Chapter 2 Chapter 2

Theo

The bond hit me like a damn car.

Not the gentle tug I’d been taught to expect. Not a slow awareness, not a soft pull in the chest.

This was impact.

One second I was rounding the corner near the market, distracted by the fact that Sebastian had been unusually quiet all morning and Blake had been unusually… Blake. The next second a girl collided into me and the entire world went silent, like the universe held its breath.

My wolf surged forward.

Mine. Mine. Mine.

My heartbeat slammed so hard it hurt.

I caught her by the arm before she could fall, and when my fingers closed around her skin, something clicked inside me so perfectly it was terrifying.

Mate.

I stared down at her and my brain stuttered, trying to reconcile reality with what my body already knew.

She wasn’t what I expected.

Not because she wasn’t beautiful—she was, in a soft, real way that made my chest ache—but because she was… human. The scent was unmistakable. Warm vanilla and paper and something sweet like cinnamon, threaded with sun and sweat from walking in the heat. No wolf beneath it. No hint of a shift. No pack scent clinging to her.

Human.

Our mate was human.

Her eyes were wide, a little startled, and she immediately apologized like she assumed I was annoyed, like she expected the world to be sharp with her.

“I wasn’t looking,” she said quickly, stumbling back, cheeks pinking.

My wolf whined, offended on her behalf.

I had the sudden, irrational urge to step in front of her like a shield.

As if the world could hurt her just by looking.

“It’s okay,” I managed, but my voice came out deeper than usual. Rougher.

She blinked up at me. “Are you… okay?”

No.

I was not okay.

My entire life had rearranged itself in two seconds.

Mate.

The Moon Goddess had decided to gift me—us—a mate and had delivered her right into my arms like some kind of sick joke.

Because she was human.

And in our world, human meant vulnerable.

Human meant breakable.

Human meant every enemy our family had ever made would see her as a weakness to exploit.

My gaze flicked over her without permission. She wore jeans and sneakers and a loose t-shirt that did nothing to show off her shape, but I could still see the curve of her hips, the softness of her thighs, the way she held herself like she wanted to disappear.

Like she’d learned how to be small.

My wolf growled.

Not at her.

At the idea that anyone had ever made her feel like she needed to shrink.

“You’re new,” I said. It wasn’t a question. It was a fact my wolf fed me from the way her scent didn’t belong to our town.

“Uh… yeah. We just moved,” she answered.

Moved.

My mind raced. New humans didn’t just move here. Not without permission. Not without the pack knowing. Not without—

Unless.

My thoughts snapped to Marcus.

Beta.

My father’s right hand.

If a human moved into pack territory, Marcus would know first.

And if Marcus knew…

I forced my face into something casual, something human-friendly. I smiled, because smiling was easier than explaining why my eyes were probably glowing with wolf panic.

“Nothing,” I said when she looked confused. “Sorry. I’m Theo.”

“Ellie,” she replied. “Nice to meet you.”

Ellie.

The name settled into me like it belonged there.

My chest tightened so hard it felt like pain.

“It’s nice to finally meet you, Ellie,” I heard myself say.

Finally.

The word slipped out before I could stop it.

Her brows pinched, and my stomach dropped because of course she caught it.

“What do you mean—”

I jumped in fast. “Just… uh. New people don’t come through often. It’s nice to meet someone new.”

Not exactly a lie.

Just not the truth.

She studied me, hesitant. Like she expected me to laugh at her. Like she expected me to decide she wasn’t worth the conversation.

It made something inside me go violently still.

“If you need anything,” I said, voice turning gentler without me meaning it to. “Anything at all. You should come find me.”

Her lips parted slightly like she didn’t know what to do with kindness.

“Okay…?” she said, but the word came out unsure.

The urge to promise her the world was sudden and ridiculous.

I had to fight the instinct to touch her again.

Touching her made the bond roar louder. It made my wolf demand more.

Mine.

I took a step back, forcing space between us, because I didn’t trust myself not to do something insane—like scent her, mark her, carry her home, and tell my father the Moon Goddess had delivered our mate wrapped in sunlight and paper and cinnamon.

“I’ll see you around,” I said softly.

Then I walked away before I could ruin everything.

Before I could scare her.

Before I could say the word mate out loud and watch her world shatter.

By the time I made it back to the pack house, my skin felt too tight.

It wasn’t even that far, but my wolf kept trying to turn me around, kept urging me back to Ellie like she was oxygen and I’d taken my first breath and didn’t know how to stop.

I pushed through the front doors and straight into the familiar weight of pack scent—cedar, earth, smoke, strength.

Home.

