the Alpha heir, and protected from Hollowmere.”

My mouth went dry.

Given.

Bonded.

Protected.

The words tangled until I could barely breathe.

“My mother would never give me away.”

“She was trying to save you,” Kaiden said quietly.

I looked at him.

His voice had changed. Less command. More truth.

“How do you know?”

He looked away.

Riven answered for him.

“Because his father died trying to collect you.”

The world stopped.

Kaiden’s jaw tightened, but he did not deny it.

“My father crossed into Hollowmere thirteen years ago,” he said. “He never came back.”

My heartbeat slowed to a heavy, sick rhythm.

Thirteen years ago.

The night my mother was taken.

The night everything changed.

The night my wolf was bound.

I stared at him. “Your father came for me?”

Kaiden’s eyes met mine.

“Yes.”

“And Hollowmere killed him?”

His silence answered before his mouth did.

“We believed they did.”

Riven laughed under his breath. “Believed. Such a weak word.”

Kaiden’s head turned slowly. “What did you do?”

For the first time, Riven’s expression lost its elegance.

Something cruel and triumphant emerged beneath it.

“I did what your father was too sentimental to do.” His gaze cut to me. “I preserved the bloodline.”

A terrible chill filled the clearing.

Kaiden’s voice was low. “You betrayed him.”

“I corrected him.”

The warriors around us growled.

Riven did not seem concerned.

“Your father wanted to protect the girl. Mira wanted to hide her. Magnus wanted to use her. I was the only one who understood what she truly was.”

My breath trembled. “And what am I?”

Riven’s eyes shone.

“The last unclaimed Moonbound wolf.”

The pendant in my hand flared hot.

The runes along its edge burned silver-white.

Every wolf in the clearing flinched.

Kaiden reached for me, but the light shot up my arm before he could touch me. Pain and power slammed through my body, forcing a cry from my throat. My knees hit the ground.

The earth answered.

Not metaphorically.

The ground beneath me pulsed.

A circle of ancient markings ignited around my body, carved into soil and root by light that had not been there seconds ago.

The wolves backed away.

Kaiden did not.

He dropped to one knee in front of me, heedless of the burning symbols.

“Vanya.”

His voice reached through the pain.

I looked up.

His face blurred through my tears.

“What’s happening to me?”

Riven’s voice drifted through the clearing, reverent and hungry.

“She is waking.”

The mark on my wrist appeared first.

A crescent moon burned beneath my skin, bright as molten silver. Then lines spread from it, curling up my arm like vines made of light.

My wolf rose.

Not stirring.

Not whispering.

Rising.

For the first time in my life, she was not behind a wall.

She was the wall breaking.

I screamed as power tore through old poison, old chains, old lies. Somewhere far away, Kaiden roared my name. His hands closed around my shoulders, but this time his touch did not calm the storm.

It fed it.

The bond flared.

The forest bowed.

And every wolf in Nightveil territory howled.

Not in fear.

In answer.

Then I heard her.

My wolf.

Clear as thunder.

Finally.

Kaiden stared at me, silver eyes wide, as my vision sharpened and the world filled with scents I had never truly known. His scent hit me hardest. Smoke. Cedar. Rain. Mine.

No.

I gasped, trembling.

Kaiden’s hands tightened.

Then the runes beneath us turned blood-red.

Riven started laughing.

Kaiden looked down.

His face changed.

“What is it?” I whispered.

Before he could answer, the pendant split open in my palm.

Inside was a tiny folded piece of skin-thin parchment, preserved beneath moon-silver.

Kaiden took it carefully, unfolded it, and went utterly still.

I grabbed his wrist.

“What does it say?”

His eyes lifted to mine.

For the first time since I had met him, Alpha Kaiden Draven looked afraid.

“It is a mate contract,” he said.

My blood turned cold.

“Between who?”

His throat moved.

“Between you…”

He looked past me at Riven.

“And my father.”