Kael
I walked out of the tent before I did something I would regret.
My wolf was a snarling mess in my head, furious I had left her and demanding I go back to claim what was rightfully ours. With every step I took, the bond tugged harder at my chest.
"Shut it," I hissed silently. "Something is strange here. She didn't feel it."
"What are you talking about? She did!" my wolf bit back, ceasing his whining only to snarl. "And you know it!"
I stopped in my tracks, grimacing. "Not like that," I muttered under my breath.
A mate bond should have been mutual and instant. Yet instead of the overwhelming certainty hitting me, she had looked at me with only fear and confusion while her power reacted wildly.
"The bond is there," my wolf hissed. "Why are you downplaying it?"
"Enough!"
"Kael."
I turned as Ila briskly approached, her dark eyes sharp with questions she was too smart to ask outright. My second Beta was far more forthright than my first, whom I had left behind in the Capital to oversee the territory in my absence. Both of them read me better than I liked.
"Don't," I clipped before she could speak. Her lips clamped shut, and she fell into step beside me as I headed toward my tent at the center of camp. "Have those three give her some of the game. I don't think she's eaten yet."
Her short, shaggy hair bounced as she nodded. "I already notified them when you went inside."
"Good."
"Kael…" Her tone shifted with concern. "No one is complaining, though everyone is surprised you brought a lone wolf to camp. She doesn't smell like anything we're familiar with, and the pack back in the Capital will notice it immediately. The girls also spotted a strange pendant on her. What if she's from the other side?"
My jaw twitched. "She has something I want." Until I understood what was wrong with our bond, no one else would know of it.
"I see… Forgive me, but you seem agitated after seeing her—"
I quickened my pace into my dark tent, and Ila halted rigidly at the entrance as I turned to face her, hands on my hips. "Everything is fine, Ila. I have an important use for her. And as for the pendant, the symbol is familiar—she isn't from that place. She will be joining the pack, and I will address any concerns the others have."
Ila's eyes widened in shock. "My Lord… she is a lone wolf from another Supreme Alpha's territory. Even in a lesser pack that would raise questions, and you never make exceptions."
"I will handle it," I said flatly.
"Kael—"
My eyes heated with a subtle glow that made her flinch and step back, lowering her gaze. "I said I will handle it, Ila. My decision is final."
How could I tell my Beta I had found my mate when the woman herself had no idea she was mine?
"Ila," I added as her head perked up. "Mobilize Darius and Ton. You're coming to the border with me."
She blinked in surprise. "We already inspected this zone—"
"She's from one of the border packs in Palisa's domain, and she was running from someone when I found her. I don't want foreign wolves crossing this neutral zone or sniffing around our borders."
I lurked among the trees at the border, my presence completely shrouded. My white fur had shimmered into shadow-black, an old concealment trick only Supreme Alphas could master.
Just as I suspected, Shadowpine wolves were lingering cautiously at the border markers before venturing into the neutral zone separating our two nations. At my signal, Ila, Darius, and Ton intercepted them, and the sharp bloodthirst radiating off the intruders instantly morphed into fear.
"I don't like that scent," I linked to Ila from the shadows. "Pull every piece of information you can out of them."
"Yes, sir," she replied, shifting into her human form.
The leader of the patrol—an older man with a jagged scar across his face—shifted in turn and raised his hands in non-aggression. "We have no intention of intruding. We're still in the neutral zone."
"You should know routine patrols guard the neutral zones between nations," Ila said, irritation edging her voice. "Your bloodthirst was too sharp to ignore, and no one hunts here in a pack. Who are you looking for? If a dangerous rogue slipped into our nation, it concerns Fresna too."
Alarm flashed across his scarred face as he lowered his arms. "Yes—a rogue who escaped execution and fled."
Hidden in the trees, my body bristled with vengeful fury. That bloodthirst hadn't been for a criminal; they had been sent to murder the woman resting in my camp.
"They must pay for the mere audacity of trying to harm what is ours!" my wolf roared in my skull, my fangs gnashing in a silent snarl.
"Be still," I snapped back, fighting to keep us both in check. "Killing them now costs us information and sparks a war between nations. We'll deal with them later."
"Ask what rank this wolf held and what she looks like," I ordered Ila, even though I already knew she was an omega—her wolf presence was so faint that the strange power flowing through her completely overshadowed it. Why would a pack hunt a weak omega all the way to the border when the wild should have killed her anyway? A sharp ache pricked my chest at the thought of how close she had come to dying.
"What does this wolf look like?" Ila asked, eyeing the other two wolves behind the scarred man. "And shouldn't you have more numbers if they're so dangerous?"
"We're spread out so as not to cause alarm at the border," the man replied uncomfortably.
I sniffed the air, glaring from the shadows. "He's lying, Ila."
"It's a female warrior from our Alpha's security detail," the man continued quickly, mistaking Ila's frown for impatience. "Highly skilled and dangerous. Tall, slender, black hair and grey eyes. Her wolf is black, too."
Anger flared in my chest at the blatant lie. An omega wouldn't justify a border hunt, so they had fabricated a warrior, down to a fake wolf form for a girl who couldn't even shift.
Ila nodded. "We'll keep an eye out and—"
"No!" I cut in. "Tell them you found an omega matching that description on her final breath, and that she's dead. Make them leave."
"Now that you mention it," Ila said smoothly, "we did come across someone matching that physical description."
The scarred man jolted, leaning forward eagerly. "Where?"
Ila frowned. "It must have been someone else. She was a dying, impoverished omega." I scowled at Ila's phrasing, though it had the desired effect. The man visibly deflated. "She took her last breath on our soil, so we buried her. Still, what pack are you from? If we capture your dangerous warrior, we'll hand her over to your Alpha at the next Regional Territorial Council."
I bared my teeth in a silent grin at Ila's tactfulness. Now they were trapped in their own lie; ifFresna inquired at the council, their Alpha would be humiliated unless they claimed they'd already found their imaginary warrior.
"Shadowpine," the man muttered, though I could smell the panic churning inside him. "Thank you. Our Alpha will be reassured."
Shifting back into his wolf form, he offered a stiff bow and bolted back into the trees with his patrol.
"You should have ripped their flesh from their bones!" my wolf snarled as I rose from my crouch.
I ignored him, though a low growl rumbled in my throat. Why had Shadowpine wanted a weak, nameless omega dead so badly. And to think I hadn't even asked for her name yet.
I would get my answers from her myself.
As far as those rotten wolves knew, she was dead. Good. She was safe, she was with me, and she was mine. Even if she didn't know it yet.