The silver arrow screamed through the dark.

Rowan’s world slowed to the space of a heartbeat. She saw the shaft gleaming, the fletching spinning, Cade’s grin fixed like he’d already won. She felt the air tighten around her chest, breath locked, ribs frozen.

Then Adrian moved.

He slammed into her with brutal force, knocking her sideways. The world tilted. Her shoulder crashed against the brick wall as Adrian’s body pressed hard into hers.

The arrow struck.

A sharp sound metallic, splintering burst against stone. Sparks spat inches from her head where the tip was embedded deep in the wall.

Rowan’s ears rang. Her throat clamped shut. For a long second, she didn’t breathe.

Then Adrian’s voice cut through, low and harsh, right against her ear.

“Stay down.”

His body held hers against the wall, heavy, bleeding, but still unshaken.

Cade cursed from across the alley. “Missed.” His voice was ragged with fury.

Rowan’s stomach lurched. Cade never missed.

Another arrow rasped against the string. She knew the sound as well as her own heartbeat. Her cousin would reload and loose before she even blinked.

Adrian stepped back just enough to shift in front of her again, his shoulder squared like a shield. His blood smeared across her jacket, hot against her skin.

Rowan’s chest heaved. “You can’t ”

“Shut up,” Adrian growled.

Rowan’s pulse roared in her ears. Her cousin. Her blood. Aimed to kill.

Cade’s voice carried sharp. “You think you can protect her, dog? You’re already bleeding out. One more shot and you’re finished.”

Adrian’s lips peeled back in something between a grin and a snarl. “Then shoot me.”

Cade’s arrow gleamed, knocked and ready. He took a slow step forward, boots grinding on broken glass.

“Move, Rowan,” he said, his grin curling wider. “Last chance. Step aside, and you can pretend none of this happened.”

Rowan’s heart slammed. Pretend? Like Cade wouldn’t run back to her father with this story, dripping with venom. Like her family wouldn’t drag her through the dirt for standing here now.

Her hands pressed against the rough brick behind her, nails scraping mortar. Adrian blocked her from Cade’s aim, chest rising and falling hard. Blood streaked his arm, his shirt torn wide.

Rowan whispered, “He’ll kill you.”

Adrian didn’t look back. “Better me than you.”

Something sharp twisted in her chest.

Cade snorted. “How romantic. Should I give you two a moment before I put him down?”

Rowan snapped, “Shut up, Cade.”

His grin froze. His eyes narrowed. “Say that again.”

Rowan forced herself upright, even with Adrian pressing her back. Her voice shook, but she made herself hold Cade’s gaze. “I said shut up.”

The bowstring creaked as he drew it tighter. “You really have no idea what you’ve just done, do you?”

“Yeah,” Rowan spat. “I chose not to be your shadow.”

Cade laughed, but the sound was sharp, joyless. “You’re not my shadow, Rowan. You’re my example. My warning.” His grin cut across his face, vicious. “When I drag you back, Dad’s gonna carve that wolf-lust right out of you.”

Her stomach lurched. Her mouth went dry.

Adrian’s growl vibrated through the narrow alley, low and dangerous. “You won’t touch her.”

Cade’s eyes glittered. “You’re not gonna stop me.”

The bowstring twanged.

Rowan shoved off the wall without thinking, colliding with Adrian’s back just as the silver arrow flew.

It tore past his side, grazing his ribs. A hiss of smoke curled from the wound where the metal kissed skin. Adrian grunted, dropping to one knee, breath shuddering.

“Adrian!” Rowan’s voice cracked, panic raw in her throat.

Cade’s laughter rang sharp, cruel. “Look at that. All it took was one scratch.”

Rowan spun toward him, rage breaking through her fear. “Stop it!”

He sneered. “You sound just like him.”

Her stomach twisted.

Adrian staggered back to his feet, fangs flashing now, his eyes burning with gold. The air shifted heavily, electrocute the wolf, bleeding through his skin.

