KANE POV
Kane has lost the ability to pretend he's not obsessed.
For three days he watched Iris walk through the forest like she was searching for him. And for three days he followed her because staying away has become physically impossible. His wolf doesn't accept no anymore. His wolf doesn't accept boundaries. His wolf wants her with a desperation that's starting to crack Kane's entire control system.
He finds her filming near the main trail early the next morning. She's so focused on her camera that she doesn't notice him approach until he speaks.
"I can show you better locations," he says.
Iris spins around. Her heart races when she sees him. He can hear it. Can smell the shift in her body chemistry. Fear mixed with something that tastes like excitement.
"Better how?" she asks.
Kane wants to tell her the truth. Wants to say that what he's about to show her will change everything. That there's no coming back from what she's about to understand. But instead he just gestures deeper into the forest.
"Come on."
She follows him without hesitation. That's the problem right there. She follows him into the deep woods like she trusts him completely. Like she can't feel the danger radiating off him in waves.
They walk for almost an hour in silence. Kane leads her past the safe zones and into the heart of pack territory. Places where the wolves hunt. Places where humans have never been allowed. He's about to show her the most well-kept secret of his entire existence and he doesn't know how to stop himself from doing it.
The clearing opens up suddenly. It's one of the pack's favorite spots. A meadow surrounded by thick trees. A river running through it. And three wolves standing completely still watching them enter.
Iris stops moving.
Kane can feel her processing what she's seeing. Three massive animals. Too big to be normal wolves. Their fur is pure black and silver. Their eyes are too intelligent.
One of them steps forward.
The wolf's movements are precise. Controlled. Like it's following a command. It walks toward Iris and stops just outside of arm's reach. Then it steps back. Rejoins the others. The entire interaction takes ten seconds but Iris's hands are shaking.
"That wasn't normal," she says quietly.
"No," Kane agrees. "It wasn't."
He watches her brain start connecting the pieces. The organized way the wolves moved. The way they responded to his presence like soldiers to a commander. The intelligence behind their eyes. She's starting to understand that something in this forest isn't what she thought.
"Show me more," she says.
So Kane does.
He takes her through the territory over the next few hours. They walk past cleared paths that are too perfectly maintained to be natural. They pass areas where the wolves have marked boundaries. Where they hunt in coordinated patterns. Where everything speaks of control and strategy and something far more intelligent than animal instinct.
Iris sees it all. Watches it. Processes it.
Her eyes are sharp and her mind is working through the impossibilities.
They reach another clearing near sunset. This one has evidence of a recent kill. A deer that was taken down with precise coordination. The carcass is arranged carefully, like the wolves are making sure humans understand their power.
Iris kneels down. Examines the wound pattern.
"This would take multiple animals working together," she says. "This would take communication. Planning. This isn't hunting. This is warfare."
Kane feels his wolf surge forward with pride. She understands. She's seeing the truth and she understands.
"Are you going to hurt me?" Iris asks suddenly. She's standing now, looking at him directly.
The question catches Kane off guard. Here she is, realizing that something in this forest is predatory and organized and completely beyond human understanding. And she's not asking what he is. She's asking if he's going to hurt her.
That kind of bravery is dangerous.
"No," Kane says. And he means it with every part of himself that's still human. "I would burn the world down before I let anything hurt you."
Iris steps toward him. The sun is setting and it's turning her skin golden and her hair copper. She looks like she's made of light.
"Are you even human?" she asks.
Kane realizes in that moment that he's at a crossroads. He can lie to her. Can give her some answer that lets her keep pretending. Can maintain the fiction that what's happening between them is something normal and manageable.
But Iris has been searching for truth since she arrived in this territory. She came here to uncover secrets about her brother. She's risked everything to find answers. She deserves honesty now. Even if the truth destroys her.
"No," Kane says. The word feels like stepping off a cliff. "I'm not human. I haven't been human for three hundred and sixty-seven years."
Iris doesn't step back. Doesn't run. She just looks at him like she's trying to see all the pieces of him at once.
"What are you?" she asks.
Kane steps closer. His eyes shift as he does. The gold bleeds through and he doesn't fight it this time. Let's her see what he really is. A wolf. An ancient creature. A predator that's chosen her for reasons that transcend logic.
"I'm what watches the forest at night," Kane says. His voice sounds different now. Layered. Like there's an animal underneath the human words. "I'm what responds to the moon. I'm what you've been sensing ever since you arrived."
Iris reaches up. Touches his face again. Like this doesn't terrify her. Like understanding what he is doesn't change a single thing.
"Can you transform?" she asks.
"Yes."
"Will you?" There's something in her voice. Something that sounds like she wants to see all of him. The human and the animal both.
Kane wants to say no. Wants to tell her to run. Wants to push her away before his wolf does something that can't be undone. But her hand is on his face and his control is crumbling and she's asking him to show her the truth.
He steps back from her touch.
"If I transform," Kane says carefully, "there's a line we cross together. You'll see something that confirms everything. And once you see it, you can never unsee it. You can never go back to the woman you were before you knew the truth about this forest."
"I don't want to go back," Iris whispers. "I want to understand you."
Kane feels his wolf howl inside his chest.
"My wolf recognizes you," Kane says. The words spill out before he can stop them. Raw and honest and absolutely terrifying. "As a mate. A partner. Someone my soul has been waiting for longer than you've been alive. That's not something we choose. That's something we are. And if you let me show you what that means, you're agreeing to something you can't walk away from."
Iris's breath catches.
"Show me," she says.