Garrett Cole POV
Garrett walks out of the medical wing and his hands are shaking.
He hasn't let his hands shake in years. Not since he was twenty-five and took over a pack that was bleeding from the inside out. Not since he had to execute his own father's closest advisors for treason. Not since he learned that being an alpha meant burying every soft part of yourself and replacing it with steel.
But walking away from that woman just now nearly broke him.
She'd looked at him like he was a monster. And the worst part is she's right. He is. He's the Alpha of Blackthorn Pack. He's the one who crushed the last three alphas who challenged him. He's the one pack members whisper about in the dark, wondering if they'll survive disagreeing with him. He's not supposed to have feelings. He's supposed to have strategy.
Instead he found a dying wolf in the forest three days ago and everything changed.
Garrett heads toward his office, moving through the pack house hallways without really seeing them. Pack members scatter out of his way. They can feel the darkness coming off him like heat. They know better than to approach when he's like this.
Three days. That's all it took for her to destroy every rule he'd ever made.
He'd been out on the eastern border when the scouts reported an unfamiliar scent bleeding through their territory. Not quite an invader. Not quite a wanderer. Something else. Something wrong. Garrett had gone to check it out himself because that's what he does. He investigates threats personally.
What he found instead was her.
A white wolf with silver-streaked fur. Lying in a ravine with silver bullets embedded in her flesh. Her human skin pale and shaking. Her eyes barely open. Another few hours and she would have been dead. The silver poisoning would have eaten her from the inside and she would have died screaming in the dark.
Garrett had almost kept walking.
That was the smart move. That was the alpha move. An unknown wolf could be a scout. Could be a spy. Could be dangerous. He should have killed her. Should have burned the body. Should have left no evidence she'd ever existed.
Instead he'd knelt down and pulled the silver bullets out of her flesh with his teeth.
The pain had been hers but somehow it had become his too. She'd screamed and screamed and Garrett had held her and whispered that it would be okay. He'd tasted her blood. Metallic and pure and wrong. And the second her blood touched his tongue, he'd felt it. That shift. That recognition.
Not a mate bond. Mate bonds were supposed to feel like coming home. This was different. This was possessive. This was need. This was his wolf saying mine before his brain could catch up and tell him what a disaster that was.
Because her scent had become clear once the silver stopped burning him. Silvermoon Pack. And not just any Silvermoon wolf.
Luna.
He'd recognized the rank immediately. The way her bones had been shaped by generations of leading wolves. The authority that clung to her even while she was dying. She was someone important. Someone precious. Someone that belonged to the one pack that would burn everything to get her back.
Someone that belonged to Erik Blackwell.
Garrett reaches his office and closes the door hard enough that the windows rattle. He pours himself a drink he won't taste and stands at the window looking out at the forest where he'd found her.
Every decision he'd made since then had been wrong. Bringing her back to the pack house. Healing her with his alpha blood. Keeping her hidden instead of turning her over. Every choice had been the wrong one and he'd made them all anyway because his wolf wanted her breathing and alive and safe under his roof.
Now she was awake. Now she was asking questions he couldn't answer. Now she was looking at him like he was the monster instead of the one who saved her.
And the truth was she wasn't wrong.
A knock comes at his office door before it opens. Victor doesn't wait for permission. He never does. That's what being second-in-command means. That's what being the only person Garrett actually trusts means.
Victor is in his forties with grey starting to streak his hair. He's fought beside Garrett for seven years. He's kept him sane when Garrett wanted to lose himself in rage. He's also going to be furious about the decision Garrett just made.
"We need to talk about the woman," Victor says without preamble.
"No we don't," Garrett says quietly.
"The scouts are asking what you want to do with her. Half the pack thinks we should turn her over to Silvermoon and demand payment. The other half thinks we should use her as leverage. Everyone wants to know why the Alpha is protecting an enemy Luna instead of treating her like the strategic advantage she is."
Garrett doesn't turn around. He just stares out at the dark forest.
"And what do you think we should do?" he asks.
