Caspian's POV
I rip out the first hunter's throat before he even sees me coming.
Blood sprays across the safe room wall. The other two hunters spin, raising their guns, but I'm already moving. Wolf speed. Wolf strength. Wolf rage.
I tackle the second hunter, jaws clamping down on his arm. Bones crunch. He screams. His gun clatters to the floor.
The third hunter fires. The bullet grazes my shoulder—pain explodes through me but I don't stop. Can't stop. My mate is in danger.
I leap at him, all teeth and claws and fury. He goes down hard.
Then Jericho pulls a gun and points it straight at Linnea's head.
"Back off, wolf," he says coldly. "Or I paint the walls with her brain."
I freeze. My wolf is screaming to attack, to kill, to destroy anyone threatening our mate. But one wrong move and she dies.
I shift back to human, standing naked and bleeding in front of them. "Don't." My voice comes out rough. "Don't hurt her."
"Caspian?" Linnea's voice is small. Scared. "You're alive."
"Of course I'm alive." I can't look away from the gun pressed to her temple. "Takes more than a few hunters to kill me."
Jericho's eyes narrow. "You're the stepbrother. The future Alpha." He laughs. "Wow. Katie said you guys were close, but I didn't realize you were THIS protective."
"Let her go," I growl. "Whatever you want, whatever you think you know—let her go and we'll talk."
"I want proof her baby isn't a monster." He presses the gun harder against Linnea's head. She whimpers. "I want a blood test. DNA verification. Something that proves my child is fully human."
"Your child?" I snarl. "You cheated on her. Broke her heart. You don't get to call that baby yours."
"I made a mistake. Katie meant nothing. But this baby?" His hand moves to Linnea's stomach and my wolf ROARS. "This baby is mine. My blood. And I'm not letting it grow up to be a werewolf."
"The baby is human," Roslyn says firmly, still clutching her metal pipe. "Linnea has dormant genes. They might never activate. The baby will be normal."
"Might never activate isn't good enough." Jericho's finger tightens on the trigger. "I want guarantees."
"There are no guarantees in genetics," I force myself to stay calm. "But I can tell you this—if you hurt her, if you hurt that baby, every werewolf in this territory will hunt you down. Your hunters can't protect you from an entire pack."
"My hunters already killed half your pack." He smirks. "The rest are bleeding out in the forest. You're alone, wolf boy. Naked. Unarmed. You've got nothing."
He's wrong. I have everything I need standing right in front of me.
My mate. My reason to fight. My reason to live.
"You're right," I say quietly. "I've got nothing to lose. Which makes me really, really dangerous."
I shift mid-sentence. The transformation is instant—one second human, the next wolf. I'm smaller in wolf form, faster, harder to shoot.
Jericho fires but I'm already diving. The bullet misses. I hit him full force, knocking him away from Linnea.
The gun skitters across the floor. Linnea dives for it.
"Mom, get out!" she screams.
But more hunters are pouring through the door. Six. Eight. Ten. Too many.
I fight like a demon. Teeth and claws and pure rage. I take down three before something slams into my side—a tranquilizer dart.
Then another. And another.
My legs go weak. The world tilts sideways.
NO, my wolf howls. PROTECT MATE. MUST PROTECT—
I collapse, my body refusing to obey. The last thing I see before darkness takes me is Linnea pointing the gun at Jericho with shaking hands.
"Don't touch him," she says. "Don't you dare touch him."
Then everything goes black.
I wake up in a cage.
Metal bars. Silver-reinforced. My head pounds and my shoulder throbs where the bullet grazed me. Every muscle feels like it's on fire from the tranquilizer.
"Finally awake." Jericho sits outside the cage, arms crossed. "Took you long enough. Those were elephant tranqs. Should've killed you. Guess wolves are tougher than I thought."
I try to shift but can't. The silver in the bars is blocking my wolf.
"Where's Linnea?" I rasp.
"Safe. For now." He leans closer. "Here's what's going to happen. You're going to tell me everything about werewolf genetics. How the bloodline passes. How to prevent transformation. How to make sure my baby stays fully human."
"Go to hell."
"Wrong answer." He pulls out his phone and shows me a video.
It's Linnea. Tied to a chair. Crying. A hunter stands behind her with a knife to her throat.
My wolf tries to explode but the silver holds firm.
"Every question you refuse to answer, she gets cut," Jericho says calmly. "Nothing fatal. Just painful. I can keep this up for days. How long can she?"
Rage like I've never felt before consumes me. "I'll kill you. I'll rip you apart piece by piece—"
"Yeah, yeah. Scary wolf threats. I'm shaking." He puts the phone away. "Let's start easy. Can dormant werewolf genes activate randomly? Or does something trigger them?"
