Page 18 of Noah (Pecan Pines #4)

Chapter 18

Noah

The conversation with Cooper had helped immensely, giving me a clearer perspective, but as I stepped out of his office and into the hallway, a strange feeling nagged at me.

Something was off.

Out of the corner of my eye, I caught movement—a shadow slipping away at the end of the hall. My brows furrowed as my wolf stirred uneasily.

I inhaled deeply, catching a scent I didn’t recognize. It wasn’t a pack mate. Another wolf, then. Maybe one of the guests here for the summit?

That would make sense, but something about the way they moved, so quick and quiet, sent my instincts flaring.

Were they eavesdropping?

I shook my head, exhaling sharply. I was being paranoid. With all the unfamiliar wolves wandering around, it wasn’t unusual to run into strangers in the pack house.

I’d even been stopped for directions a few times over the past few days. Nothing sinister about that. Still, my wolf remained on edge.

My phone pinged, pulling my attention away from my thoughts. It was a message from Griffin.

Griffin: Yeah. Let’s talk. Meet me at the bar.

Relief trickled in. At least he was willing to meet. Tucking my phone away, I left the pack house and climbed into my car.

The moment I started driving toward town, my hand unconsciously went to my neck, brushing against the mark Jackson had left there.

The spot tingled beneath my fingers, a faint heat pulsing under my skin. It wasn’t an unpleasant sensation, but it wasn’t whole either.

The bond was incomplete—I hadn’t given Jackson my mark yet.

Maybe that was why I couldn’t feel him through the bond. Why I didn’t know what he was feeling, and he didn’t know what I was feeling.

That connection, that deep link mates were supposed to share, hadn’t fully formed. I sighed. That was a conversation for later. Right now, I needed to focus on Griffin.

By the time I reached town, the sun was beginning to dip, casting the streets in a warm, golden glow.

I pulled into a parking spot across from the bar, noting that the place still looked locked up. Frowning, I checked the time. Maybe I was early.

I stepped out of the car, the pavement warm beneath my feet even through my boots.

A breeze rustled past, carrying the scent of old wood and lingering smoke from one of the nearby restaurants. Everything seemed normal.

Then my spine tingled.

The fine hairs on my arms rose as my wolf howled in warning.

Footsteps. Approaching from behind me. Slow. Deliberate.

I turned, muscles coiling tight, my wolf pushing at the surface. The scent from earlier—the one I’d caught in the pack house—hit me again, stronger this time.

Not a pack mate. Not someone familiar.

A stranger.

My heart pounded as I locked eyes with the man standing a few feet away. He was tall, broad-shouldered, his stance too confident, too assured.

His gaze slid over me, assessing, and then a smirk curled his lips.

“Didn’t mean to startle you,” he said smoothly.

His voice was low, unhurried, like we were old friends catching up instead of two strangers meeting under tense circumstances.

I didn’t relax. “Who are you?”

The smirk widened just a fraction. “Just a visitor.”

I didn’t buy that for a second. My wolf growled, restless, demanding action. I clenched my fists to steady myself.

“Pack affiliation?” I asked, my tone hard.

He tilted his head slightly, like I’d amused him. “Does it matter?”

Yes. It did.

I didn’t like the way he was standing there, as if he had all the time in the world. As if he wasn’t worried about being caught lurking around a pack’s territory uninvited.

That meant one of two things—either he was stupid, or he was dangerous.

Judging by the way my instincts screamed at me, I was betting on the latter.

I reached for my phone, intending to text Griffin or Jackson. Before I could, the stranger took a step closer.

“Relax,” he murmured. “I just want to talk.”

“I don’t.”

His smile didn’t waver, but something in his eyes darkened. “That’s a shame.”

Something shifted in his posture. A subtle change, but my wolf caught it instantly. A tell. A predator about to strike.

I braced myself.

Then he lunged.

I barely dodged in time, twisting to the side as he reached for me. A snarl ripped from my throat, my vision sharpening as my wolf pushed forward, ready to fight.

The stranger didn’t hesitate. He came at me again, faster this time. I blocked his arm, shoving him back with all the strength I had, but he recovered too quickly.

His next attack was brutal—a hard punch aimed at my ribs. I barely managed to deflect it, but the force still sent pain rattling through my bones.

I needed to shift. Now.

Snarling, I let my claws extend, my muscles coiling as I prepared to strike back. But then, before I could make my move, something sharp pricked my neck.

Ice flooded my veins.

No.

I staggered, the world tilting. My vision blurred, limbs suddenly heavy.

The bastard had drugged me.

My knees buckled, my wolf howling in rage as darkness threatened to pull me under.

The last thing I saw before my vision went black was the stranger’s smirk, his voice a low whisper against my ear.

“Sleep tight, little wolf.”

Pain throbbed dully at the base of my skull as I groggily drifted back to consciousness. My limbs felt heavy, my thoughts sluggish, like I was swimming through molasses.

I tried to move, but the scrape of rough rope biting into my wrists told me I was tied down.

Panic flickered at the edges of my mind as I struggled to pull myself fully into awareness.

Blinking against the dim light, I lifted my head. Wooden walls. An old, dust-covered floor. The scent of mildew and something metallic filled my nose. A cabin.

One of the abandoned ones deep in the Pecan Pine woods.

My pulse spiked as fragmented memories pieced themselves together. The bar. The wolf with the needle. A sharp sting in my neck before everything went dark.