“Last warning,” Adrian snarled, voice distorted, deeper than human.

Cade smirked and drew another arrow. “Then I guess this is my last warning too.”

Rowan’s pulse hammered. She couldn’t let either of them take the shot. If Cade landed true, Adrian was finished. If Adrian snapped, Cade was dead.

Her family. Her enemy. Both about to destroy each other and her with them.

Rowan stepped forward, arms out, forcing herself between them.

“No!” she shouted.

Cade’s arrow wavered, his eyes narrowing. “Rowan, move.”

Adrian’s chest heaved behind her, heat radiating from him, claws half-bared.

She shook her head, voice trembling but fierce. “You want him, you’ll have to go through me.”

For the first time, Cade’s smirk faltered. “You can’t mean that.”

Rowan swallowed hard. “Try me.”

For one fragile second, the alley went still.

Rowan’s chest rose and fell, her arms locked out, a barrier between the two people who could ruin her life in different ways.

Cade’s jaw ticked. His arrowhead gleamed a breath from her heart.

“You think he won’t tear you apart the second you drop your guard?” His voice was low, trembling with fury. “You’re a fool, Rowan. Worse, you're a traitor.”

Behind her, Adrian’s growl deepened. The sound vibrated through her spine, animal and raw.

Rowan forced her voice steady. “I’m not a traitor.”

“Then prove it.” Cade’s eyes burned. “Step aside. Let me finish him.”

Her throat closed. Images flashed Adrian’s blood on the pavement, Cade’s smirk when he dragged her back, her father’s face when he learned.

“No,” she whispered.

Cade’s face twisted. His arm drew back, bowstring creaking. “Then you’re no better than him.”

Rowan’s stomach lurched. She saw the decision in his eyes before it happened. He wasn’t aiming at Adrian anymore.

He was aiming at her.

“Cade ” she gasped.

Adrian roared.

The air split as Adrian surged past her, claws flashing, body colliding with Cade in a blur of muscle and fury. The bow clattered to the ground as both of them slammed into the wall, teeth bared inches from Cade’s throat.

“Stop!” Rowan screamed, scrambling forward. “Adrian stop!”

But Adrian’s eyes were pure gold now, his breath sharp and ragged, his hand fisted in Cade’s collar. His fangs gleamed, dripping with hunger.

Rowan’s heart hammered. If he bit, Cade was gone.

And if he didn’t… Cade would never forgive her.

Adrian’s fangs hovered at Cade’s jugular, close enough that the pulse in his neck jumped against them.

“Adrian!” Rowan’s voice cracked. She grabbed his arm, nails digging into muscle slick with blood. “Don’t!”

Cade’s face flushed red, his hands clawing at Adrian’s grip. Still, his smirk didn’t falter. “Do it, mutt,” he rasped. “Go on. Prove me right.”

Adrian snarled, tightening his hold. The sound wasn’t human anymore. His shoulders shook with restraint or lack of it.

Rowan yanked harder. “If you kill him, they’ll never stop hunting you!” Her voice rose, raw, desperate. “They’ll never stop hunting me!”

Adrian’s head snapped toward her, eyes burning gold. For a terrifying heartbeat she thought he didn’t recognize her, that the wolf had swallowed him whole.

Then, with a guttural snarl, he shoved Cade back against the wall and released him.

Cade collapsed to his knees, gasping, clutching at his throat. His eyes lifted to Rowan, blazing with hatred.

“You,” he rasped, voice shredded. “You stopped him.”

Rowan’s breath came in ragged bursts. “Cade ”

He staggered to his feet, wiping blood from his mouth. The smirk returned, thinner, sharper. “Wait until Father hears. You think you’re protecting him?” He jabbed a finger at Adrian. “You just signed your own death warrant.”

Rowan’s chest seized.

Adrian stepped forward, growling low in his chest, but Rowan pressed her hand against him, stopping him.

Cade’s grin widened at the sight. “Exactly. Look at you. You don’t even know which side you’re on anymore.”

