The blade was coated in poison, and Brier had spent hours perfecting it. Slipping through the alpha’s bedroom like smoke, she moved without a sound, her heart pounding with six years of training and vengeance. The moonlight made the massive bed look almost sacred, and there he was, asleep, looking utterly human. She raised the blade.
His eyes snapped open. Startlingly blue. For a heartbeat, they just stared at each other. Then he smiled.
A genuine, almost pleased smile. Her heart betrayed her with a stupid little skip, and the rage that flooded her was enough to make her drive the blade downward. His hand caught her wrist with inhuman speed. “No,” he said quietly, voice rough with sleep.
“I don’t think so. ”
He rolled them, pinning her beneath him on the bed. She fought, spat insults, told him he smelled like her death. But he only leaned closer, inhaling against her throat.
“You smell like wild flowers. ”
The door burst open. The room flooded with shifters. Lara, a stern woman with short hair, moved to drag her away.
“The holding cell? ” she asked. “Please,” the alpha said, calm and almost amused. “I think she needs time to cool down.
”
As they pulled her into the hall, Brier screamed back at him, “This isn’t over! I’ll find a way to finish what I started! ” His low chuckle followed her down the corridor. Two days in that cell, and Brier was livid.
The silver cuffs burned her skin, deadening her magic. The stone walls were cold, the food insulting. She threw a plate at the bars. The guard, Marco, just rolled his eyes.
Then the alpha himself came to visit. He leaned against the wall across from her cell, crossing his arms, and Brier’s breath caught despite herself. “What’s your name? ” he asked.
“Go screw yourself,” she snapped. He smiled that infuriating smile. “Why did you try to kill me? What did I ever do to you?
”
“I don’t like your face,” she said. He raised an eyebrow. “It’s too symmetrical, sharp-featured, perfect? ”
“Take your time.
It’ll come to you,” he said mildly, and the patronizing tone made her want to scream. “What do you even plan to do with me? ” she demanded. “Actually,” he said, “I do intend to keep you forever.
”
She stared at him. “Why? ”
He looked away, jaw tight. “Because you’re my mate.
”
Brier blinked. “What did you just say? ”
He repeated it, calmly, patiently, explaining that all shifters have destined mates. That when he saw her in his room, he felt the bond.
That he could sense her emotions through this supernatural connection. “Stop talking about bonds! ” she screeched. He didn’t stop.
He told her he would never hurt her, that she was precious to him, and the earnestness in his voice made her body shake. “Do you really feel nothing when you look at me? ” he asked quietly. “I feel complete and utter horror,” she spat.
He nodded slowly, as if he expected that. “I hope to change that. ”
But Brier knew better. Those were the same lies Sister Thorne had warned her about.
Wolves were master manipulators who wore human faces to lure in their prey. They’d killed her parents when she was sixteen. The coven had saved her, taught her, and given her a purpose. For a week, he visited her every evening.
Not to interrogate her, but to talk, to read to her from a leather-bound copy of The Odyssey, to ask if she needed another blanket. She thought it was all a sick, elaborate act. So she decided to play along. “Could you read to me?
” she asked in her most vulnerable voice. The smile that crossed his face was so genuine that, for a moment, she almost felt guilt. Almost. Two days into her manipulation plan, she asked for fresh air.
He allowed it, keeping her cuffed, and led her upstairs to a dining room that looked nothing like the lair of murderous beasts. It was elegant, warm. He couldn’t even finish his dinner. Every few minutes, someone barged in with pack business — contracts, boundary disputes, security protocols.
The food sat untouched while Brier ate her chicken and watched him push his plate away. “I mean, who needs food anyway? ” she asked innocently. “Being alpha means being responsible for everyone,” he said with a sigh.
When an older man interrupted yet again, Brier snapped. “The man is eating! Can’t you give it a rest? ”
The silence was deafening.
The room cleared. West looked at her, surprised and almost shy. “Thank you. ”
She shrugged, then couldn’t stop herself from asking.
“Do you kill humans for blood to maintain your shifts? ”
He stared at her, genuinely confused. “What? ”
“All the humans you kill, to appease your wolves?
”
He set down his fork. “None of us commit murders. It’s against our laws to harm humans. ”
“Liar,” she snarled.
Images flashed: her parents’ house engulfed in flames, the shapes of wolves moving through smoke. “They killed them. They killed my parents. Sister Thorne showed me.
”
The sob tore from her chest before she could stop it. And then the alpha was beside her, his hands warm on her shoulders, his voice low and soothing. “You’re safe. Just breathe with me.
