Chapter 1My voice cracked when I called my brother.
"I need help moving out. Three days."
He went quiet for a second. Then his voice practically exploded.
"Wait—moving out? You're serious? You're finally done with that enforcer asshole?"
I heard him smack something in the background—probably his desk.
"Thank the fucking Moon. Hudson's gonna lose his mind when I tell him!"
I didn't get why Beckett thought our Alpha needed a play-by-play of my love life.
But whatever. Tears were already streaming down my face and I wasn't about to argue.
"I need another favor too. I want to start seeing someone. Someone decent. You know wolves—can you keep your ears open?"
"Decent?" Beckett laughed.
"Indie, I've had the perfect wolf lined up for years. He's been waiting on you for like a decade!"
---
I blinked. "What?"
"Nothing. When are you free? I'll set it up."
Before I could press him, he hung up.
I stared at the photo on my desk. Me and Tate at last year's bonfire. Cropped so tight you couldn't even tell we'd been standing together.
My name's Indie Hawthorne. And for the past four years, I've been secretly involved with Tate Creston.
Not bonded. Not officially. Just… together.
When I first joined Thornridge Pack's tactical unit, Beckett pulled every string he had to get me in. He's head of the hunting patrols, and he wanted me close. Said he'd sleep better knowing someone had my back.
I met Tate my first month. He was an enforcer—sharp, focused, stupidly good at his job. I fell hard.
Chased him until he caved. We got together at some pack retreat in the mountains, just the two of us sneaking off during a night run.
By year two, we'd moved into a cabin together on the edge of pack lands.
But no one knew.
Tate said it was because of pack law. That Alpha had this rule about enforcers and tactical wolves not bonding. Something about conflicts of interest, compromised judgment during disputes.
So we hid.
For four years, we lived under the same roof. And I never met his unit. He never met my patrol team. Even our runs had to be way outside pack borders, deep in neutral territory where no one tracked.
To throw people off, Tate joked about me. A lot.
He'd tell other wolves they should set me up with someone. That I was getting too old to be picky. That maybe I should aim for a widower or a lone wolf passing through.
He said it like it was funny.
It wasn't.
Every few months, I'd beg him to go to Hudson. To ask for an exception. To just let me step down if it meant we could be open.
He always said yes.
Then found an excuse. Big negotiation coming up. Promotion on the line. Elder Tamsin in a bad mood.
Four years of excuses.
Everyone in the pack knew I worked closest with him. That he trusted me more than anyone.
But no one knew I was his.
I wiped my face and texted Beckett back.
[Three days.]
I picked that date on purpose. Three days from now, it'll be four years exactly since we got together.
Last winter, during the solstice run, Tate promised me. Swore on the Moon. This year, on our anniversary, he'd come meet my parents. This year, he'd finally tell the pack.
Deep down, I already knew.
He wouldn't.
But some stupid part of me wanted to give him one last shot.
Plus, this cabin was full of our stuff. Photos. Clothes. Gifts.
I needed to gut it before I left.
Chapter 2
I'd barely hung up with Beckett when Tate walked through the door.
The couch faced the entrance, and after a whole afternoon of crying, my eyes were red and puffy as hell.
Tate didn't even look at me.
Just walked straight past and disappeared into the bedroom.
I watched his back and knew exactly what was coming.
The freeze-out. Again.
Over four years together, every fight followed the same script.
He'd go silent. Stop talking to me. Skip meals at the cabin. We'd sleep in the same bed and he'd act like I didn't exist.
During pack duties, though? He'd nitpick everything I did. Find problems with my patrol routes. Tear into me in front of the other wolves.
It only ended when I came crawling back. When I admitted I was wrong, apologized through tears, and begged him to forgive me.
Before, I'd have done anything to avoid another round of this.
The second he went cold, I'd rush to smooth it over. Apologize. Take the blame. Fix it.
But this time I just sat there.
I was tired.
It started six months ago when he brought Blair into the pack.
His buddy's little sister. Fresh out of wherever the hell she came from, barely trained, and dumped straight onto my tactical team.
Since then, we'd been fighting constantly.
Blair was young. And unbelievably useless.
I'd asked her to map a simple patrol route. Told her clearly—have it done by sundown.
But Blair spent the whole afternoon wandering around, texting, hiding in the den, doing anything but work.
When the sun started setting, I asked her for the map.
She burst into tears.
"Indie, are you going through something? Why are you being so mean to me?
"I don't know how to do this. I've been waiting for you to teach me, and you never came over."
I didn't even get a chance to respond.
She bolted straight to Tate and turned on the waterworks.
Seconds later, he came storming out. Furious.
He laid into me right there in front of the whole team.
"Indie, could you drop the power trip for once? Blair didn't understand. Would it kill you to actually help her?"
His voice was loud enough that everyone heard.
Tears stung my eyes. I swallowed the humiliation and redid the work myself.
Tate saw how wrecked I looked. Didn't say a word.
Instead, after patrol ended, he took Blair out. Bought her food. Sat with her while she vented.
And when he finally came home, he was the one who started freezing me out.
Then this afternoon, Blair screwed up so badly I almost lost an alliance I'd spent three years building.
We had a meeting with a neighboring pack's Beta. I needed to finish drafting the territory agreement, so I asked Blair to take him to the common grounds ahead of me. Keep him company. Make small talk.
Before I even finished the draft, Blair came strolling back. Alone.
