The universe contracted to the shining tip of the knife. Valerius charged, a hunter closing for the kill. In the briefest of moments, the fear that had immobilized Aria exploded apart, giving way to a tide of raw, unfiltered instinct. Selene thundered to the front, no longer a voice but a tangible presence. Defend the pup!

Aria leapt to one side, the assassin's knife slicing through the air where her heart had been a moment before. Her own foot slid on the loose scree at the cliff's edge, sending pebbles tumbling down the gulf below. She fought her way back, gaining valuable inches of ground, her small hunting knife held tightly in her hand. It was a poor defense against three professional fighters, but she would die with fangs showing, not as a sacrificial lamb.

The other two assassins stepped into position beside her, their movements practiced and ruthless. They were moving her into the corner. Valerius smiled at her desperation. He pretended to shift to the left, and as she followed, he swung the pommel of his sword in a cruel arc, striking her arm. A cry of agony ripped across her lips as her knife fell from her fingers, her arm protesting in agony.

It's over," growled Valerius, advancing to give the fatal blow.

But he was wrong. A sound ripped through the woods, a sound that was not that of the Nightbane wolves. It was a growl, a low guttural growl that vibrated in the very air, a threat of brutality so dark it shook the earth.

From the shadows of the ancient pines, a figure burst into the clearing. A wolf, but a wolf of a size Aria had never dreamed. It was a creature of black muscle and fur, larger than any Alpha's wolf, its eyes glowing like liquid gold. It arrived with the unnatural speed of a viper striking, a flash of black fury that knocked one of the flanking assassins off his feet before the man had even raised a hand to defend himself.

The cracking of bone was horribly loud, followed by a gagging, wet gurgle. The man was dead before his corpse hit the forest floor.

Valerius and the other warrior gazed in horror, their pride overwhelmed by raw fear. This was no renegade. The uncontrolled, animal strength emanating from the creature in waves was the one and only mark of an Alpha—of immense power.

The great black wolf turned its attention to the last warrior, its lips drawn back in a snarl of dagger-like teeth. Valerius did not have time to give the command before the wolf was upon him, a whirlwind of claws and fury. The fight was a vicious, animal thing that was over in an instant. The black wolf stood over the second body, its chest heaving, its muzzle smeared crimson.

Valerius alone was left, his face white and shaking, his sword uncertainly held before him. The great wolf fixed its golden gaze on him, and a menacing growl churned in its chest. Then, in a motion that seemed impossible, a seamless, fluid movement that belied all credulity, the shape of the wolf seemed to shimmer and change. Bones stretched, muscle rippled, and where the beast had been, a man now stood to his full, towering height.

He was lean and tall, with shaggy, black hair that fell over a furrowed brow bent with dangerous intent. His eyes, the fiery gold of the wolf, were keen and cunning. He was naked as a jaybird, seemingly unconcerned with cold or gore that surrounded him. He had a quiet, deadly power.

"You're far from home, Nightbane dog," the stranger said, his words a low, gravelly tone that shared the same threatening hum as his growl.

Valerius swallowed hard, his eyes going wide. "Alpha Stormfang," he gasped, the name a curse. He finally understood. They had forded the river. They were in hostile lands.

"You hunt upon my land," Kael Stormfang spoke, his tone falsely soft. "You draw blood on my land. Give me one reason that I should not add yours to the count."

"She is an exile!" Valerius stuttered, flailing his arm wildly at Aria. "By Alpha Nightbane's decree. She is a traitor, an omega packless. She has no protection!"

Kael's golden eyes flicked to Aria for the first time. He saw her rough-hewn face, defiance and fear struggling in her face, the way she clutched the broken arm to her body. His gaze lingered for an instant, an unreadable intensity in their depths, before he turned to Valerius.

"She is on my land," he reiterated, every word dripping with icy finality. "That makes her my business. Now, remove your dead and leave my sight before I reconsider."

Valerius needed no more than two words. One last poisonous glance at Aria, and he and his final co-conspirator scooped up their dead cohorts and vanished among the trees, leaving behind an eerie stillness.

The clearing was quiet, aside from the sound of the river far away and the rasp of her own breathing. The stranger, Kael, finally turned his full attention to her. He moved with the ease of a predator, drawing out a pair of leather breeches from a pack hidden at the base of a tree and tying them on before moving toward her slowly, not wanting to scare a cornered animal.

You're hurt?" he said, his eyes locked on her arm.

Aria stepped back, her heart racing. She had merely exchanged one group of captors for another. This was an enemy Alpha, a man whose pack her own had fought for centuries. He was no hero.

I'm all right," she said, her voice strained.

A ghost of a smile flickered on his lips. "You don't look fine." He stopped a few feet from her, his golden eyes sweeping her from head to toe. It was an evaluating, piercing look that seemed to see right through her, to the secrets she was so eager to keep concealed. He tilted his head to one side, a flash of something—curiosity? recognition?—crossing his features. "Your scent… you are the one Damian Nightbane abandoned."

It wasn't a query. The humiliation of it, that she was shamed in the first place, burned her again. "What is it to you?" she retorted.

"Nothing," he shrugged, but his eyes said otherwise. "Aside from the fact that his stupidity has landed a very interesting little wolf on my doorstep." He gestured to them, around them, to the wild, untamed forest. "You won't last another day out here alone. His killers won't be the last to come after you."

He was correct, and she understood that. But to believe him was another sort of death.

He saw the fight in her eyes. "I am offering you a choice," he said to her, his voice softening almost imperceptibly. "You can stay out here and wait for the scavengers, or you can come with me. I will offer you the protection of my pack.".

She looked at him, this beautiful, dangerous Alpha who had come like a storm from the shadows. Protection. A term she had thought she would never hear once more. A lie. Alphas didn't protect, they possessed. But when she looked into his golden eyes, she saw her only hope for survival. For herself, and for the little, secret life she now carried. It was not a decision of hope, but of hard reality. Taking a shaky breath, she met his gaze, her mind set. I'll come with you.