He snatched his bow from the ground, eyes never leaving hers. “See you at home, cousin.”

Then he backed out of the alley, arrow knocked but not loosed, his laughter echoing off the walls as he vanished into the night.

The silence that followed was unbearable. Rowan’s hand was still on Adrian’s chest, his heartbeat hammering beneath her palm.

Her whole body trembled.

She whispered, barely audible, “What have I done?”

Adrian’s hand closed gently over hers. His voice was hoarse, rough with both wolf and man.

“You chose.”

Rowan met his eyes golden still, not yet human.

And for the first time, she didn’t know if the thing staring back at her was going to save her… or devour her.

The alley felt smaller with Cade gone, his threats still vibrating in the walls he’d left behind.

Rowan’s back slid against the bricks until she was sitting on the cold ground, knees pulled up, arms shaking too hard to steady. Her breath came shallow, sharp. She hadn’t realized how close she’d come to dying until now.

Adrian crouched in front of her, his golden eyes dimming slowly back to human shadow. His blood smeared the collar of his torn shirt, dripping down his arm, but he didn’t flinch.

“You should’ve let me finish it,” he said softly.

Rowan’s head jerked up. “Finish it? He’s my cousin!”

Adrian’s gaze didn’t waver. “And he won’t stop until you’re on the ground. You saw it in his eyes.”

Her throat ached. He wasn’t wrong, but hearing it felt like a knife sliding under her ribs.

She buried her face in her hands for a moment, words muffled. “You don’t understand my family.”

Adrian leaned closer, his voice low, rough. “And you don’t understand mine. Survival doesn’t leave room for mercy.”

Her hands dropped. Their eyes locked hers rimmed with tears she refused to shed, his still glinting faintly gold. Too close. Too raw.

Rowan whispered, “If you’d killed him, there’d be no going back.”

Adrian’s lips twisted, a grim half-smile. “There already isn’t.”

Before she could answer, a sharp crack echoed in the distance the distinct sound of a gunshot. Not far.

Rowan’s stomach flipped. Reinforcements. Her family would be scouring the streets.

Adrian’s hand brushed her arm, urgency snapping into his voice. “We have to move. Now.”

Rowan hesitated, her heart splitting in two directions, running with him, or risk facing her father empty-handed.

Another gunshot split the night, closer this time.

Adrian’s grip tightened. His eyes burned into hers. “Choose again.”

Rowan’s lungs burned as the second gunshot echoed, ricocheting off the narrow alley walls. The city, already dark and claustrophobic, seemed to fold inward.

Adrian crouched low, head tilted, listening. His nostrils flared once. His voice dropped into a growl.

“They’re closing in. Three, maybe four. Armed.”

Her stomach lurched. “Cade, he called them.”

Adrian’s jaw tightened. “Of course he did.”

The alley stretched behind them into deeper shadow, a narrow escape route threaded with fire escapes and dumpsters. But the end was lit with the faint orange of headlights.

Rowan’s hands trembled as she pushed herself upright. “If they find us together ”

“They won’t.” Adrian grabbed her wrist, tugging her closer than she wanted to be, closer than she dared. His voice burned hot against her ear. “But only if you trust me.”

Her chest heaved. The warmth of his hand against her skin cut through the cold panic. He was bleeding. He was dangerous. He was the only thing keeping her alive.

“I don’t ” Her voice cracked. She hated that it cracked. “I don’t know if I can.”

Adrian’s eyes caught hers, molten, pulling her in. “You already did.”

A metallic click snapped down the alley, the unmistakable sound of a safety being flicked off.

“Rowan Quinn!” a man’s voice barked, sharp as a whip. “Step away from the wolf!”

Her blood turned to ice. It wasn’t Cade. It was worse.

Her father’s enforcer.

Adrian’s grip tightened, his chest pressing against hers, shielding her from the gun sight. His breath was steady, but his pulse thundered beneath her palm.

“Choose now,” he whispered.

The night held its breath.