Normally, it grounded me.

Today, it felt like a cage.

My father’s voice drifted down the hall. Alpha Weston. Talking with someone—probably Marcus. Their voices were low, serious. The kind of tone that meant pack business.

I should’ve gone to them.

I should’ve reported the human.

But my feet took me toward the stairs instead.

Toward my brothers.

Because this wasn’t just pack business.

This was us.

Blake was in the training room, of course.

He always was.

If he wasn’t sparring, lifting, or running, he was brooding like it was a sport.

He stood shirtless in front of the mirror, wrapping his hands, muscles flexing as he tightened the cloth around his knuckles. Sweat slicked his skin, and his wolf energy rolled off him in waves sharp enough to cut.

Sebastian sat on the bench nearby, calm as ever, wiping down a blade like he was cleaning a weapon before a war.

They both looked up the second I stepped in.

Blake’s eyes narrowed. “What.”

Sebastian’s gaze sharpened, quiet and focused. “You look like you saw a ghost.”

“I saw something,” I said, and my throat felt thick. “I met our mate.”

The silence was immediate.

Absolute.

Blake froze mid-wrap.

Sebastian’s hand stopped moving over the blade.

For a heartbeat, the room felt like it stopped spinning.

Then Blake’s mouth curled into something that wasn’t quite a smile. “No.”

“Yes.”

Sebastian’s eyes didn’t widen. He didn’t react like Blake—no explosion, no denial.

He just watched me like he could see straight through my skin.

“What is she?” Sebastian asked.

I swallowed.

Human.

The word tasted like danger.

“She’s… human,” I admitted.

Blake’s wolf flared so fast the air turned electric.

He threw the wrap down so hard it slapped against the floor. “Absolutely not.”

“It’s not up to you,” I snapped, because something about the way he said it—like she was a problem, like she was disgusting—lit something protective in me.

Blake stepped forward, eyes flashing. “It’s not up to you either.”

“It’s fate,” I said, voice shaking. “It’s the Moon Goddess.”

Sebastian stood slowly, setting the blade aside like he didn’t want to startle a bomb. “Where is she.”

“She’s in town,” I said. “She’s new. She just moved here.”

Blake’s jaw flexed hard enough I could hear his teeth grind. “New human in pack territory and nobody told us?”

I hesitated, then said the thought that had been simmering in my mind since Ellie said we just moved.

“I think Marcus is involved.”

Sebastian’s eyes flicked, calculating. “Marcus.”

Blake’s lip curled. “The Beta’s hiding a human in our territory.”

“No,” I said, because my wolf pushed the word out with certainty. “Not hiding. Protecting. Like she belongs here.”

Because she does.

Because she’s ours.

Blake stared at me like I’d lost my mind.

“She’s not our type,” he said flatly.

I bristled. “What does that mean.”

Blake shrugged, cruelly casual. “It means exactly what it means. She’s a human girl in jeans and sneakers with book-bag shoulders and soft curves and… she doesn’t belong at our side.”

My wolf snapped.

I took a step forward before I even realized I was moving. “Don’t talk about her like that.”

Blake’s eyes flashed. “Like what.”

“Like she’s a mistake.”

Sebastian’s voice cut through the tension, low and controlled. “Enough.”

Blake’s gaze shifted to him, and for a moment I saw something raw behind his anger.

Fear.

He was scared.

Blake didn’t know how to be anything else.

Sebastian looked back at me. “You’re sure.”

“With everything in me,” I said. “The bond snapped the second I touched her.”

Sebastian went still. “Touched.”

I nodded, then immediately regretted saying it because Blake’s entire body tensed.

Blake shoved past me like I wasn’t even there.

“Theo,” Sebastian said sharply, and his tone stopped me in place.

I turned.

His expression was unreadable, but his eyes were darker now. More dangerous.

“Did she see anything,” he asked. “Did she sense anything. Did you say anything that would make her suspicious.”

“No,” I said quickly. “I didn’t say— I didn’t tell her.”

Sebastian nodded once. “Good.”

Blake was already out of the room.

Theo — I followed, panic rising. “Blake! Wait!”

But Blake didn’t wait.

He never did.

He stormed down the hallway like he was going to tear the world apart with his bare hands.

And my stomach twisted because I knew exactly where he was going.

Back to town.

Back to Ellie.

Back to the girl who didn’t even know what she was to us.

I ran after him, my wolf pacing like a caged animal in my bones.

Because if Blake confronted her—

If he scared her—

If he said something he couldn’t take back—

We could lose her before we even had her.

And the Moon Goddess didn’t give gifts twice.

Not like this.

Not ever.