Page 9

EIGHT

KIERAN

M aya's question hung in the air as he caged her against the living room wall.

The heat of her body radiated through her thermal shirt, and her scent of wildflowers and vanilla wound through his senses, tangled with something else—something wild that called to the primal part of him.

His wolf strained against his human skin, desperate to claim what it already recognized as theirs.

"What are you to me?" he repeated, his voice softening to a dangerous whisper.

Before he could tell her, the cabin door exploded inward. Splinters flew as three large men burst through, their eyes glowing amber in the dim light.

Kieran whirled, immediately pushing Maya behind him with one powerful arm. His muscles coiled tight, ready to spring.

"Silvercrest," the tallest intruder snarled, his broad shoulders nearly filling the doorframe. "You're trespassing on Granite Ridge territory."

"This cabin is mine," Kieran said, his voice deadly calm despite the rage building in him. These wolves had the audacity to invade his space and threaten what was his. "I built it during my exile years."

"With outdated permission." The second wolf, lean with short hair, circled to the right. "And harboring a human spy? That's a violation of shifter law."

"She's under my protection." The words came out as a growl, his eyes flashing silver.

The third shifter, stocky with a jagged scar across his throat, chuckled. "Your father's going to love hearing that his precious heir is harboring humans. Hand her over and nobody has to get hurt."

Kieran felt Maya's fingers dig into his back, her heartbeat thundering against him. She'd seen his journals and knew exactly what "handing her over" meant in their shifter world.

"Not happening," Kieran growled, his lips pulling back to reveal teeth that were already sharpening.

The stocky wolf smirked. "We've been watching you for an hour, Silvercrest. Saw your brother leave. It's three against one."

Kieran's mind raced, calculating angles, distances, and weaknesses. They'd been watching the cabin—waiting for Malcolm to leave. Smart. But not smart enough.

"Maya," he murmured, not taking his eyes off the intruders, "when I move, get behind the couch."

"What are you going to?—"

"Trust me." The plea in his voice surprised even him.

The leader stepped forward. "Last chance, Silvercrest. Give us the human. She's been snooping around our territory for weeks. The Council will want her silenced properly."

Kieran's wolf surged forward, riding a wave of protective fury. No one was taking her. No one was hurting her. She was his .

"You know what your problem is?" Kieran rolled his shoulders, feeling the shift beginning to ripple beneath his skin. "You think because I'm a Silvercrest, I play by the old rules."

With blinding speed, he lunged for the lamp on the end table and hurled it at the window. Glass shattered as thunder crashed overhead.

"Maya, now!"

The cabin erupted into chaos. Maya dove behind the couch as Kieran met the first attacker head-on. His black henley stretched across his shoulders as he drove his fist into the tall shifter's solar plexus, following with an uppercut that sent the man staggering back.

The lean wolf leaped over the coffee table, his fingers already extending into claws. Kieran caught his arm mid-swing, using the momentum to slam him into the wall with enough force to crack the wooden panels.

"You touch what's mine," Kieran snarled, his voice deepening as the shift crawled through him, "you die."

The stocky one circled behind, trying to reach Maya. Kieran whirled, his eyes blazing silver, and caught him by the throat. With a roar that shook the cabin, he hurled the shifter across the room, sending him crashing into his companions.

"She's just a human," the leader spat, blood trickling from his mouth as he struggled to his feet. "Since when does the Silvercrest heir care about them?"

"Since this one," Kieran growled, feeling his bones begin to crack and reform.

The three wolves exchanged glances, realizing too late what they were witnessing. The silver fire in Kieran's eyes, the protective stance, and the uncontrolled fury.

"By the moon," the lean one whispered. "She's his mate."

Kieran's lips pulled back in a snarl, revealing teeth that were now sharpened to deadly points. "And you're dead men."

The shift tore through him like wildfire, more powerful than any he'd experienced before. His body knew what was at stake. This wasn't just territory or pride—this was his mate. His. The primal knowledge blazed through his veins hotter than the burning feeling of transformation.

He dropped to all fours as his transformation accelerated.

His clothing split along the seams as muscle and bone reconfigured, his spine elongating with a series of wet cracks that echoed through the cabin.

Midnight-black fur erupted through his skin, and his jaw extended with a pop that would have made him howl instinctively if he weren't focused entirely on the threat before him.

He felt Maya's eyes on him from behind the couch.

He could detect with his heightened senses her fear, her fascination, and her heartbeat racing with a cocktail of terror and something else.

Something that called to his wolf. Her scent spiked with adrenaline, an intoxicating perfume that only fueled his rage.

The stocky wolf broke first, lunging forward with a roar as his own shift began.

But Kieran was faster. His transformation complete, he launched himself across the room—a massive black wolf with silver-blue eyes that gleamed like arctic ice.

His jaws clamped around the attacker's forearm with bone-crushing force.

Blood sprayed across the cabin floor. The stocky wolf howled in agony.

"Kill him!" the leader shouted, his own clothes tearing as he began to shift.

Kieran released the stocky wolf's mangled arm and pivoted, dodging the leader's attack.

His wolf moved with a grace his human form could never match, muscles coiling and releasing with lethal precision.

He felt invincible, empowered by Maya's presence and the primal instinct to protect what was his.

The lean wolf circled toward the couch where Maya had pressed herself into the corner, her eyes wide with shock and awe.

Don't you fucking touch her, Kieran snarled, the words emerging telepathically. Understanding flashed in the lean wolf's eyes.

Kieran launched himself over the coffee table, a black blur of fur and fangs.

