Chapter 1:
RETURN TO THE BORDER
Kael stood where the trees ended and human fields began. Wind pushed his coat. The pack lands were behind him—dark, full of fires and distant voices. In front lay a quiet strip of houses and soft lights. He expected nothing. He found Selene.
She sat on a low wall, hands on a small coat, hair pulled back in a plain braid. A child leaned against her—small, solid, watching him with bright silver eyes. The sight of them hit Kael like winter wind. It hollowed him.
"Selene." His voice was rough. Years made the word heavy.
She looked up slow. Calm, sharp, not surprised. She did not stand. The boy thumbed a loose thread and watched like he studied a puzzle.
"You shouldn't be here," she said. Simple. Flat. Protective in the edges.
"He's mine," Kael said before thought.
Selene's fingers did not stop moving. "He's mine," she said. "He's Selene's boy. He is safe with me."
Kael stepped closer. He saw the child's face — a small mouth, dark hair, those eyes that mirrored his own. He smelled the faint wool soap on the coat, the warm smell of bread baking nearby. "Safe where? Here? On the edge of the pack? You hid him. You lied."
"I left because I could not stand being small in the pack," Selene said. "You called me shame. You made me walk."
Kael's mind held the memory of that night. He had chosen duty over the woman he loved. Pride had sounded like law. He could still hear the pack, the rustle of furs, the hush of judgment when he turned his back.
"You left," he said.
"I survived," she said. "I kept him warm. I taught him to hide when men came. I taught him to laugh when wolves pulled at our door. I kept him whole."
Rowan walked up without fear. Childhood had not yet learned caution. He stopped short and asked, blunt, "Are you my father?"
Kael felt the question like a spear. He knelt. His hand on the child's shoulder stopped him still. "If I am," he said, "I will keep you safe."
Selene's jaw tightened. "You did not keep me safe," she said. "You let the pack make me small."
Her words landed harder than any blow. Kael's throat closed. He had told himself he had done right. The truth was cleaner and worse: he had not protected her.
Ronan, the Beta, came up the path. He bowed to Kael with duty. Seeing Selene and the boy, his face shifted from command to worry. "Alpha," he said. "Scouts found tracks near the northern stream. Varek's men were close."
Selene's hand slid to Rowan. Kael's blood felt cold.
"How close?" Kael asked.
"Close enough to follow," Ronan said. "They followed the scent to the human edge. If they'd seen a child—"
Selene's face went pale. Rowan clung to her leg.
Kael's anger rose. Varek would use a child as a blade. He would press until Kael snapped. Every path ahead cut in some way.
"I won't let them drag him into this," Selene said. "He's five. He doesn't belong to your wars."
"If they know," Kael said, "they will test him."
Rowan looked at Kael. "Will they hurt me?" he asked.
"No," Selene said. "Mama won't let them."
Kael tasted the pack....iron, smoke, old fights. He felt a hunger to protect and to fix what he'd broken. But any answer could crack the life Selene had made.
"If he stays hidden," Kael said, "they will come anyway. If he comes with me, he will be trained, watched. He will be part of the pack."
"Part of the pack is your pride," Selene said. "Mara will test him. She will make him prove he is not shame."
"I will not let Mara decide his fate," Kael said. "Not if I can stop it."
Their words were knives. Rowan touched Kael's hand like testing honesty. The touch cut through Kael's armor.
Ronan watched. "We can move him," he said. "Bring him deeper into pack lands for now. Hide him. Or we face Varek before he finds a reason to press."
Selene looked between them. Her eyes burned. "You think I want to hand my son to the pack?" she asked. "I raised him alone. He knows me."
"You made a life," Kael said softly. "I see it. But I see what follows with our blood. I'd rather bring him under wolves who know honor than wait for vultures."
She swallowed, biting back more. For a moment she looked like the woman he had loved—soft and brave, with a tired hope in her eyes. Then she hardened. "And if the pack refuses? If they make him pay for your choices?"
"Then I will take him away," Kael said. "I will stand against my pack. I will fight Varek myself."
Selene laughed, a small, bitter sound. "You think you can battle the pack and still be Alpha? You think your pride lets you walk away from law?"
Kael's mouth went dry. He had the image of Mara's cold smile burned like a memory. He imagined her testing the boy, driving him to hurt to prove a point. That image made his hands clench.
A distant howl cut the air—thin and wrong. Ronan's eyes sharpened.
"That's not Stormfang," he said.
Selene's hand tightened. The child flinched. Kael's muscles coiled.
"How many?" Kael demanded.
"Not yet," Ronan said. "But they are close."
The choice stood like a cliff—hide and hope, or pull the boy into the pack. Kael wanted both. He wanted Selene and the pack and the child. Pride had taught him to stand above pain. Pride would not save Rowan.
He looked at Selene and the small fierce face of the boy who wore his eyes, then at the thin trees that hid danger. The wind carried a second call, nearer, threaded with a cruel edge. It spoke of scouts and traps.
Kael's voice was low and steady. "We move him tonight. We take him to a place he can learn to be safe. We watch. And if Varek moves, we answer."
Selene's lips trembled. Rowan clung to her. Ronan set his jaw.
Dark came fast. The quiet field did not feel safe anymore. What began as a claim of honor had turned into a race. Kael had come to reclaim what was his by blood. He discovered the past had followed him—and it carried teeth.