Ash woke up to Tonya’s voice. He was on the big leather couch where all the moon widows had been the previous night. He blinked and looked around, but the whole place was clean. He’d headed out there after the movie. All the women had already left, so he’d stretched out on the couch and Googled things on his phone until the battery went out.

For a long time, he had laid on the couch, feeling Helena, focusing on her emotions, trying to will her to return to him. He couldn’t help how he felt about her, and it wasn’t just Fate talking. Helena was incredible. She was as smart and sensual and beautiful as the day was long and hot in a Texas summer. He’d never met anyone like her.

When he felt Tonya’s hand on his shoulder, he sat up. The living room was dark and they were alone. The alpha’s wife, wrapped up in a plush gray robe, smiled down at him and handed him a cup of coffee.

“I thought you would want me to wake you before the wolves come back,” she said. “The moon just disappeared, although the sun hasn’t yet risen.”

Ash sat up and grabbed the mug of coffee, sniffing. It was a good roast. Why he had expected anything different was beyond him. Tonya was an immaculate hostess.

“You watch the moon?”

“Not always. But this is an important run. There were a lot of wolves out there, which means a lot of opportunities for trouble.” She grabbed her own coffee cup from the table and walked toward the foyer door, calling over her shoulder, “Come with me, Ash. Let’s watch them come back.”

Ash followed her, feeling the cold floor on his toes, and he looked down at his injured foot. Only…he’d taken the boot off to sleep, and now the injury was painless. No, it had healed. They’d told him it would happen, but it was still mind boggling.

“I see your foot healed all the way,” Tonya said as he padded out onto the porch behind her. She’d grabbed another robe, this one larger, from the back of the couch where she must have left it to wake him. “One of the benefits of the bond.”

“It’s incredible.” Ash came to stand beside her and they looked over the lawn, now dark in the blue of the oncoming morning. “But I still feel…”

He couldn’t quite put words to it. It wasn’t discomfort. It wasn’t frustration. It was just…restlessness.

“You’ll feel better when you see Helena. Trust me.” Tonya sipped on her coffee and perked up. “Here comes Aaron.”

A wolf came loping out of the woods, making a beeline straight for the porch. Tonya pulled the extra robe off her arm, holding it out for her husband. In a shimmer of air, Aaron shifted, walked into the robe and took his wife in his arms. Their kiss was so passionate, Ash looked away again, a little embarrassed. One night apart. That was it. Surely they could spend one night apart without needing to dry hump on the porch.

Tonya pulled away, giggling, and looked over at Ash. “See, Aaron. He came back. You were right. Couldn’t stay away from her.”

“I know the feeling,” Aaron said, sweeping his wife toward the door. “I didn’t see her all night, son. We had to stay with my nephew, since it was his first run. But I think the Quades left their clothes over by the barn. She’ll probably come out there.”

“Thanks,” Ash said, not quite sure if that was an invitation to leave or…

Yes, that was exactly what it had been. The alpha took his wife into the house. They were totally going to bang.

Ash understood.

After spending all night apart from Helena, feeling her emotions but physically separated from her, he was anxious to lay eyes on her. Or, preferably, lay hands on her.

He walked down the steps and headed off toward the barn. No other wolves had come out yet, but if they were all shifting back, then they could appear at any time. He heard a few howls, far back in the forest, quite a ways from where he stood.

When he reached the barn, he saw a woman’s naked back on the ground. He knew it wasn’t Helena, because he could still feel his girl padding through the forest. But it was definitely a woman. Long, dark hair, elegant body. The closer he got, he realized that she was sleeping, and he made his way around her. Didn’t want her to wake up and think he had nefarious intent.

He was just looking for his mate.

* * *

The full moon was over, but morning hadn’t quite risen. The sky was still a dark velvet blue. The bright scent of pine filled her nostrils and she came around a particularly large tree to find her pack waiting.

One of her cousins threw a red plaid shirt at her. It landed in front of her paws.

“Get dressed, Helena.” Her grandfather was already fully clothed and walking toward her. “Why didn’t you wait for us? You shifted early.”

She backed up a few steps, not wanting this confrontation. Not yet. If she shifted now, they’d ask questions she wasn’t ready to answer. She wanted to talk to Ash before she explained the situation to them. Everything had happened so fast last night. She’d made so many mistakes, and now she could feel his hurt as if it were her own.

The barn was in the distance and her clothes were there, where she’d dropped them…unless Ash had picked them up. She whined and shook her head, flapping her ears. No. Not yet.

