Ash dropped to the ground, choking on the sudden hollowness inside. The pain. He came up to his hands and knees and looked around the empty yard. Helena.

Her agonized scream split the air and every single nerve and muscle in his body went on high alert. He ran toward her. Had to get to her. Protect her. Save her.

His arms were pumping as he ran, and he could feel the throbbing hollowness get closer as he concentrated on it. Straight into the forest and through the trees. Her screams tore into him, propelling him even faster through the brush.

Need to get to her. My mate.

A low snag of bushes stood between him and a bunch of guys in black cowboy hats. An old, wrinkled man stood at the center of the group.

Ash didn’t see her until he got around the bushes. She was barely draped in a big plaid shirt, writhing and whimpering on the ground. That sound fueled his rage.

“What the fuck did you do to her?” he screamed, sliding to his knees beside her and drawing her into his arms. At last. Holding her. Touching her.

“You must be the human,” sneered the old man. “Well, now you can have the whore. She’s not part of my pack anymore.”

Ash felt the rage boil up to a point where words wouldn’t suffice. Only action. He jumped to his feet, hauled back and punched the old jackass straight in the face. His chest was pumping with deep breaths, his blood churning inside, and he stood over the old man, shouting, “I don’t care who or what you are. You talk about her like that again, and I will kill you.”

The cowboys around them all stared, alternately, from the old guy to Ash, like they didn’t quite know what to say.

“What the damn hell?” came Aaron VonBrandt’s voice from the other side of the bushes.

Ash got to his knees again, settling himself on the ground. He slid Helena into his lap and cradled her against him, stroking her back. “Helena. Tell me what happened.”

She whimpered into his chest, slipping her arms around him and not speaking. Like she couldn’t speak.

He glared up at the other guys around them—the Quade wolves, presumably—as Aaron come around the bushes. The big VonBrandt alpha’s eyes were glowing gold, and a vein was popping out of his neck. He looked from Helena to the old jackass, who was being helped to his feet by one of the cowboys. “Phillip Quade,” Aaron growled, “You tell me what the fuck is going on here, right now, or I’m going to kick you out of my home.”

“The little slut mated a human after a one-night stand,” said the old man, and Ash started to rise to punch him out again, but Aaron beat him to it. The smack of flesh on bone gave Ash a satisfied feeling deep in his gut, and he watched the old man fall down again.

“You talk about a woman like that one more time…” There was such threat under the alpha’s words, and Ash felt Helena relax even just the slightest bit under his hands.

“Did you hit her?” Aaron asked, looking down at Helena. “Did he hit you?”

But she was still nonverbal, clinging to Ash like a scared kid. It ripped his insides to pieces to see his strong woman like this, and he tried to tighten his grip on her. Show her he would always protect her. Always love her.

“He didn’t hit her,” said one of the cowboys. “He…” It was obvious the man was having difficulty saying the words out loud, and Ash noticed that they weren’t crowding around the old man to protect him. They were slowly backing away. Like they all wanted to distance themselves from him.

“What did he do?” Aaron’s voice dropped a whole octave and rumbled like a diesel engine. He pointed from cowboy to cowboy until one of them was brave enough to look straight in the eyes and speak.

“He took her alpha bond away.”

Ash’s mouth went dry. So that was the feeling that had choked him—that yawning hollowness that had felt like it would swallow them both. Aaron’s face went red and he looked down at the old man, who was grasping for a helping hand.

None of the cowboys approached him this time. He was on his own.

And Ash wanted to fucking kill him. He sat very still while Aaron swore a blue streak, contemplating just how much he would like to rip Phillip Quade’s slanderous tongue right out of his mouth. Maybe watch him slowly bleed to death. There was not a death gruesome enough for that old bastard.

“You know we’re not allowed to do that,” Aaron spat at the old man as he climbed to his feet on his own. He was dumb as shit to keep getting up, which made him such a perfect throat-punch target.

“I am the alpha of my pack, and I decide how to enforce our laws,” the old man snarled back. “You have no business interfering.”

“You three need to get him out of my sight before I kill him.” Aaron pointed at the three closest men, but they just stood there, fists clenched, like they were being held against their will.

Helena was practically catatonic in Ash’s arms, clutching at him and whimpering like a kicked animal.

“Explain to me exactly what he did to her so I can fix it,” Ash said, settling his gaze on Aaron.

“You can’t fix it,” said the alpha with a sad look. “Only another alpha can fix it.”

“Can you do it?”

Aaron’s face was drawn and dark. “I can, but…an alpha bond has some similarities to the mate bond, Ash. It’s supposed to be for life. She will need to become part of my pack, which means…she’ll have to leave her life in El Paso.”

