Chapter 1

The rain in this town didn’t wash things clean; it just made the grime slicker.

I stood under the cracked plastic of the bus shelter, shivering as the damp cold gnawed through my thin denim jacket. In my hand, the Greyhound ticket was already turning into pulp. I gripped it tighter, my knuckles white, repeating the mantra inside my head until the words lost their meaning.

*Get on. Don't look back. Just get on.*

The schedule said the 11:45 PM to Seattle was three minutes away. Three minutes to freedom. Three minutes until I crossed the territory line and severed the invisible noose around my neck.

Then, the wind shifted.

It wasn't the smell of ozone or wet asphalt that made my stomach drop. It was the scent of sandalwood, heavy rain, and raw, electrified power.

He was here.

I didn't turn around. I couldn't. If I looked at him, I would crumble. My wolf was already whining in my chest, scratching at my ribs, desperate to roll over and bare its throat.

"Did you think I wouldn't wake up?"

His voice was soft. Caleb never yelled. He didn't have to. As the new Alpha, his whisper carried more weight than a scream.

"Go away, Caleb," I said, my voice trembling. I kept my eyes fixed on the empty road, praying for headlights.

"Turn around, Lyra."

"No."

"Lyra."

The Command slammed into my spine like a physical blow. My knees buckled, betraying me, and I spun around before I could stop myself.

He stood at the edge of the shelter, the rain plastering his dark hair to his forehead. He wasn't out of breath. He looked perfectly, terrifyingly composed. He wore a black coat that swallowed the light, his hands buried deep in his pockets.

"We’re siblings," I hissed, trying to summon anger to burn out the fear. "Mom and Dad adopted me when I was ten. We grew up in the same house. This... this is sick."

Caleb took a step forward. The air between us thickened, heavy with pheromones that tasted like burnt sugar on my tongue.

"We share no blood," he said calmly. "And you know as well as I do that biology doesn't care about adoption papers. Your wolf knows who I am."

"I don't care about the wolf!" I shouted, stepping back until my heels hit the curb. "I’m leaving. I’m going to be human. I’m going to be free."

"Free?" Caleb tilted his head, a mockery of confusion. "You can’t run from your own skin, little sister. You can go to Seattle. You can go to New York. But you will wake up every night sweating, aching, missing the weight of my hand on your neck."

"I hate you," I whispered.

"No," he corrected gently. "You fear me. And you love me. And you hate that the two feel exactly the same."

Twin beams of light cut through the deluge. The bus.

It roared toward us, a hulking beast of steel and exhaust. The air brakes hissed like a warning as it shuddered to a halt in front of the shelter. The door hissed open.

The driver, a tired man with deep bags under his eyes, looked at me. "You getting on, miss?"

This was it. The threshold.

I took a step toward the stairs.

Caleb didn't grab me. He didn't tackle me. He simply leaned down, his lips brushing the shell of my ear, his breath hot against my frozen skin.

"Get on," he whispered. "But know this. I will hunt that bus down. I will flip it off the highway if I have to. I will tear this world apart to fetch you, Lyra. Do you want that blood on your hands? Or do you want to be a good girl and come home?"

I froze. One foot on the pavement, one foot hovering over the first step of the bus.

The pull was agonizing. It twisted in my gut, a sick, sweet addiction. He was offering me a cage, but he was promising that I would never have to be alone in the dark again.

I looked at the driver. I saw his tired face. I saw the destruction Caleb promised.

But mostly, I saw the empty seat on the bus, and the terrifying vastness of a life without the monster I knew.

"Miss?" the driver asked impatiently.

I lowered my foot back to the sidewalk. I shook my head.

"No," I whispered. "Changed my mind."

The driver scoffed, pulled the lever, and the doors hissed shut. The bus groaned and pulled away, taking my future with it, disappearing into the rain.

I stood there, watching the taillights fade.

I felt a warm, heavy coat settle over my shoulders. Caleb’s arm wrapped around my waist, pulling me back against his chest. It felt like a trap. It felt like safety.

"Good girl," he murmured into my hair.

He took my bag. I didn't fight him. I turned and followed him back into the dark, realizing with a sick, sinking dread that I hadn't stayed to save the driver.

I stayed because I didn't want to leave.