Chase POV
The report was annoying.
Chase leaned back in his office chair and tried to focus on the paperwork in front of him, but his mind kept drifting to what Marcus had just told him. Something on the northern border. A scent that didn't match any pack in the region. Wolves acting strange. Some of them were heading toward it like they were being pulled by invisible strings.
Seven years. He'd been Alpha for seven years without major problems. He'd eliminated challengers. He'd expanded territory. He'd kept the pack strong while everyone else was playing politics. And for seven years, he'd managed to keep things running smoothly.
Now some mystery scent was showing up on his border like it owned the place.
Chase was irritated. More than irritated. He was angry at the distraction. He had meetings to run. He had pack business. He didn't have time for mysteries.
There was a knock on his office door.
"Yeah," he said without looking up.
Kade walked in. His Beta. His right hand. The man who'd been by his side since he became Alpha. Kade was brilliant with strategy and loyal to a fault. He was probably the only person Chase actually trusted, which wasn't saying much since Chase didn't really trust anyone.
"I need you to go to the northern border," Chase said before Kade could even speak. "Find out what's going on. That scent that's making everyone act crazy. I want answers in two hours. And Kade, if you find another pack trying to test my territory, I want them eliminated. No negotiation. No second chances."
Kade nodded. "Yeah, boss. I'm on it."
Two hours was a long time to wait.
Chase tried to work but his mind was jumping around like he'd had too much coffee. He kept thinking about what the scent could mean. A rival pack? A new territory trying to move in? Something worse? The possibilities made his hands clench and unclench against his desk.
He walked to the window of his office and looked out at the compound below. Pack members were going about their business. Training. Working. Living their lives like nothing was wrong. Most of them probably didn't even know something unusual was happening. Most of them didn't have to think about the dangers he had to think about every single day.
Being Alpha meant being responsible for everyone. It meant making hard choices. It meant keeping your emotions locked down so tight no one could ever use them against you.
Chase had gotten very good at locking things down.
There was a noise outside his office. A disturbance. People moving fast. Chase could hear it through the walls. Something was happening.
He moved to his door just as Kade appeared in the hallway.
His Beta looked different. His face was pale. His eyes were too bright. Something was wrong with him, like he'd seen something that had shaken him to his core. He was soaked with sweat even though it wasn't hot. His breathing was heavy.
Behind him was a girl.
She was half-dragged, half-carried into the office. She was soaking wet, covered in dirt and leaves. Her eyes were wide and terrified like she'd been running for her life. Her clothes were torn. She looked like she'd been through hell.
And she smelled like something that didn't exist.
The moment that scent hit Chase's nostrils, his entire body went rigid. It was sweet. It was wild. It was powerful. It filled the room like someone had smashed a perfume bottle mixed with lightning and honey and something ancient that had no name.
It was the scent of an omega.
Not just any omega. This was what the legends talked about. The stories old wolves told about mates so perfect, so rare, that they would change your entire life. This scent meant she was meant for him. For the Alpha. The bond should form instantly. Should make them unstoppable. Should bind them together in a way that nothing could break.
Chase felt his instincts go absolutely insane.
Every part of him wanted to cross the room and claim her. To pull her close. To mark her. To make sure every other wolf in existence knew that she belonged to him. The Alpha instinct was roaring through his blood like an animal trying to escape a cage.
He opened his mouth to say something, but then he noticed Kade's face.
His Beta had gone completely still. His eyes had changed. They were darker now. Wilder. The pupils had expanded until they were almost all black. His breathing had gotten faster. Heavier. Like he'd been running.
Kade was smelling her too.
And the way he was looking at her, Chase suddenly understood something that made ice water run through his veins.
Kade wasn't smelling her as something that belonged to the Alpha. Kade was smelling her as something that belonged to him.
Chase and Kade locked eyes across the office.
In that moment, the entire world shifted.
Everything Chase had built with his Beta. Seven years of trust. Seven years of loyalty. Seven years of Kade being the one person he relied on. All of it was hanging in the balance. Because Kade was feeling what Chase was feeling, and Kade's face said that he wasn't going to accept being second.
The girl was looking between them, confused and terrified. She didn't understand what was happening. She didn't know that the temperature in the room had just dropped about fifty degrees. She didn't know that two men who were supposed to be brothers in everything but blood were suddenly looking at each other like enemies.
"What is she?" the girl whispered.
"Who is she?" Chase heard himself say, but his eyes never left Kade's.
"I found her on the border," Kade said slowly. His voice sounded strange. Rough. "She was half-shifted. Confused. Scared. I brought her here like you wanted answers and..."
He trailed off because they both knew. They both smelled it. They both understood what this meant.
"Welcome to the pack," Chase said coldly, still looking at Kade. "You're safe here now."
But his hands were shaking.
Because he wasn't looking at a woman he could claim. He was looking at a woman who had just become the most dangerous thing in his world. Not because of what she was. But because of what she was doing to him. What she was doing to the one person he'd trusted more than anyone.
Kade took a step toward the girl.
Just one step, but it was enough.
It was enough to show Chase that his Beta was about to choose something over him for the first time in seven years. It was enough to show that everything between them was about to break. It was enough to make Chase understand that the most powerful bond in the pack, the bond between Alpha and Beta, was about to be torn apart.
The girl looked at Chase with confusion and fear.
She had no idea that by simply existing, by simply having this impossible scent, she'd just started a war between the two most powerful men in the pack.
And neither of them could do anything to stop it.