Kira's POV
Twenty pairs of glowing eyes stared at me from the darkness.
I couldn't move. Couldn't breathe. Couldn't think.
"Dane." A woman's voice came from inside the building. "What have you brought us?"
"Her name is Kira," Dane said. He stepped in front of me, blocking me from view. "She saved my life tonight."
"She's human," another voice said. This one was male and sounded angry. "You brought a human to the Den?"
"She's not fully human," Dane said firmly. "She broke the Coalition's silver chains with her bare hands."
Silence.
Then all at once, everyone started talking. Shouting. Arguing.
"That's impossible!"
"Humans can't touch active silver!"
"She's lying!"
"She must be one of them a spy!"
My legs felt weak. I wanted to run, but there was nowhere to go. Behind me was the city full of hunters. In front of me were werewolves who thought I was a spy.
"ENOUGH!" Dane's voice cracked like thunder.
Everyone went quiet.
"Nobody touches her," Dane said. His voice was low and dangerous. "She's under my protection. Anyone who has a problem with that can take it up with me. Personally."
The glowing eyes blinked. Shifted. But nobody argued.
A woman stepped forward into the light. She was tall and beautiful, with long dark hair and the same golden eyes as Dane. But where Dane looked rough and dangerous, she looked elegant. Like a queen.
"I'm Maya," she said to me. Her voice was softer than the others. "Dane's sister. Come inside. You look like you're about to fall over."
She was right. My legs were shaking so hard I could barely stand.
Maya reached out her hand. I hesitated, then took it. Her skin was warm. Almost hot.
She led me inside the building. The other wolves parted to let us through, but I could feel their eyes on me. Judging. Suspicious.
The inside of the Den was nothing like I expected. I thought it would be dirty and broken-down. But it was actually kind of nice. There were old couches and chairs scattered around. Christmas lights strung up on the walls. It looked like someone's home.
Maya sat me down on a couch. Someone handed me a bottle of water. I drank it so fast I almost choked.
"Easy," Maya said. She sat down next to me. "You're safe here."
"Am I?" I looked around at all the wolves watching me. "Because it doesn't feel safe."
Maya smiled slightly. "Fair enough. But I promise, nobody here will hurt you. Dane won't let them."
"Why?" I asked. "Why does he care what happens to me?"
Maya's smile faded. She looked at her brother, who was talking to a group of men across the room.
"Because of what you did," she said quietly. "Breaking those chains... do you understand how big that is?"
"No," I said honestly. "I don't understand any of this."
Maya studied my face. "You really don't know what you are, do you?"
"I'm human," I said. But even as I said it, I wasn't sure anymore.
"Humans can't do what you did," Maya said. "When silver is used to bind a wolf, it becomes... active. Alive, almost. It burns anything that touches it human or wolf. The only thing that can break active silver is"
"Maya." Dane's voice cut her off. He was standing behind the couch, looking down at us. "Not yet."
"She deserves to know," Maya said.
"She deserves to rest first," Dane replied. "She's had a long night."
I stood up quickly. "Stop talking about me like I'm not here! If you know something about me, tell me!"
Dane and Maya exchanged looks.
"Please," I said. My voice cracked. "I just want to understand what's happening to me."
Dane sighed. He ran a hand through his hair.
"Fine," he said. "But not here. Too many ears." He looked at Maya. "Take her to the guest room. I'll come talk to her in a few minutes."
Maya nodded and stood up. "Come on."
I followed her through the Den. We passed more wolves some in human form, some half-shifted with claws and fangs showing. They all watched me as I walked by.
Maya led me up a flight of stairs and down a hallway. She opened a door to a small room with a bed, a chair, and a window.
"It's not much," Maya said. "But it's private. Dane will be up soon."
"Thank you," I said quietly.
Maya hesitated at the door. "For what it's worth, I'm glad you saved him. Dane is... he's a good man. A good Alpha. We need him."
Then she left, closing the door behind her.
I sat down on the bed. My whole body was shaking. Not from cold. From fear. From shock. From everything that had happened tonight.
I looked down at my hands. The same hands that had broken silver chains. They looked so normal. So ordinary.
How did I do it?
