Media’s POV

1 have always given Adrian everything–my loyalty, my strength, my life, but there were two secrets I never shared with him.

The first was my feelings for him, socious to everyone except the man himself.

The second was that I had met my mate when I was eighteen.

Yes, I had a mate once, briefly.fn6218 ?? ??? ???? ?? ???? ???? ???????s, ????s? ??s?? FindN0vel/fn6218

He was a warrior from Stormbol Pack–strong, capable, with potential to be the packs next Beta someday,

Many females would have rejoiced at such a match. But to me, he was nothing more than a future rival.

When we caught each others scent and the mate bond liegen to form, the disappointment I felt far outweighed any physical attraction.

That night, we had sex.

But it wasn’t about love or even desire–it was merely my bexcuse /bto be a “womanb” /bTclosed my eyes the entire time, picturing someone else’s face.

Someone forbidden to me.

Afterward, I dressed quicklyb, /bmy body still tin

tingling with the new sensations but my bmind /balready calcting my next move.

My matey on the forest floor, watching me with confusion as I pulled on my clothes with methodical precision.

“bYou /bcan’t tell anyone about this,” I told him, my voice steady despite the pain already beginning to bloom in my chest. “You can’t tell anyone I’m your mate. And I’m rejecting you.”

He sat up, anger recing the post–coital haze in his eyes. “What the hell are you talking about?”

“I’m rejecting you,” I repeatedb, /bmore firmly this time. “I bdon’t /bept this mate bond.”

“bYou /bcan’t just—”

“I can, and I am.” I squared my shoulders, my decision already made years bago/b. ‘If you won’t ept my rejection, we can settle this another way. I’m willing to fight to the death over bthis/b.”

His expression shifted from anger to contempt. Heughed ba /bsharp, cruel sound that echoed through the trees

“You think I’d actually want you?” He looked me up and down dismissively. “Everyone knows you used to be fat and ugly. And for the record, you’re the worst day I’ve ever had. Like fucking a dead bfish/bb./bb” /b

The insults washed over me without effect. I’d heard worse from my own father.

“So byou /bept the rejection?” I bpressed/bb, /bignoring his attempt to wound

He spat on the ground at my feet. “dly.”

The pain intensified as our nascent bond shattered, but I bwalked /baway without showing any sign of it. Physical pain meant nothing to me. I’d been enduring it since I was old enough to enterbat training.

The agony of a broken mate bood bwas /bbjest /bune more thing to bovee/b, one moja weakness to master.

I never told anyone about that night. Not even Adrian. Especially not Adrian.

Life bar a way of changing toore when you least expect [1;

For me, everything shifted three years ago when Adian’s father died suddenly during a border dispute

I still remether that day with perfect rity the somber silence that fell over Stormbowl Park, the quiet scheming that followed, and the browyal that

Adrian’s buncle /bMeywell wasted no time. Within hours of his brother’s death, he began rallying support among the peck elders, whispering promises and therats in equal measure. Adrian was too young, los soft hearted to blead/b, he told them. Stormbowl needed a strong, experienced Alpha to maintain its

Adrian’s own mother had chosen Maxwell over her son. Not just politically, but personally. She would be Maxwell’s Luna, cementing his im to leadership

The pain in Adrian’s eyes nearly broke me.

“I’m challenging him,” I told Adrian that wight, my fists clenched so tight champion.”

nails drew blood from my palms. “You’re the rightful Alpha. 11 fight as your

Adrian shook his head, his expression resolute despite the betrayal he’d suffered.

“No. That’s what he bwants/b–an excuse to eliminate any threat to his power. There would he bloodshed, regardless of who won.”

“So we just ept thisb?/bb” /bI demanded, pacing his small cabin like a caged animal. “Let him steal what’s rightfully yours?b” /b

Adrian’s answer bchanged /beverything. “We leave. We build something betterb./bb” /b

My father was livid when I told him bI /bwould follow Adrian. He backhandded me across the face, splitting my lip and sending me crashing into our kitchen

table.

“You stupid girl,” he snarled, looming over me bas /bI tasted blood. “Adrian has nothing! No territory, no resources, no future. Maxwell in Alpha now. ept it

bIspat /bbblood /bonto our pristine floor. I’d rather starve as a free bwoll /bthan live fat andfortable under ba /busurper

He beat me that night, worse than ever before. But the pain only strengthened my resolve.

The n

next morning, with bruises blooming across my ribs and bback/bb, /bI met Adrian at the bpack /bbboundary /bwith nothing but the clothes on my back and my unwavering loyalty.

Ryder joined bus/bb, /bof course–the headstrong pup had worshipped Adrian since he bwas /bold enough to walk

Eleven others came too, mostly younger wolves without deep pack ties or older ones who remembered Adrian’s father with fondness,

Thirteen wolves in total, leaving thefort and security of Stoembowl for an uncertain future.

Those first months were brutal. We slept under the stars, hunted what we could, and kept moving to avoid confrontation with established packs.

bTwo /bof ourpany couldn’t handle the hardship. I remember finding their goodbye note one morning–a hasty apology scratched on tree bark, their bscent /balready bfading /bas they returned to Stormhowl with their tails between their len.

We weathered fierce storms huddled together in mapeshift shelters. We ate bwhatever /bgame we could catch, sometimes going bdays /bon nothing but berries and

DOOEL

Doce, when food bwas /bparticrly scarce, Ryder attempted to bcatch /bfish with his bare hands, slipping on wet rocks and nearly drowning in the process.

Adrian pulled him from the rushing water, and weughed until our sides bhart /bas Ryder sted he’d “almost had” a giant trout,

Most packs would have fractured under such conditions. bBut /bhardship forged bus /binto something stronger, more resilient. Adrian neverined, never

showed doubt

23

For carried the beaviest hurdens, Inck the unaliest portions, and kept ir spirits alive with frotire of the home we would ball21

For me, these wandering days were a strange kind of paradise. Despite the finger and exhaustion, I was happier than I’d ever been at footsiko was with him. Because every morning I woke to the sound of his voice nning our day’s journey, and every night I fell asleep kon

bThen /bAdrian discovered the cast an unimed territory in the harsh Tesas desert, with a hidden water source

We built Gisborn from nothing, transforming hartennd into & sanctuary for the broken, the rejected, the umeanted.

1 should have known such happiness couldn’tst foresen..

bThe /b

moment I walked into The Watering Hole and saw her green eyes sharp with intelligence despite her fear–I knew

I recognized the threat before Adrian did, before she did, perhaps even before fate litelf realized what it had set in motion.