Victor moves deeper into the office. He's not afraid of Garrett even when he should be. That's one of the things Garrett respects about him.
"I think you're making a mistake," Victor says. "I think you're letting emotion override strategy. I think that woman is going to destroy everything you've built."
Now Garrett turns to look at him.
"Erik Blackwell is looking," Victor continues. "Our scouts have confirmed it. He's desperate. He's mobilizing forces. He's asking every contact he has where she could be. When he figures out she's here, he'll come with everything. He'll burn our territory to ash to get her back. And Garrett, I need to know if you're willing to go to war over a woman you found dying in the forest three days ago."
The question hangs in the air between them.
Garrett thinks about her face when she'd asked him who she was. The fear in her eyes. The confusion. The way she'd looked at him like he was both her savior and her worst nightmare. He thinks about how she'd tasted when he'd healed her. How right it felt to pull her into his bed and watch over her while she slept.
He thinks about the way his wolf had settled when he'd realized she was alive.
"Yes," Garrett says simply.
Victor's expression doesn't change but Garrett can feel the shock radiating off him.
"Yes what?" Victor asks carefully.
"Yes, I'm willing to go to war. Yes, I'm willing to burn everything. Yes, Erik can come with his entire pack and I'll fight until the last one of us is dead. That's my answer."
Victor steps back like Garrett just hit him.
"You can't be serious," Victor says.
"I'm completely serious."
"She's an enemy, Garrett. She belongs to Erik. When she remembers who she is, she'll want to go back to him. She'll remember that you're supposed to be her enemy. And you'll have started a war for a woman who doesn't even know your name."
Garrett sets down his drink and walks toward the window. The forest is dark now. He can see her out there in the medical wing. Can feel her through the walls separating them. Can feel her fear like it's his own.
"I don't care," he says.
"You should care. You should care about your pack. You should care about your territory. You should care about things that actually matter instead of a woman you've known for three days."
"I am caring about my pack," Garrett says coldly. "I'm caring about them by making a decision and standing by it no matter what. I'm caring about them by showing them that their alpha doesn't break. That their alpha doesn't bend for anyone or anything. But most importantly, I'm protecting what's mine."
"She's not yours."
"She will be."
Victor takes a step back. His eyes go wide and for the first time Garrett sees real fear in his second-in-command's face.
"Garrett, that's not just strategy talk. That's something else. That's something dangerous."
Garrett turns to face him fully. His voice comes out cold and final and absolutely certain.
"She stays," he says. "She recovers. She finds her way. And anyone who questions that decision dies. Am I clear?"
Victor nods slowly. He knows better than to argue when Garrett sounds like this. When the alpha voice comes out, it's not a suggestion. It's law.
"The scouts need orders," Victor says carefully.
"Tell them she's under my protection. Tell them that Erik can send whatever forces he wants and we'll respond with fire. Tell them that the woman in the medical wing belongs to Blackthorn Pack now."
"She might not agree with that."
"Then she'll have to learn."
Victor turns to leave but stops at the door. He looks back at Garrett with something like pity in his eyes.
"You're falling for her," Victor says quietly. "And that's going to destroy you."
Garrett doesn't respond. He just watches as Victor leaves and closes the door behind him.
Then he's alone with the truth that Victor spoke out loud. He is falling for her. He's falling hard and fast and completely out of control. He's the alpha of a pack that's about to go to war. He's the leader of wolves who need him to be cold and strategic and merciless.
But for her, Garrett would burn it all down.
He walks back toward the medical wing before he can stop himself. He needs to see her. Needs to know she's still alive. Needs to stand over her bed and remember why he's willing to lose everything.
When he opens the door to her room, Riley is sleeping. Her face is peaceful in a way it wasn't when she was awake. Her breathing is steady. Her wounds are healing. She's alive because he kept her alive.
And tomorrow when Erik comes, they'll all burn together.
Garrett stands in the doorway watching her sleep and makes a choice he can't take back.
She's his now.
Whether she wants to be or not.