I want to refuse. Want to tell him to rot. But then I think of Linnea tied up, scared, hurt.
My mate needs me. And I'm locked in a silver cage like a dog.
"Trauma can trigger activation," I force out. "Extreme stress. Life-threatening situations. Sometimes puberty."
"What about pregnancy?"
My blood runs cold. "What?"
"Pregnancy. Can pregnancy trigger werewolf genes to activate?" His smile is evil. "Because if it can, then I need to end that pregnancy before it turns Linnea into a monster."
"NO!" I throw myself at the bars. The silver burns my skin but I don't care. "The pregnancy won't trigger anything! She's too far from the full wolf bloodline! Leave her alone!"
"You seem awfully invested in my ex-girlfriend's safety." Jericho's eyes narrow. "Why do you care so much about some human girl you just met?"
I can't tell him. Can't tell him about the mate bond. He'll use it against us.
"She's pack," I say through gritted teeth. "We protect pack."
"Liar." He stands up. "You know what I think? I think there's something between you two. Something more than stepsiblings. The way you fought for her? That wasn't pack loyalty. That was personal."
"You're insane—"
"Maybe." He heads for the door. "But I'm going to find out. And if I'm right? If there's something forbidden happening between you two? Well, that's just more leverage for me."
He leaves me alone in the cage.
I pull against the bars until my hands bleed. The silver burns like acid but I don't stop. Can't stop. Somewhere in this building, Linnea is tied up and scared and I can't reach her.
Footsteps approach. I tense, expecting Jericho.
Instead, it's Thaddeus. Bloody and limping but alive.
"Tad!" Relief crashes over me. "You're alive. The pack—"
"Most survived. We drove off the hunters but couldn't get to the house in time." He pulls out a key. "Jericho's men grabbed you and Linnea before we could stop them. Your dad's organizing a rescue but it'll take time. So I came ahead."
He unlocks the cage. The second the silver barrier drops, my wolf surges back to life.
"Where is she?" I demand, shifting to human.
"Third floor. Jericho's using her as bait. He knows you'll come for her." Thaddeus hands me clothes. "It's a trap, Cas."
"I don't care." I dress quickly. "She's my mate. I'm not leaving her."
"I know. That's why I'm coming with you." He grins despite the blood on his face. "Let's go get your girl."
We move through the building like shadows. Take down two guards silently. Reach the third floor.
That's when we hear Linnea scream.
Not a scream of fear. A scream of agony.
My wolf explodes. I don't remember running. Don't remember breaking down the door. I just know one second I'm in the hallway and the next I'm in the room and—
Linnea is on the floor, writhing in pain. Her body is... changing. Bones cracking. Skin rippling. Eyes flashing between brown and gold.
She's transforming.
"What did you do?!" I roar at Jericho.
He holds up a syringe. "Werewolf venom. Stolen from a pack we wiped out last year. Figured if she had dormant genes, this would activate them." He smiles. "Guess I was right. Look at her go."
Linnea screams again as her spine arches impossibly. She's shifting. But she doesn't know how. Has no control. The transformation is ripping her apart.
And she's pregnant.
"She's going to die," Thaddeus breathes. "Cas, forced transformation while pregnant—she can't survive this."
"No." I drop to my knees beside her. "Linnea, listen to me. Listen to my voice. You have to control it. Don't fight the wolf. Let it happen."
"It hurts!" she sobs. "Caspian, it hurts so much—"
"I know, baby. I know. But you're strong. You can do this." I grab her hand even though it's already shifting to claws. "Focus on my voice. Focus on the bond. Can you feel it? The connection between us?"
Her eyes meet mine. Gold and brown swirling together.
"I feel it," she gasps.
"Hold onto it. Let it guide you through the transformation." I press my forehead to hers. "I'm right here. I'm not leaving. You're not alone."
Her body convulses one more time. Then—silence.
A white wolf lies where Linnea was. Smaller than most wolves. Delicate. Beautiful.
And very, very pregnant.
She shifts back to human immediately, her body not ready to hold wolf form. She collapses in my arms, unconscious.
But alive. She's alive.
"Impossible," Jericho whispers. "She survived. She actually survived."
I look up at him with murder in my eyes.
"You forced my mate to transform while pregnant," I say softly. "Do you have any idea what you've done?"
"Your... mate?" His face goes pale.
"Yeah. My fated mate. The one person in this world I'd burn everything for." I stand, cradling Linnea in my arms. "And you just signed your death warrant."
Jericho runs.
He doesn't make it far.