“Do it,” Ash said, nodding hard.

“She’ll have to live here, son.”

“Good.” He stroked her loose, dark hair, and set his jaw. They’d fix whatever was wrong between them. He’d do anything. “I’ll take care of her. You just fix her wolf.”

Aaron reached for Helena and both of them helped her to her feet. She was still clinging to Ash’s body, and he kept one arm around her as much as he could, keeping her stable and safe. He’d noticed that the hollow feeling was less intense when he was holding her, and he wanted nothing more than for that feeling to go away.

“Fine,” sneered the old man, who stood a few feet away, leaning on a tree, blood spilling from cuts on his face. “That whore bitch can be your problem.”

Something cracked inside Ash, and the rage spilled over so completely, he launched himself across the clearing and punched Phillip Quade in the throat. The man crumpled, and then Ash was on top of him, pounding him.

Kill him. Protect her. Avenge her. Kill him.

The world was red, and he just wanted to hurt this man until there was no more rage and no more blood, and Helena was safe forever. He felt hands on his shoulders, hands on his arms, but when he looked up, it was only Aaron VonBrandt. None of the black-clad Johnny-Cash wannabes had come to their grandfather’s aid.

Ash’s blood was pumping so violently, his breath coming so fast and hard, he thought he would see stars. But Aaron VonBrandt kept pulling him off, telling him to stop—not to kill the old man.

Phillip Quade had beaten his granddaughter down for years, bullying her until she didn’t feel she could make her own choices. Until she doubted Fate, the very thing the wolves seemed to rely on most.

Well, Tonya had said it was possible for someone to be made a wolf, and he would do that if it would make her happy. He would be a wolf. For her.

* * *

Helena listened to the yelling and screaming and crunching of bones. But she couldn’t move. Her only coherent thought was that Ash had left her. She was alone again on the ground.

“Get him off my property. In fact, get your entire fucking pack off my land. Wolves that would stand by and allow something like this to occur. I—” An incredibly angry growl tore from the VonBrandt alpha’s throat, cutting off his words. “You’re all worthless pieces of shit just like your alpha. Dammit, you didn’t stick up for your own kin. Get out!”

Helena gasped in shock. No one had ever spoken to her grandfather like that before. In El Paso, her grandfather’s word was law. Period.

Though people were scrambling and yelling around her, she lacked the energy to even open her eyes. She’d lost what made her wolf feel safe and secure—the alpha bond. No matter how painful being a part of the El Paso pack had been, she’d been grounded by her connection to the alpha. Now that was gone. Tears rolled down her cheeks in a fresh wave of pain and anguish.

“Hey, baby,” Ash’s voice wrapped around her broken soul before she felt his hands take hold of her. “I’m never leaving you again. You hear me?”

Other hands joined Ash’s, supporting her. But she didn’t think she could ever feel whole again. Not without her pack. No wonder they had been so up in arms about one unbonded wolf. It would be devastating.

“You said you could fix her.” Ash’s voice carried the same pain and emptiness she felt inside. He could feel her the same as she sensed him. But how could she possibly be fixed? Her grandfather would never take her back.

“Give her to me,” Aaron said, his voice gentle, reminding Helena of her father. “Just for a moment.”

Ash relinquished her to Aaron.

No. Wait. She wanted to cry out, but the words stuck in her throat. Ash had said he wouldn’t leave her. Why was he giving her over to Aaron?

Ash. She tried again, but nothing more than a mournful whimper escaped. She didn’t want to see her grandfather again, so she kept her eyes tightly closed. Aaron had told him to leave, but that didn’t mean he was gone yet.

Magick swirled around her, wrapping her up like a warm blanket on a cold day. Aaron was saying something. Something in the old language the bond spell used. The warmth on the outside changed and slipped beneath the surface of her skin into her soul. Into her wolf. The hole her grandfather had made was being filled. Something miraculous was happening. She was being given another pack. A new alpha.

She opened her eyes and sucked in a deep breath. Aaron’s golden pupils stared back at her. His hands squeezed her upper arms gently, reassuring her and giving her strength all in the same moment. “Welcome to Somewhere, Helena Quade.”

A sob tore through her chest and she nodded, still unable to get her tongue to cooperate and form the words she wanted to say. But her wolf was no longer alone. No longer writhing in anguish.

She turned her head, feeling Ash nearby, needing to touch him again. Needing to see that he still wanted her. Needing to tell him how much she wanted him. There he was, just standing there and staring at her, his eyes full of worry and pain…and love.

Helena lunged for him, ripping away from Aaron. Throwing her arms around Ash’s neck, she said, “I’m so sorry. Gods, I’m so sorry.”