“Out past midnight, Rowan?”

Her father’s voice haunted her memory with every step. She kept expecting to hear it behind her, sharp and commanding. But the only sounds were the city’s restless murmurs, the hum of a streetlamp, the distant bark of a dog, a car door slamming far away.

Rowan’s boots clicked against the cracked pavement as she slipped through the streets, her hands shoved into her jacket pockets. Empty pockets. For the first time since she was fifteen, no silver weighed against her side.

The city grid opened into a strange intersection: five narrow streets knifing together in sharp angles, the buildings leaning inward like jagged teeth. The place Adrian had described.

Rowan stopped at the center, heart pounding. The shadows seemed deeper here, the silence heavier.

Then a voice slid from the dark.

“You actually came.”

She spun. Adrian stepped out of the shadow of a crumbling building, hood pulled low. His eyes caught the faint light, not wolf-bright, not human-soft. Something between.

Rowan forced steel into her voice. “Why?”

He smiled faintly. “Why what?”

“Why call me here?”

“Because you wouldn’t stop hesitating.” He moved closer, hands still in his pockets. “I needed to see what you’d do when no one was watching.”

Rowan’s throat tightened. “And what do you see?”

Adrian’s gaze flicked to her sides, searching. “No knives.”

The air between them grew sharp. Rowan swallowed hard. “You told me not to bring them.”

“And you listened,” Adrian said softly. “That’s… interesting.”

Her pulse slammed. “Don’t play games with me.”

He tilted his head, eyes narrowing. “I’m not the one playing. You are. Pretending to be your father’s perfect soldier when you can barely look me in the eye without questioning everything he told you.”

Her chest tightened. “You don’t know anything about me.”

“Oh, I do.” Adrian stepped closer, so close she could see the faint scar at his jawline, the way his mouth curved like he was always on the edge of laughing or snarling. “You’re drowning in their rules. You want out. And the scariest part? You don’t know if you want out because of me.”

Rowan’s breath caught.

Adrian’s eyes gleamed, a wolf just beneath the surface. “Tell me I’m wrong. Right here. Right now. Say you don’t feel it.”

Her throat closed around the words. She hated herself for it, for the heat rising in her cheeks, for the way her pulse raced, not from fear but something more dangerous.

She didn’t speak.

And Adrian’s smile widened, slow and sharp.

“There it is,” he murmured.

Rowan took a step back, anger flaring. “This doesn’t change what you are.”

“No,” Adrian agreed, voice low. “But it changes what you are.”

Before she could answer, a rustle echoed from the far end of the intersection too heavy to be wind. A shadow shifted against the wall.

Adrian’s head snapped up. His smirk vanished.

Rowan’s blood ran cold.

They weren’t alone.

Rowan’s hand twitched toward her empty pocket before she remembered no knife.

Adrian noticed. His eyes flicked to her hip, then back to the shadows shifting at the edge of the intersection.

“Stay behind me,” he murmured.

Rowan bristled. “Excuse me?”

“You heard me.”

“I don’t take orders from you ”

The noise came again. A scrape of claws against pavement.

Rowan’s chest tightened. That sound wasn’t human.

Another figure peeled out of the shadows. Broad shoulders, eyes catching the lamplight with a yellow gleam. A wolf half-shifted, skin and fur merging grotesquely.

Rowan’s heart slammed. This wasn’t Adrian. This was something else.

The creature snarled, teeth flashing.

Adrian stepped forward, voice low and dangerous. “You’re not supposed to be here.”

The wolf sneered, words slurred but audible. “Neither are you.”

Rowan froze. Two wolves. One already pushing toward violence. The other her supposed enemy shielding her?

Her mind spun, but her body reacted. She backed up, boot catching a crack in the pavement.

The wolf’s head snapped toward her at the sound. Hunger flashed in its eyes.

Adrian moved fast, faster than Rowan could track. One second he was beside her, the next he was slamming the wolf into the wall with a force that shook the bricks.