He caught the lean wolf mid-shift, tearing into the exposed flesh of his throat.

Blood gushed, hot and metallic, filling Kieran's mouth as they crashed into the wall.

The wolf's dying whimper cut short as Kieran ripped through his jugular.

One down.

Pain exploded across Kieran's flank as the leader—now fully shifted into a massive brown wolf—tore into him. Teeth sank deep into his shoulder, scraping bone. Kieran twisted, snapping his jaws at his attacker, but the wolf danced away.

The cabin became a battlefield of snarls and blood. Fur flew as claws tore flesh. The stocky wolf, having completed his shift into a mottled gray beast, joined the fray. They coordinated their attack, one from each side.

Kieran's mind calculated even as his wolf raged. He feinted toward the leader, then spun with unnatural speed to catch the stocky wolf across the muzzle. His teeth tore through sensitive tissue, and the wolf recoiled with a yelp.

The momentary advantage was enough. Kieran pressed forward, driving the wounded wolf back until his haunches hit the overturned table. The wolf stumbled, and Kieran struck—his jaws closing around the wolf's throat in a killing blow.

Blood filled his mouth as he crushed the wolf's windpipe, but white-hot pain lanced through him as the leader's teeth tore into his hindquarters. Kieran released his kill and whirled, his hackles raised, blood dripping from his muzzle.

He caught Maya's scent again—that undeniable pull that he'd felt since he first tracked her in the forest tightening in his chest. Her presence steadied him, even as blood soaked his midnight fur.

She wasn't screaming. Wasn't running away.

She was watching, her scientist's mind processing even through her fear.

You'll die for her? the leader growled in the telepathic language of wolves. Throw away your birthright for a human ?

Kieran's eyes narrowed, the silver-blue burning brighter. Without hesitation .

They circled each other, wounded predators leaving crimson trails on the hardwood floor. Kieran felt his strength ebbing from the deep gashes along his flank and hindquarters. But his resolve hardened. He would not fall. Not with her watching. Not with her safety at stake.

With a roar, Kieran lunged forward in a final, desperate attack.

The leader met him head-on. They collided in a tangle of teeth and claws, rolling across the floor in a deadly dance.

Pain exploded through Kieran's body as teeth found his throat, but he twisted, freeing himself just enough to sink his fangs into the leader's exposed belly.

Kieran tore upward, ripping through vital organs. The leader's howl became a gurgle as blood filled his lungs. His grip on Kieran weakened and the leader's eyes dimmed.

Kieran pushed the dying wolf off him and struggled to his four feet. His four legs trembled with exhaustion. Blood—his and his enemies'—matted his fur. Each breath came as a labored rasp.

But he was alive. And Maya—his Maya—was safe.

He turned toward the couch, his eyes meeting hers. Would she run now? Scream? See him as a monster?

The shift back to human form rippled through him, painful with his injuries.

Bones cracked and realigned, fur receded into skin slick with blood, and his massive wolf frame condensed into his human body.

The pain was excruciating, but he forced himself through it, never breaking eye contact with Maya.

When the transformation completed, he stood naked and bleeding before her, his broad shoulders heaving with each ragged breath. The gashes on his shoulder and thigh pulsed with fresh blood. The cabin floor beneath him became slick with crimson.

But it was her expression that stole whatever breath remained in his lungs.

Maya watched him with eyes wide and clear—no fear, no disgust, just pure fascination. Her scientist mind seemed to catalog every detail while something deeper, more primal, seemed to recognize what he was on an instinctual level.

"You understand now," he whispered, his deep voice cracking with disbelief.

She stepped from behind the couch, moving toward him with careful steps. "The apex predator hiding in human skin." Her voice held wonder rather than terror. "You're magnificent."

His legs finally gave out. Kieran crashed to his knees, the room spinning around him as blood loss took its toll. His hand pressed against the deep wound in his thigh, but it was useless—too much blood was trying to escape.

"Worth it," he growled to himself, a primal satisfaction warming him despite the growing cold in his limbs. He'd protected what was his. Three enemies dead at his feet. His sanctuary defended. His mate safe.

Maya rushed to him, kneeling in the blood without hesitation. Her hands—those delicate, scientific hands that had so meticulously set up cameras to study wolves—now pressed firmly against his wounds.

"Stay with me," she commanded, her voice stronger than he'd expected. "Focus on my voice."

His eyes locked onto her face—those copper-flecked green eyes, those freckles scattered across her nose, and that determined set to her jaw. Even covered in his blood, she was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen.

"Never thought..." he murmured, reaching up to brush a strand of hair from her face, leaving a smear of blood across her cheek. "Never thought I'd find you."

"Find me? What do you mean?" She tore strips from her shirt, pressing them against his wounds.

The room darkened at the edges of his vision. His wolf howled inside him fighting against the growing weakness, desperate to stay conscious, to protect and to claim what was his.

"Should've known," he whispered, a ghost of a smile touching his bloodied lips. "Red hair. Like fire. Like you."

Maya cradled his head in her lap as he slipped sideways, no longer able to stay upright. Her scent enveloped him—wildflowers, vanilla, and something wild that called to his wolf. Something that had always been there, waiting for him to find it.

"Kieran, stay with me. You're healing somehow. I can see it and I can sense it." Her voice trembled now, her scientific detachment cracking.

His eyes fluttered. The darkness pressed closer. As consciousness slipped away, his wolf released the one truth that mattered.

"Mate," he breathed, his final conscious word both a revelation and a promise to her.