Page 4

FOUR

KIERAN

K ieran remained motionless in his chair, the wooden wolf figure half-carved between his fingers forgotten as he watched her wake.

The sedative had worked precisely as expected—six hours of unconsciousness, just enough time to bring her to his sanctuary and prepare.

The cabin's single room felt smaller somehow with her in it, as if her presence expanded to fill every corner.

She sat up slowly, those remarkable green eyes—flecked with gold like sunlight through forest leaves—taking inventory of his space.

Kieran felt an unexpected vulnerability as she studied his belongings.

Each item she noticed seemed to expose another piece of him.

The worn leather of his favorite chair he was sitting in now, the carefully arranged first-edition books on his bookshelves against the wall, and the unfinished carving he'd been working on to calm his thoughts while she was asleep.

This was his refuge—the one place where he wasn't Kieran Silvercrest, heir to the Silvercrest Alpha. Just Kieran. And now she was here, disrupting everything.

The pull in his chest intensified as her gaze finally found him. Six hours of watching over her unconscious form had only confirmed what his wolf already knew the moment he caught her scent in the forest. Mate. The recognition hummed in his blood with primal certainty.

He'd spent years dismissing his father's lectures about finding a suitable female from an allied pack. Years deflecting the not-so-subtle matchmaking attempts from pack elders. Years ignoring the emptiness that plagued him even surrounded by his people.

And now his mate turned out to be human. A human who'd surely witnessed him shift, no less.

The corner of Kieran's mouth twitched at the memory of her fierce resistance when he'd captured her.

She'd landed a solid right hook to his jaw—a jaw that had withstood blows from fully shifted Alphas.

He'd been more surprised than hurt, but the audacity of it.

.. No one challenged him that way. No one dared.

She had no idea who he was, and what power he wielded in his world. The realization was strangely freeing.

Her eyes narrowed as she assessed him, probably reasoning why she was here and calculating escape options. Kieran shifted his weight slightly, a subtle reminder of his position between her and the door. Her gaze flicked toward the window instead, as if measuring distance and drop height.

Clever little thing, aren't you?

Something flickered in those green eyes—not fear, but curiosity. Scientific interest rather than self-preservation. That was... unexpected. Dangerous yet fascinating.

The scent of her filled his nostrils—earth and wildflowers with a hint of vanilla. Clean, natural, and perfect. His wolf strained beneath his skin, desperate to claim, to mark, and to protect.

Kieran suppressed a growl. He had to be careful. She was human. Fragile. And yet the beast inside him recognized her on a level deeper than conscious thought.

The protocol was clear—eliminate the threat. But the moment he caught her sweet scent in that forest, everything had changed. The magnetic pull, the electric recognition, and the sense of rightness that penetrated to his bones... it couldn't be denied.

Kieran's wolf howled silently. Mine.

The silence in the cabin snapped like a tripwire.

"Who the hell are you, and why did you kidnap me?" Her voice filled the room, sharp as a blade. "I saw you on my footage. You were changing—into a wolf. What are you? Some kind of experiment? Military project? And what exactly do you plan to do with me now?"

Kieran's eyebrows rose slightly at the barrage of questions.

His wolf stirred, intrigued by her fierceness.

Most humans cowered in the presence of predators, even when they didn't consciously recognize them as such.

Yet here she was, her copper hair catching the dying firelight from his fireplace, challenging him with those remarkable green eyes.

"One question at a time," Kieran said, his voice deliberately calm, a counterpoint to her intensity. He set the half-carved wolf figurine aside and leaned forward. "My name is Kieran Silvercrest. My family has lived in these mountains for generations."

"That's not what I asked." She crossed her arms, her jaw set in defiance. The subtle flex of her forearms suggested she was calculating how hard she'd need to hit him to gain advantage. "I saw you. On my camera."

Kieran maintained his steady gaze. "You saw a man walking in the woods at night. Nothing more."

"I know what I saw." Her chin lifted, revealing the elegant line of her throat. "The footage shows you beginning to transform."

"Cameras malfunction." He shrugged one broad shoulder. "Especially in this remote location."

"So you're denying it?" Her eyes narrowed, challenging him openly. "I'm a scientist. I trust evidence, not convenient explanations."

The corners of Kieran's mouth quirked up. She was smart—dangerously so. His wolf preened at the idea of a worthy mate, one who wouldn't be easily deceived or controlled.

"I brought you here because you were trespassing," he deflected. "These lands aren't open to the public. We don't take kindly to strangers setting up surveillance equipment on our property."

Her freckles stood out against her pale skin as she flushed with indignation. "I wasn't on private property. I checked the land surveys."

"You checked wrong." Kieran stood, unfolding his tall frame slowly, a deliberate display of physical dominance. The move brought him closer to her, and the scent of her—wildflowers and determination—hit him harder. "Your turn. Who are you?"

Their proximity seemed to register with her, but she didn't cower. Instead, she leaned her weight forward slightly on the bed, as if accepting his unspoken challenge.