“Run,” Adrian hissed over his shoulder.

Rowan’s pulse thundered. Run? Leave him? That was what her father would demand. Kill the wolf, save yourself.

But Adrian’s hand was already tangled in the creature’s throat, his other arm braced against the wall as the wolf thrashed.

And the words left her before she thought. “No.”

Both Adrian and the wolf froze for a heartbeat, surprised.

Then the wolf roared, breaking the moment.

Adrian snarled back, sound sharp and guttural, nothing human left in it. His teeth bared not just teeth. Fangs.

Rowan stumbled back, heart hammering. For the first time, she saw him for what he was. Not a boy with sharp eyes and a cruel smirk. A wolf.

But he was fighting for her.

The sound of claws on brick split the air as Adrian’s grip slipped. The half-shifted wolf raked a hand down his shoulder, tearing fabric, flesh, and blood in one brutal motion.

Adrian’s snarl deepened. His hood fell back, revealing his eyes blazing gold, his mouth splitting wider than human.

Rowan’s breath caught. He wasn’t hiding now. This wolf was raw, feral, terrifying.

The other wolf lunged again.

Rowan moved without thinking. Her hand shot to the pavement, fingers closing around a broken bottle glittering in the streetlight. She whipped it up just as the wolf turned toward her.

It leapt.

Rowan swung. Glass tore across its muzzle, sharp and shallow. Not silver, not lethal but enough to sting.

The creature roared, staggering back, giving Adrian just enough space. He slammed it to the ground, knee crushing its chest. His fangs snapped inches from its throat.

Rowan froze, bottle trembling in her hand. This was it. She’d seen this ending before. One clean bite and the wolf was finished.

But Adrian didn’t bite.

Instead, he whispered something harsh and guttural in a language Rowan didn’t recognize. The other wolf thrashed, growled, then shockingly went still.

For a beat, only Adrian’s ragged breathing filled the night.

Then he let go.

The wolf scrambled up, clutching its bleeding muzzle, and fled into the shadows. The sound of its claws faded, leaving silence.

Rowan stood frozen, chest heaving, the bottle shaking in her grip.

Adrian turned toward her, golden eyes fading back to dark. Blood streaked his shoulder, his chest rising and falling.

“You should’ve run,” he rasped.

Rowan tightened her grip on the glass. “And left you?”

“That’s what your father would’ve wanted.”

She flinched, pulse hammering. He was right. She knew he was right.

Adrian stepped closer, gaze fixed on her. “You’re not like them. You can’t keep pretending.”

Rowan’s breath hitched. Every instinct screamed to back away. But she didn’t move.

Instead, she whispered, “Why didn’t you kill him?”

Adrian’s eyes flickered. “Because he’s not the enemy.”

Rowan’s stomach twisted. “Then who is?”

Adrian leaned in, voice low, dangerous, intimate.

“Maybe you’ll find out when it’s too late.”

A sharp noise cracked the night boots on the pavement.

Rowan whipped her head toward the sound.

Cade.

He stepped out of the shadows at the edge of the intersection, bow in hand, arrow already knocked. His grin was sharp and vicious.

“Well, well,” he drawled. “Look what we’ve got here.”

Rowan’s blood turned to ice.

Cade’s grin widened as he drew the bowstring back, the arrowhead gleaming faintly in the streetlight. Silver-tipped.

“Step aside, Rowan,” he said, voice smooth and mocking. “Unless you’ve suddenly forgotten which side you’re on.”

Adrian shifted, half between her and the arrow. His breath came hard, his shoulder dripping blood. Still, his posture was steady and defiant.

Rowan’s throat locked. She should move. She should obey. But her feet wouldn’t.

“Rowan.” Cade’s tone hardened. “Get out of the way.”

Her heart pounded. Every lesson her father had drilled into her screamed obedience. Wolves were monsters. Wolves didn’t deserve mercy.

But Adrian’s voice cut through, low and raw. “If he shoots me, he’ll shoot you next.”