I sucked in a breath and flexed my fingers, testing my restraints. My body felt drained, weak. They must have drugged me.

Footsteps creaked against the wooden floor, and a familiar, loathsome voice cut through the silence.

"You’re awake, little wolf."

My stomach turned. My head snapped up, and my vision swam before locking onto the smug, leering face of Adrian.

Standing beside him, his arm in a cast, was Karl, watching with cold amusement.

I knew their scents, but a third scent lingered in the cabin. The wolf that ambushed me at the bar.

So he was one of Adrian’s wolves. Adrian had probably ordered him to keep a close eye on me. When the spy overheard I was planning to meet my brother in town, he tattled to his alpha.

I forced my breathing to steady. Fear would only feed Adrian’s sick enjoyment of this.

"What the hell do you think you’re doing?" I rasped, my throat dry.

Adrian smirked and gestured to Karl. "Keep watch outside. I want some alone time with our guest."

Karl gave me one last mocking glance before disappearing out the cabin door, leaving me alone with the psychotic alpha.

I clenched my jaw. "You’re making a mistake. Jackson, Griffin, and the rest of my pack will hunt you down. It’s not too late to let me go and walk away from this,” I reminded him.

Adrian’s smirk curled into something more sinister.

He stepped forward, gripping the arms of my chair and leaning in so close that I could smell the acrid scent of alcohol on his breath.

"Let you go?" Adrian laughed darkly. "Did you really think you could humiliate me and walk away unscathed?"

I frowned. "What the hell are you talking about?"

Adrian’s expression darkened. "Don’t play dumb. In front of everyone at the dining hall—you made a fool of me. You should’ve been mine, Noah."

My stomach twisted in revulsion. "I was never yours, Adrian. And you need to understand what it means when someone tells you no,” I told him firmly.

Adrian didn’t want me. Not really. I doubted he even understood what want or love truly meant.

To him, desire wasn’t about connection or choice—it was about possession, about taking something simply because he could. Because he felt entitled to it.

I wasn’t special to Adrian. I was just another thing he wanted to claim, another way to prove himself superior.

His fixation on me had never been about me as a person. It had never been about the way I laughed, the things I loved, or the moments that made me who I was.

No, this was about control. About power.

Jackson and Adrian had been at odds since we were kids. An intense rivalry had sparked between them early on, fueled by their fathers, their packs.

What Jackson had, Adrian probably coveted. That was all I was to him. A prize.

Something to steal. Something to tarnish just to prove that he could. And that thought chilled me to the bone.

Adrian’s eyes flashed with something dangerous. His fingers tightened on the chair, and for a brief second, I wondered if he would strike me.

Instead, his gaze dropped, and my blood ran cold as I realized what he was staring at.

The mate mark.

Jackson’s mark.

A slow, seething rage twisted Adrian’s features. "Jackson wasted no time claiming you," he spat. "Is that what this was? Some grand scheme to humiliate me? To insult my pack?"

I stared at him incredulously. "Are you even listening to yourself? That’s insane. You’re making up some delusional conspiracy just to justify being a sick bastard."

Adrian’s hand snapped up, gripping my jaw with bruising force.

"Watch your mouth," he snarled. His nails dug into my skin, forcing my head back. "Jackson isn’t here to save you."

My wolf howled in my chest, fighting against the drugged weakness still weighing me down.

My instincts screamed at me to fight, to get out of this, but I wasn’t sure how much strength I had left.

I didn’t need Jackson to save me, I wanted to retort.

Admittedly, I could use his back-up right about now but saying that might only trigger Adrian further, so I kept my mouth shut instead.

Adrian’s grip tightened before he abruptly released me, shoving my head back. I sucked in a breath, my jaw throbbing, but I didn’t let him see how much it hurt.

The other wolf stepped back, dragging a hand through his hair. He exhaled harshly, as if he were struggling to contain something dark and twisted inside himself.

"You could’ve had everything with me," Adrian muttered. "But instead, you chose that bastard Jackson."

I met his gaze with nothing but defiance. "I never chose you, Adrian. And I never would."

Adrian’s lips curled in a snarl. "You’re going to regret those words, little wolf."

I thought of Jackson—of the way my entire being, both my human and wolf side, had lit up the moment we reunited after all those years apart.

The pull between us had been undeniable, something deep and unshakable, as if the universe had been waiting for us to come back together.

Even after all the time that had passed, there was no hesitation, no doubt. Just recognition. Just home.

I thought about how unexpectedly thoughtful he was, how he paid attention in ways I never expected. How he always seemed to know when I needed space and when I needed him close.

Being with him felt right. It felt good in a way that nothing else ever had. There was no effort, no uncertainty—it was just us. Easy, unforced.

A bond that had always been there, waiting for us to embrace it. And I had embraced it. Completely.

It had been so easy to picture a future with him.

To imagine waking up to his warmth beside me, to think about what it would mean to build a life together, to have something real and lasting.

But that future—our future—was at risk now.

If Adrian had his way, if he took his obsession too far, I might never get the chance to tell Jackson everything I wanted to.

My heart pounded as I focused on the incomplete mate mark, the connection that still wasn’t fully formed between us.

If the bond had been complete, I might have already felt Jackson searching for me, his emotions pressing against mine, desperate and wild.

But it wasn’t, and I had no way of knowing if he even realized I was gone. Still, I had to try.

I focused everything I had on the mark, reaching out through the fragile thread of our bond, willing him to hear me, to feel me. To find me before it was too late.