My chest went tight.
"Where is he?"
She shrugged. "I left him near the training grounds. Grabbed some food and came back."
I stared at her.
The training grounds. Not the common grounds. Not the guest den. The place where we run drills and spar.
She'd dumped a visiting Beta there. Alone. Then left.
I called him immediately.
He didn't even let me apologize.
"Ms. Hawthorne, something urgent came up. I'll be in touch."
Then he hung up.
I stood there, phone in hand, shaking.
That alliance was done. Three years of work. Gone.
I turned on Blair and screamed.
"Are you serious? You took him to the training grounds? And then you just left him there?"
She didn't even flinch.
She grabbed the food she'd brought back and threw it at me.
Hot broth and grease hit my face, dripped down my shirt.
I froze.
Blair started crying. Loud, dramatic sobs.
"Who do you think you are? My parents never yelled at me like this. You're just a bitter, miserable wolf taking it out on me. Well, I'm not gonna stand here and take it!"
Something in me snapped.
I stepped forward and slapped her across the face.
"Who are you calling bitter? You just threw food at me."
Blair clutched her cheek, sobbing harder.
"I'm telling Tate. He's gonna put you in your place."
She ran straight to him.
Seconds later, Tate came storming out.
He didn't ask what happened. Didn't look at the grease staining my clothes, the food dripping off my hair.
He just roared at me.
"Indie. Apologize to Blair. Right now."
I stared at him.
My chest hurt so badly I could barely breathe.
I ripped off the tactical band on my wrist—the one that marked me as part of the unit—and slammed it on the table.
"You want me to apologize to her? Not happening."
Then I turned and walked out.
What I didn't expect was the message that came an hour later.
Elder Tamsin had docked my resource share for "abandoning duties without notice."
And because I'd lost the alliance, my bonus for the year was gone.
I sat in the cabin and cried.
After three years of giving everything to this pack, to Tate, this was what I got.
He didn't call. Didn't check on me.
And when he finally came home that night, he didn't comfort me.
He was the one who started the silent treatment.
So why the hell should I be the one to fix this?
Chapter 3
I pressed my palm against my chest, trying to steady the shaking, and went to the kitchen for water.
My phone buzzed. Then again. And again.
Messages flooding the group chat—the one I had with a few wolves from my patrol team. Our place to vent about pack drama.
One of them, a wolf who'd joined around the same time I did, posted first.
"Okay, you need to see what Blair just put up."
The second I saw Blair's name, my stomach dropped.
Then came the screenshot.
Blair had posted a photo of a silver cuff bracelet. Intricate wolf etchings. Moonstone inlays. The kind of thing that cost at least 300 hunt tokens.
Her caption made it worse.
"Thank you to my favorite enforcer for this gorgeous gift. You're the best, Tate."
Something inside me went numb.
The chat exploded.
"Wait, Tate bought Blair a 300-token bracelet?"
"There's no way those two aren't hooking up."
"I'm just saying—I saw them yesterday near the eastern border. They were definitely making out against a tree."
"That explains why Tate tore into Indie so hard today. He's clearly picking sides."
I read every message until my eyes burned.
Making out near the eastern border? But Tate told me he was meeting with a lone wolf about territory negotiations yesterday.
My chest went hollow.
My hands shook as I opened the pack's resource tracker. The shared account Tate and I had been putting tokens into for over a year. Saving up for when we finally bonded. For our future.
998 tokens left.
That was it.
I sank to the floor and sobbed.
We'd had over 1,200 tokens in there. And Tate had drained it to buy Blair a bracelet.
I was still on the floor when the bedroom door opened.
For one stupid second, I thought he'd heard me crying. That he was coming to check on me.
But his voice came out sharp. Irritated.
"Are you serious right now? It's the middle of the night."
I looked up at him through tears.
"You took our tokens. You bought Blair a bracelet."
He didn't even flinch.
"You slapped her. She cried all day. What's wrong with smoothing things over?"
I wiped my face with the back of my hand.
"She's barely trained. Why do I need to apologize to her? And with a 300-token bracelet? She doesn't deserve that. And if you wanted to buy her something, you had no right to use our shared tokens. Half of those were mine."
My voice cracked.
Tate just smiled. Cold. Mocking.
"Barely trained? It's bitter wolves like you who make this pack miserable. Let me be clear. Blair is my buddy's sister. As long as I'm looking out for her, no one gets to push her around.
"And I'm not just giving her a bracelet. You're going to apologize to her. In front of the whole team. Tomorrow. Or you're off the tactical unit."
I stared at him.
"On what grounds? I've been on this team for three years. I've pulled more than my weight. You can't just kick me out."
He laughed.
"I'm an enforcer. I can do whatever I want. You've got until morning to decide. Apologize to Blair in front of everyone, or Elder Tamsin gets a formal complaint. And trust me, she'll side with me.
"And take a good look at yourself while you're at it. You're a mess."
Then he grabbed his jacket and walked out.
Slammed the door behind him.
I broke down. Sobbing so hard I couldn't breathe.
And just when I thought the pain couldn't get worse, my phone buzzed again.
Another post from Blair.
This one was a photo. Her hand gripping someone's shirt collar, her lips pressed against his jaw.
No caption.
But I knew.
The shirt was the one I'd given Tate for his last birthday. The jacket was from the year before.
It was almost funny.
He picked a fight with me. Then went straight to her.