”
She tried to pull away, but her body betrayed her, melting into his touch. “I’ve got you,” he said, cupping her face. “Whatever they told you, whatever they made you believe, none of it was real. ”
The last thing she was aware of was his arms tightening around her as consciousness slipped away.
She woke in fragments. At one point, she heard voices arguing. “If she’s really your fated mate…” “She was completely brainwashed. ” And West’s voice, hard and certain: “I want to know who did this to my mate.
”
So that was his name. West. She woke again to arms wrapped around her. He was holding her in his sleep, and when she stirred, his blue eyes met hers.
“You thrash a lot when I don’t hold you,” he murmured, pressing a kiss to her forehead. A dark magician visited her room, his copper hair and pale skin making her skin crawl. He studied her with ancient eyes, then looked at her forearm where her coven mark glowed faintly. He called it something.
She was too exhausted to fight, and darkness pulled her under again. When she woke a third time, West was beside her, looking haunted. She decided to double down. She asked him to stay, made her voice small and vulnerable.
When he held her, she pressed a kiss to his jaw, then stretched up and kissed his lips. He went completely frozen. She pulled back, confused. “That’s it?
”
“You should rest,” he said. “Rest? I just kissed you! ”
“Thank you,” he offered.
She crossed her arms. “I thought I was your mate. Doesn’t that mean you’d be interested? ”
West studied her, something almost predatory in his gaze.
“You don’t actually want to kiss me. I can feel it through our bond. Whatever you’re planning, Brier, it’s not going to work. ”
Well.
That was embarrassing. Three weeks of trying to seduce him, and she had nothing to show for it. Every attempt failed spectacularly. The massage incident turned her into putty the second his fingers touched her.
The dinner disaster ended with her throwing up on his shoes. But she noticed things. How intently he listened to every pack member’s concern. How he never raised his voice.
How none of it matched what Sister Thorne had taught her about shifters. She pushed the doubt away. On his birthday, he told her she wasn’t invited to the party. “You try to escape,” he said.
“Hi,” she scoffed dramatically. “Try to escape? ”
She paced her room all night, furious. Then the headache came.
A strange pressure in her chest, a restless unease that grew stronger and more insistent. And then a certainty that nearly stopped her heart. Something was wrong with West. She threw open the door and demanded to see the alpha.
“I’m his mate,” she said. “I can tell. ”
The guards exchanged looks. One of them agreed to fetch him.
She waited in his office, and when West walked in, he looked off-balance, vulnerable. She told him he didn’t feel well. He tried to deny it, but then he admitted the truth. The mate bond required closeness.
He had been spending so much time with her that the bond had grown. Now it required something more. “That I claim you,” he said quietly, his breathing labored. “You ain’t claiming anybody, buddy.
”
“Yes, I am aware. ”
Something in her cracked. This wasn’t a lie. The bond was real.
And the look in his eyes, the restraint he was fighting, made her touch his lips to his. For a moment he didn’t respond, then something snapped. His arms wrapped around her, pulling her against him, and the kiss was nothing like the first. It was raw, desperate, hungry.
And through the bond, she felt everything he felt — need, relief, a desperate edge like a starving man finally given a feast. When they finally pulled apart, breathless, West’s eyes were troubled. “Brier, there’s something you should know. It’s about your coven.
About Sister Thorne. ”
She pulled away. Panic flared in her chest. He told her about the dark magician, Adrien, who had explained the mark on her arm.
It wasn’t a coven mark. It was a siphon, placed on her to draw magic from her and feed it to whoever put it there. Sister Thorne. She had been using them as batteries, and every shifter they killed made her stronger.
“No,” Brier said. “That’s not true. ”
“It is,” West said softly. “I looked into your parents’ death, Brier.
It was an accident. Faulty wiring. Not shifters. ”
Pain lanced through her head.
Images flashed. Fire, screaming, wolves in smoke. “Wolves killed my parents,” she whispered. “That’s what they made you believe.
They conditioned you. ”
She ran. In her room, she paced, trying to make sense of everything. Then a voice behind her made her jump.
Elena, a fellow witch, stood by the window, cloaked in a silencing spell. “I’m here to rescue you,” she said. “You’ve done magnificently, Brier. The alpha trusts you.
Now comes the next part of the plan. ”
“What plan? ”
“To kill the alpha, of course. ”
Elena pulled out a small silver lipstick tube.
“Poison. Put it on before you see him next. Kiss him, and he won’t see it coming. ”
Brier’s blood turned to ice.
Wolf’s bane. She had helped develop that poison herself. “This won’t work,” she said. “He can feel what I feel.
”
“Make sure to keep calm,” Elena shrugged. “You can’t do this. West is different. ”
Elena’s face hardened.
