I was Evander, and I told myself I came to Nova's room to give her an order.
The bond had pulled at my chest all night, and I was sick of losing sleep to it.
The door was not locked. That was the first thing wrong.
The bed was made tight, and the hooks by the wall were bare.
Her tool belt was gone. So was the little radio she built with her own hands.
She had left the pack in the night and not said one word to me.
The bond threw a picture at me, and I could not push it down.
Her on the tower floor with my hand down her pants, her hips rolling into my palm.
Nova: Please. Put your fingers inside me. I need it.
She had begged with her mouth on my throat, and she had been so wet I could hear it.
I had told her to say my name while I worked her clit.
Then I pulled my hand out and called her a mistake in front of her brother.
Boots came down the hall, and Piet filled the doorway with his face already guilty.
Piet: She's gone. She took the Coldwater job.
I had him against the wall before I knew I had moved.
My hand closed on his jaw and slammed his head into the boards. His lip split on his own teeth.
Evander: You knew. You let her walk out in the dark and you never came to me.
Piet: She's my sister. I wasn't going to hold her down for you.
I drove my fist into his gut, and he folded over my arm with a wet gasp.
Blood dripped off his chin to the floor. My fingers had already left red marks on his cheek.
My father's voice came down the hall, and Adelie came with him with her silver pin shining.
Doran: Get your hands off your own Beta. What is this?
Doran: The wolf-less cunt is gone? Good. Let her spread her legs on the storm road for coin.
Adelie: She'll be back by dark with her tail down. They always come back.
Doran: And if she does, she takes the breeder room and says thank you.
Doran: If she steps on my land without it, I'll have her dragged behind a truck till she learns her place.
Piet went still against the wall. He believed it, and so did I.
The bond pulled so hard I had to put a hand on the wall.
I did not want her back in a corner under Adelie. I wanted her back.
That was a different thing, and I hated that I felt it.
The hall radio crackled, and the weather voice cut through the static.
Ondra: Storm warning for the pass road. All traffic off the Coldwater road by nightfall.
Coldwater road. The only road she could have taken.
Doran: You will not go after her. She is not pack. Let the road have her.
Evander: Then find another heir. I'm going.
His hand closed on my arm hard enough to grind the bone, and I let it.
Then I pulled loose and walked out with his shout at my back.
I took the fastest horse, my storm coat, and a coil of wire for her.
The gate guard took one look at my face and did not try to stop me.
The wind hit the pass like a wall, and the first sleet cut my cheek.
I had called her a mistake in front of the whole pack, and now I could not breathe for fear of her.
I did not know if I was riding to save her or to own her. Either way, I was already late.