"Dr. Maya Collins. I have a PhD in Wildlife Biology specializing in wolf pack dynamics and communication patterns." Her voice took on a different quality when she spoke of her work—passion threading through the anger. "I've been tracking unusual wolf packs in these mountains for several weeks."

Unusual wolf packs. Kieran nearly laughed aloud. If only she knew she was looking at the son of one of the Alphas she'd been studying.

"And what makes them unusual, Dr. Collins?" He couldn't resist asking, amused by the irony.

"Their behavior is too sophisticated." Her eyes lit up, professional excitement momentarily replacing her wariness of him. "Their pack dynamics show almost human-like decision-making patterns. They're displaying intelligence beyond anything documented in scientific literature."

Kieran bit back a smile. She was describing pack meetings and territory patrols, seeing only the shadow of his world projected against her human understanding. The wolf inside him rumbled with satisfaction at her unwitting compliment.

"Fascinating theory," he said, stepping closer still, deliberately invading her space. "Except wolves are just wolves. Maybe you're seeing what you want to see."

"I don't make that mistake." Her breathing quickened, but she held her ground. "I record observable facts. And one of those facts is that you were turning into something not human on my camera."

The tension between them crackled like static electricity. He was close enough now that he could count each freckle scattered across her nose, and close enough that his heightened senses could detect the adrenaline coursing through her veins.

"You should be more careful about the conclusions you draw, Maya," he said, her name rolling off his tongue like something to be savored. "There are things in these mountains older and more dangerous than scientific curiosity."

Maya rose up on her knees on the bed, bringing herself nearly eye-level with him. The movement was bold and deliberate—a challenge he found both infuriating and intoxicating.

"And you should be more careful about who you kidnap, Kieran," she fired back, her voice low and steady.

The sound of his name on her lips sent a jolt through him that was almost physical.

Her scent intensified with her defiance—wild and untamed—and his wolf surged forward, demanding he claim what was his.

Kieran clenched his jaw, fighting back the primal instinct to pull her against him and to press his mouth to hers, and taste the fire he sensed beneath her cool exterior.

Six generations of Alpha blood roared in his veins, urging him to dominate and to possess. With supreme effort, he leashed the beast within, though his eyes flashed silver for the briefest moment before he regained control.

"You must be hungry," he said, deliberately changing course. "You've been unconscious for six hours."

Her eyes widened slightly. "What the hell did you give me?"

"Something harmless. Something that ensured you wouldn't remember the route here." Kieran stepped back, needing distance before he did something irreversible. "I brought your backpack. It seemed important to you."

Relief flickered across her face, softening her defiant posture. "Where is it?"

Kieran gestured to the worn leather bag he'd placed carefully on his desk. He'd noticed how she'd instinctively reached for it even as she started to lose consciousness. Something protective had stirred in him then—a strange, unfamiliar desire to preserve what mattered to her.

"Thank you," she said, the first words without challenge behind them. "My research notes are in there. My observations."

"Your theories about wolves who aren't just wolves?" He couldn't help the slight smirk that tugged at his mouth.

She narrowed her eyes. "My evidence."

Kieran moved to the small kitchenette tucked into the corner of his cabin. The urge to provide for her hit him with unexpected force—a deep, primal need to demonstrate his ability to care for her needs. He'd never felt this with anyone before, this bone-deep impulse to protect and nourish.

"Turkey or ham?" he asked, pulling bread from a small cabinet.

"I... turkey, I guess."

He assembled the sandwich with precise movements, aware of her eyes tracking him. His wolf preened under her attention, showing off as he sliced the bread with a hunting knife he kept razor-sharp.

"I brew my own beer," he said, nodding toward a bottle on the counter. "But water might be better after the sedative."

"Drugging me and then offering refreshments." Maya's voice carried a sardonic edge. "Such a thoughtful kidnapper."

Kieran turned, sandwich plate in one hand, water bottle in the other. "I prefer to think of it as protective custody."

"Is that what you call abduction where you come from?" She hadn't moved from her kneeling position on the bed, still maintaining that small height advantage. The stubborn tilt of her chin stirred something primal in him.

"Where I come from, trespassing has more severe consequences than a nap and a sandwich." He set both items on the small table beside the bed, close enough for her to reach but not crowding her space.

She eyed the food but didn't immediately take it. Smart. Cautious.

"I didn't poison it," he said, reading her hesitation. "If I wanted you dead, I wouldn't waste my food."

Her eyes met his, searching for truth. "Why am I here, Kieran? Really? If this is about the cameras, I can remove them."

The genuine confusion in her voice punched through his defenses.

She truly had no idea what she'd stumbled into—or what she was to him.

The revelation should have simplified things, but instead, it complicated everything.

How could he explain that by shifter law, she should be dead, but by something older and deeper than law, she was his?

"Eat," he said, the command instinctive. His voice softened as he added, "We have a lot to discuss, and it will go better if you're not hungry."