“Sister Thorne was right. They got to you. ”
“I was just testing you anyway,” Elena said grimly. “I already took care of it.
”
“What do you mean? ”
“I already applied it to you earlier. It’s done. ”
Brier’s hand flew to her mouth.
West was already poisoned. She needed to act fast. She convinced Elena to take off her cuffs by promising to help her escape, then smashed a crystal paperweight into the back of Elena’s head. She took the silver ring that held Elena’s cloaking spell, bound and gagged her, and slipped invisible into the hall.
In the grand hall, she found West, surrounded by well-wishers, his face flushed and eyes too bright. She pushed through the crowd. “West! ” she cried, slipping the ring off her finger.
He blinked, surprised, then swept her into his arms, nuzzling her neck. “You came back. You smell so good. ”
Lara approached, wary.
“Alpha, is this really a good idea? ”
“She is my mate,” West declared, slurring slightly. Brier grabbed Lara’s arm. “He’s been poisoned!
Remove my cuffs so I can help him. ”
West slumped against her, eyes rolling back. He collapsed. The party dissolved into chaos.
“What did you do? ” Lara screamed. “It wasn’t me,” Brier said automatically, then amended. “Well, it was, but I didn’t know.
”
“Arrest her! ” Lara ordered. As they dragged her away, Brier screamed, “He’s dying! You’ve got to let me heal him!
If it were me, why would I try to warn him? ”
Lara wavered. “Bring her back. Uncuff her.
”
The moment the cuffs fell away, Brier’s magic surged back like wildfire. She placed her hands on West’s chest and reached into his body. The poison coiled around his heart, flooded his lungs, ran thick through his veins. It was worse than she feared.
She drew a steady breath and pushed. Her power focused, withering the poison without harming him, pulling thorns from living flesh. Sweat beaded on her brow. Voices faded.
All she heard was the steady beat of his heart. Then his heartbeat steadied. His breath deepened. Color returned to his cheeks.
He opened his eyes. Blue, clear, alive. “Brier,” he rasped. A sob broke from her chest.
“I’m here. ”
Epilogue. Elena sat on the cot, refusing to meet Brier’s eyes. Brier slid a folder across the table.
“Just look at the evidence. ”
“I don’t need to look at wolf propaganda,” Elena snapped. Brier opened the folder — police reports, news clippings, photos from the fire that killed her parents. “Faulty wiring.
An accident. I checked myself. ”
Elena looked away. “They could be faked.
”
“They’re real. ” Brier rolled up her sleeve, showing her altered mark. “Adrien explained how it works. Sister Thorne used our marks to siphon power.
Every time we killed a shifter, she grew stronger. We were just batteries. ”
Elena fell silent. Finally, she whispered, “I don’t know what to believe anymore.
”
Not acceptance. But a start. Brier climbed the stairs to West’s chambers. He was lying on the bed, eyes closed, breathing slow and even.
She sat beside him. He stirred, his eyes finding hers. “Hey,” he murmured. “Hey yourself.
”
“What’s wrong? You’re upset. ”
She sighed. There was no hiding from the bond.
“Elena’s being stubborn. ”
“Give her time,” West advised. “It took you weeks to start questioning your beliefs. ”
“You should be resting,” she said.
“I’ve been resting for days. ”
She reached for his hand, then hesitated. “Move over,” she said instead. He raised an eyebrow but complied.
“I like touching you,” she announced, rolling her eyes at his surprised expression. He pulled her close, and through the bond, she felt his contentment, his pain receding. “I also like talking to you,” she admitted. “In fact, I like everything about you.
”
West propped himself on one elbow. “You like me? ” he asked, sounding so hopeful it nearly broke her heart. Brier took a deep breath.
“Love. I love you. ”
The words hit him. She felt the wave of intense emotion ripple through their bond.
“You don’t have to say anything back,” she added quickly. West placed his hand over her mouth. “Brier. I’ve loved you since the moment you stood over me with that blade.
I’ve just been waiting for you to catch up. ”
Tears sprang to her eyes. “You’re crazy. I was trying to kill you.
”
He laughed, bright and clear. “Even so. ”
He kissed her, soft and reverent, a promise rather than a demand. She could feel his love washing over her, warm and steady as sunlight.
When they parted, he said, “We need to figure out how to help Elena and the others. ”
“Do you think we can save them? ”
“I don’t know. But we’ll try.
They’re your sisters. ”
She pressed a kiss to his chest, right over his heart. “Thank you for not giving up on me. ”
His arms tightened around her.
“You were always worth the wait, Brier. Always. ”
The sun set outside, casting the room in golden light. Whatever came next, they would face it together.
“Together,” she murmured. He pressed a kiss to the top of her head. “Together.
”