Cade chuckled. “Maybe. Depends which one of you disappoints the family more.”

The string drew tighter.

Rowan’s mind spun. If Cade loosed that arrow, Adrian would fall. And maybe maybe she would too.

Her fingers clenched around the bottle’s jagged neck. The choice rose before her, impossible and immediate: protect Adrian or step aside.

Cade’s eyes narrowed. “Three seconds, cousin. Then I decide for you.”

Rowan’s pulse roared in her ears.

One.

Her breath caught.

Two.

Her hand trembled.

Three

Rowan moved.

Rowan lunged.

Not away from Adrian toward Cade.

Her boots scraped the pavement as she hurled the broken bottle, glass spinning in the faint light.

Cade cursed and flinched, arrow jerking just as he released.

The silver tip whistled past Rowan’s cheek, so close it burned her skin, before burying itself deep in the wall behind. Sparks hissed off brick.

Rowan’s chest heaved. The broken bottle shattered harmlessly at Cade’s feet.

For a heartbeat, silence. The three of them froze, caught in the wreckage of that one instant.

Cade’s eyes snapped to hers, blazing with something worse than anger. Betrayal.

“You,” he hissed.

Rowan’s stomach dropped.

Adrian’s hand closed around her arm. His voice was sharp, urgent. “Run.”

And before she could protest, he yanked her into the dark.

Behind them, Cade’s roar split the night.

Adrian pulled her hard, faster than her legs wanted to move. Rowan’s boots pounded against the cracked pavement, her lungs burning with every breath.

Behind them, Cade’s voice tore through the night.

“ROWAN!”

The sound of his fury carried, echoing down the jagged streets. Another arrow hissed past, striking sparks against stone just inches from Adrian’s head.

“Left,” Adrian growled, yanking her down a narrow alley where the buildings leaned close, their windows black and watching.

Rowan stumbled, nearly falling, but Adrian’s grip held firm. Her chest heaved, heart racing not just from fear, but from what she’d done. She’d stood against Cade. Against her family.

Her cousin’s footsteps thundered after them, closer now, relentless.

Rowan gasped, “He won’t stop ”

Adrian’s voice was low, rough. “Then neither will I.”

Another arrow shattered glass beside her head. Shards rained down, catching in her hair.

Rowan whipped her head back for one breathless second just long enough to see Cade rounding the corner, face twisted in rage, bow raised again.

Adrian shoved her forward.

“Run, Rowan!”

The word cracked the night like a command, like a promise.

And Rowan ran.

Rowan’s lungs screamed. Every muscle begged her to stop, but Cade’s pounding footsteps wouldn’t let her. He was gaining.

Adrian yanked her around another turn, their boots splashing through a shallow puddle that reeked of rust and oil. The alley funneled tighter, the walls pressing in until it felt like stone jaws about to bite down.

Rowan’s heart sank. Dead end.

She spun, back against the wall, chest heaving. Adrian stood in front of her, shoulders squared, blood still dripping down his arm.

Cade burst into the alley, bow drawn, silver arrow gleaming. His grin was all teeth, no warmth.

“Well, cousin,” he panted, voice thick with satisfaction, “you’ve really done it this time.”

Rowan’s fingers scraped the wall behind her, searching for anything, any weapon, any way out. Nothing. Just crumbling brick and her own ragged breath.

Adrian’s voice cut the air, low and dangerous. “If you’re going to shoot, do it. But she walks away.”

Cade laughed a sharp, cruel sound. “That’s not how this works, mutt.” His gaze shifted to Rowan, and it was worse than the arrow. “Dad’s going to love hearing how I found you. Alone. With him.”

Her blood went cold.

Cade’s smirk deepened. “You’ll be lucky if he doesn’t gut you himself.”

The bowstring drew back, silver glinting in the dark.

Rowan’s chest tightened until she couldn’t breathe. Her choice was over. Cade was about to end it for both of them.

Adrian shifted, ready to spring

The arrow loosed.