Logan's POV
I haven't slept in thirty-six hours.
The forest is dark and cold around me and I'm running because it's the only thing that makes the noise in my head stop. My wolf pushes harder, faster, desperate to outrun something that can't be caught.
That power.
I felt it yesterday morning like a punch straight through my chest. I was asleep and it woke me. Not like an alarm. Like someone reached inside my body and grabbed my heart and squeezed.
Ancient. Dangerous. Real.
I shifted immediately and ran out here trying to understand what I felt. Trying to locate the source. Trying to make sense of something that doesn't make sense.
An omega wolf just transformed into something that shouldn't exist.
I've been Alpha for seven years. I know every power signature in this pack. I know every wolf. Every family bloodline. Every ounce of strength and weakness living inside this territory. I built that knowledge. I use it to stay alive.
Sophia Park was never worth knowing about.
She's small. Powerless. An embarrassment to her family. She works at a human diner to hide from pack life. I've passed her in hallways and didn't register her as worth noticing.
But now she's the most powerful wolf I've ever encountered.
I shift back to human form and stand in the middle of the forest completely naked and completely losing control of something I've spent years perfecting. Control. Strategy. Distance.
I don't let people close because people are weapons. People betray. People die and the pain of it breaks you if you're stupid enough to care.
I stopped being stupid years ago.
So why can't I stop thinking about Sophia Park?
I start walking back to the compound because I have meetings and a pack to run and people depending on me not falling apart. By the time I get there the sun is rising and I still haven't slept.
Marcus finds me in my office before breakfast. My Beta looks at me with that expression that means he knows something I don't want him to know.
"You felt it," Marcus says. It's not a question.
"Yes."
"And?"
"And I don't know what it means yet," I say coldly. "But I'm going to find out."
Marcus sits down without asking permission. He's one of the few people who can get away with that.
"It's a bloodline," he says quietly. "Something old. Something that shouldn't be alive anymore."
"I know."
"The council is going to know soon," Marcus continues. "If they don't already. And when they know they're going to move against her."
I stand up and walk to the window. Outside I can see guards walking the grounds. The normal machinery of pack life continuing like nothing changed.
Everything changed.
"Bring her in," I tell Marcus. "Official order. Tell the guards to retrieve her from town and bring her to the compound. I want her where I can see her."
"Logan, if you pull her in too obviously Victor is going to suspect something."
"Then make it look like I'm worried about her being attacked again. Make it look like an Alpha protecting a vulnerable wolf."
Marcus gets up to leave but stops at the door. "You know this is going to get complicated."
"I know."
"Worse than complicated. Personal."
I don't answer because he's right and I don't want to admit it. I can feel the pull. The way her power signature is drawing me like a rope around my chest. The way I need to understand her. The way being near her might actually make me feel less alone for the first time since I was twenty-two years old and became Alpha.
That terrifies me more than anything else.
I spend the morning running through scenarios. What if Victor already knows about her? What if the rogues weren't random? What if this is some kind of move against me using her as the weapon?
Marcus comes back at noon. She's on her way. The guards picked her up from her friend's apartment without incident.
I have hours to prepare for seeing her in person again. Hours to build the walls back up. Hours to remember that I'm Alpha. That I'm in control. That she's a problem to solve, not a person I'm drawn to.
I shower and change into tactical clothing. When I sit down at the war room table I'm cold and composed. Everything is strategy. Everything is calculated.
Then she walks in.
I didn't prepare myself well enough.
She's small and fragile looking but there's something different about her now. The way she carries herself. The way her eyes are alert and cautious. She's already learned something. She's already understood that the world is more dangerous than she thought.
Those eyes.
Silver when she shifts. The most beautiful thing I've ever seen and the most terrifying.
I ask her questions because staying in control means staying tactical. It means not thinking about the fact that I haven't slept since I felt her power. It means not admitting that the reason I pulled her here is because I needed to see her.
She's careful with her answers. Smart. She doesn't trust me and I don't blame her. The Alpha has never noticed her before and now he wants everything.
When I tell her she's staying at the compound I watch her face. She doesn't like it. She doesn't trust the decision. But she doesn't argue.
I end the meeting and watch her leave. My hands are shaking and I hate it. I hate that she affects me this much.
Marcus appears in the doorway the moment she's gone.
"That went well," he says.
"It was fine."
"You couldn't take your eyes off her."
"I need to understand her power."
"You need to understand a lot of things," Marcus says. He closes the door. "Including why you just put her directly under your protection when that's the fastest way to make the council move against you both."
I stand and walk to the window. I can see her being escorted toward the family quarters. She moves like she's trying to disappear.
"I don't care what the council moves toward," I say. "Victor has been planning something. I feel it. And now that Sophia exists I need to understand what his endgame is before it destroys everything."
"That's a good strategy," Marcus says carefully. "Except I don't think that's why you called her here."
I don't respond because he's right and admitting it would be weakness.
"You need to be careful," Marcus continues. "Because if the council figures out that you care about her they're going to use it against you. They're going to use it against both of you."
"I don't care about her."
Even saying it I know it's a lie.
I care about her. I've cared about her since I felt that power signature punch through my chest. Since I realized there was something in this world that I couldn't control. Something I don't want to control because controlling it would mean losing it.
My phone buzzes with a message from an unknown number.
I open it and see a video file. When I press play I see Victor Blake meeting with council members. I hear him talking about Sophia. About removing her. About using her power for the council's benefit.
The message below the video reads: She's a target now. Protect her before it's too late.
I know who sent it. I know because I asked Marcus to send it. I know because I've been two steps ahead of the council for seven years and I'm not about to stop now.
But knowing they're moving against her changes things.
I call for the guards and give them new orders. Sophia stays in the compound. She trains. She learns. She becomes too valuable to the pack for anyone to touch her.
She becomes mine to protect.
And as I'm giving these orders I realize that I'm doing something I promised myself I would never do.
I'm letting someone matter.