Chapter 3 The Pull

Riven did not move out of the trail. Rain ran from his hair and traced the line of his jaw. He looked as immovable as the old boundary stones behind him, and Seren felt her patience thinning with every second they stood there. "If you have something to say, say it," she told him. "I've said enough." "No. You've given me warnings. That's different." "You don't understand what you're walking into." "Then explain it." "I can't." "Or you won't?" His silence returned. Seren stepped around him. Riven caught her by the upper arm-not hard enough to injure, but firmly enough to stop her. She looked down at his hand, then back at his face. "Let go." "Listen to me." "I have listened to you for years. It hasn't improved my life." "Your father's death was not as simple as the pack told you." The words stopped her. For a moment, the rain and the forest seemed to fall away. Seren heard only the hard beat of her own heart. "What does that mean?" Riven's grip loosened. His eyes moved over her face as if he regretted speaking. "It means you should leave the old patrol records alone until I know what's missing." "You knew?" Her voice was barely above a whisper. "You knew there was something wrong?" "I said I was looking into it." "When were you going to tell me?" "When I had something certain." "You've had six years." His jaw flexed. "I was not Alpha six years ago." "But you are now. And you still expect me to accept whatever explanation you give me." "I expect you not to walk into danger because you're angry." "I'm angry because everyone keeps deciding what I can handle." She pulled her arm free. Riven reached for her again, but she shoved his hand away. The movement was quick and careless. Her boot slid on the wet ground, and she stumbled into him. He caught her by instinct. For one strange heartbeat, they were close enough for her to hear the uneven rhythm of his breathing. His hand was braced against her back. Her fingers had closed around his shirt to steady herself. Then the world changed. A sharp sensation opened in the centre of Seren's chest-not pain exactly, but a sudden, impossible recognition. It spread through her like warmth rushing into frozen limbs. Her wolf lifted its head inside her, alert and trembling. Riven went still. His hand fell away as though the contact had burned him. His silver eyes widened, and the colour seemed to drain from his face. "No," he said. Seren took a step back. "What?" The pull strengthened. It was not coming from the forest or from the bond she had always felt with her pack. It came from him. A thread had drawn tight between them, reaching past instinct and reason to something ancient in the blood. Her wolf recognised it before her mind could name it. Mate. The word formed inside her with terrible certainty. Seren shook her head. "No. That can't be right." Riven stared at her as if the same word had struck him. For the first time since she had known him, he looked genuinely unprepared. "Tell me you don't feel it," she demanded. He said nothing. "Riven." His throat moved. "I feel it." The admission hollowed out the space between them. Seren had imagined many things that might happen if she ever found her mate. She had imagined warmth, recognition, perhaps the kind of acceptance she had spent years pretending she did not want. She had never imagined standing in the rain with the one man she could barely tolerate, watching him look at their bond as though it were a sentence. She pressed a hand to her chest. "There has to be a mistake." "I'm aware." The bluntness of his reply stung. "You don't have to sound so disgusted." His expression tightened. "I didn't say that." "You didn't need to." A distant howl rose from the pack territory. Another answered it. The sound travelled through the wet trees, carrying the news that something had shifted in the Alpha's world. Wolves were sensitive to changes in their leader, and the bond had not been subtle. Riven glanced towards the packhouse. "We need to go back." "I am not walking beside you as if this is some happy announcement." "Seren, the pack will feel the bond." "Let them." "You don't know what they'll do with this." "Neither do you." He looked at her, and for a moment the Alpha's composure slipped. Beneath it was a man facing a future he had not chosen. Then the mask returned. "Stay close until we understand what has happened." Seren let out a humourless breath. "You still think you can give me orders." "I think you should be careful." "Those are not the same thing." She turned towards the packhouse, but the invisible thread followed. No matter how quickly she walked, she could feel him behind her-his presence, his shock, and the strange new awareness that neither of them could command. The bond had chosen. Seren had not.