Her grandfather frowned in impatience, and she felt his alpha magick sear through her consciousness like a hot branding iron pressing into her skin. All that was missing was the scent of burning hide. Her wolf released her and the air shimmered. She stood, shivering as the chilly air slid over her bare skin.

Nausea spiraled up through her body, first her stomach, then up into the back of her mouth. They looked so very angry.

She pulled the shirt on and buttoned it quickly as heat flared through her cheeks. She wasn’t usually embarrassed after a shift, but her pack mates were staring at her as if she’d grown a second head. So many eyes all looking at…

She unrolled the sleeves, trying to cover the marks on her wrists.

But they’d seen them. It was too late.

“Who mated you?” her grandfather asked, some of the harshness slipping out of his voice. “Why didn’t you tell me?” His eyes searched the woods behind her. “Where is he? You could’ve at least had the decency to introduce us before you bonded to him.”

“I—” she started, her voice shaking. “He’s not from the summit.”

“Meaning what? He’s a VonBrandt?”

“No,” Helena said, walking toward the treeline. She needed to get to Ash. Something inside her needed to touch him. To apologize. “I need to go, Grandfather. I’ll tell you later, okay?”

Her grandfather snarled and walked after her. She noted her male cousins in her peripheral vision—the females were notably absent—but none of them said a word. Just stood there in their black jeans and black hats. Even if they’d wanted to say something or stick up for her, they couldn’t. Everyone feared Phillip Quade, especially his pack. He used his alpha magick as a weapon, the way some men used belts or fists. Only these weapons, there was no escaping. He was unbeatable.

The house was in the distance. She could see people stirring on the patio. Others walking in from the surrounding sides of the forest. She could feel Ash’s presence, but she couldn’t see him. He’d stayed. He hadn’t left her. Even after everything.

“What’s wrong with him? Why are you hiding him from me?” Her grandfather grabbed her arm and jerked her around to face him again.

“He’s not a wolf,” she said, her voice barely a whisper.

His face twisted into a hideous mask of anger. “Stupid bitch. A traitor to your kind, just like your father. I should’ve known.” He shoved her to ground and spat at her. “You’re not worthy to be a part of this pack.”

The words hit Helena’s chest like daggers. She scrambled backward, wiping the spittle off her face. She closed her eyes and willed herself not to cry. She wouldn’t show any more weakness than she already had.

“Fate chose,” she said, saying the words slowly to ensure her voice didn’t shake or catch.

“I don’t give a shit about Fate and neither should you. Our pack keeps wolf business separate from humans. It has been the way ever since we were founded. Your father broke that rule by marrying your whore of a mother.”

“Grandfather, people are noticing,” Daniel murmured.

“Be silent,” the old man snarled, turning toward her cousin for a moment before settling his seething attention back on her. “Helena Quade. I should’ve punished your father when he mated that human slut bitch, but he was my son and I always hoped he’d see the error of his ways and come back. You will not receive that same mercy.” He reached down and grabbed her wrist, wrenching her from the ground. He may have looked like an old man, with his gray hair and wrinkled skin, but he was a wolf first. So strong. So dangerous. His grip bit into her like vise, iron fingers digging into her flesh. Her wolf whined inside and Helena whimpered.

“Please,” she begged. “I’m sorry.”

His eyes darkened and magick swirled around them. The alpha magick burned her from the inside out. Her head filled with pressure and she cried out as pain lanced through her temples. Her grandfather spoke again, but it was in another language—the language of the bond spell. What was he doing? She heard her cousins yelling behind the fog of white noise in her head, but none of the words registered in her mind. Then the pain inside tripled and she screamed again, yanking at her arm, struggling to free herself from the angry alpha. He wouldn’t let go. She was trapped.

Then the pain stopped and turned into something else. A sickening hollow feeling in the pit of her stomach.

Her grandfather released her and she tumbled back onto the ground. “You are no longer pack, Helena. You are cast out.” He spat at her again and yelled something at her cousins she couldn’t make out.

So much noise swam through her head. Curling into a tight ball, she sobbed as the emptiness bloomed and filled her soul. Her wolf hid in the recesses of her mind, terrified. They’d been cut off. Abandoned. How would she function without a pack? No wolf survived alone. It wasn’t allowed. The Tribunal would send Rangers for her if it got out—that was the whole reason the alphas were meeting this weekend, to avoid having that happen to anyone related to the unbonded wolf they’d found. Unbonded wolves were a danger to pack structure. They were locked up. Sometimes destroyed.

That would happen to her, with no pack to protect her. No alpha. No family. Ash couldn’t stop them. No one could stop them.