I closed my eyes and tried to remember. The heat. The power. The green light.
It had felt natural. Like something I'd always been able to do but never knew about.
A knock on the door made me jump.
"It's me," Dane's voice said.
"Come in."
Dane entered and closed the door behind him. He looked tired. The kind of tired that goes deeper than just one bad night.
"Are you okay?" he asked.
I almost laughed. "Am I okay? I just found out werewolves are real, got chased by hunters, rode on a giant wolf, and now I'm in a building full of people who can rip me apart. So no. I'm not okay."
Dane's mouth twitched. Almost like he wanted to smile. "Fair enough."
He sat down in the chair across from the bed.
"I'm going to tell you the truth now," he said. "All of it. But you have to promise me something first."
"What?"
"Don't run," Dane said. "No matter what I tell you, don't run. Because if you run, the Coalition will find you. And they will kill you."
My throat felt tight. "Okay. I promise."
Dane took a deep breath.
"About two hundred years ago," he began, "there was a group of magic users in this city. They called themselves the Jade Court. They were humans who could use magic real magic. They could heal wounds, control nature, and most importantly, they could touch silver without getting burned."
My heart started beating faster.
"The Jade Court protected this city," Dane continued. "They kept the peace between humans and wolves. They were powerful. Respected. But then the Coalition came. They hunted down every member of the Jade Court. Killed them. Wiped them out."
"Why?" I whispered.
"Because they were afraid," Dane said. "Afraid of magic. Afraid of anything they couldn't control. The last member of the Jade Court died almost a hundred years ago. Or at least, that's what everyone thought."
He looked at me. Really looked at me. And I knew what he was going to say before he said it.
"But they were wrong," Dane said. "Because you're here. And when you touched those chains tonight, your hands glowed green. Jade green."
I shook my head. "No. That's not possible. I'm just... I'm just an orphan. I'm nobody."
"You're not nobody," Dane said fiercely. "You're the first Jade Court member to appear in a century. You have magic in your blood. Powerful magic. And now that you've used it, the Coalition knows you exist."
"What do they want with me?" I asked. But I was afraid I already knew the answer.
"They want to study you," Dane said. "Figure out how your magic works. And then they'll use it to make a weapon. A weapon that can kill every werewolf in the world."
I felt sick.
"But there's more," Dane said quietly. "Something I haven't told you yet."
"What?"
Dane stood up. He moved to the window and looked out at the night.
"When you broke those chains," he said, "something happened. Something I've never felt before. A bond formed between us. The wolves call it a Kindred bond. It's rare. So rare that most wolves live their whole lives without finding their Kindred."
"What does that mean?" I asked.
Dane turned to face me. His gold eyes were glowing in the darkness.
"It means you're mine," he said. "And I'm yours. We're connected now. Forever."
Before I could respond, a howl split the night.
Then another. And another.
Dane's whole body went rigid.
"No," he whispered.
Footsteps pounded up the stairs. The door burst open. It was Maya, and she looked terrified.
"They're here," she gasped. "The Coalition. They've surrounded the Den. And they have something some kind of weapon. It's making all the wolves sick. We can't shift. We can't fight."
Dane cursed and ran past her.
I jumped up and followed them down the stairs.
The main room was chaos. Wolves were on the ground, gasping for air. Some were half-shifted, stuck between human and wolf form. They looked like they were in agony.
"What's happening to them?" I shouted.
"Silver gas," Dane said. He was struggling to breathe too. "They're pumping it into the building. It's poisoning us."
"We have to get out!" Maya said.
"The exits are blocked," someone else shouted. "We're trapped!"
I ran to the window and looked out. Sure enough, men in black uniforms surrounded the building. They had masks on and were holding guns.
And in front of them all stood the man with the scar from the alley. Scarface. He was holding some kind of device that was spewing silver-colored smoke.
"Dane," I said. My voice was shaking. "What do we do?"
Dane tried to stand but collapsed. All around me, wolves were falling. Dying.
And I was the only one still standing.
Because the silver gas didn't affect me.
Scarface's voice boomed through a megaphone: "Send out the girl, and we'll let the wolves live. You have sixty seconds to decide."