Page 20 of Fated Wolf's Redemption

His eyes lock on mine, intense and primal. My heartbeat slams against my ribs. I should roll off him, should do literally anything else besides stay here like some kind of territorial idiot.

But I don’t. His hand is still on my waist. Not hard, not holding, but not letting go, either. I lean in, close enough that his breath grazes my lips.

“This is your strategy?” he murmurs. “Straddle me into submission?”

I bite back a grin. “Seems like it’s working.”

His hand tightens, just slightly. Enough to make me feel it.

“You have no idea what you’re playing with.”

“I think I do.”

His eyes search mine, but not for weakness. For something else. Something darker. I feel the moment when he almost leans up and kisses me. His body coils beneath mine, every inch of him a silent dare. But he doesn’t.

I push up and off him instead, ignoring the disappointment. “Training’s over,” I say. “For now.”

Lucas gets to his feet slowly, brushing dirt from his skin. “We’ll pick it back up tomorrow.”

I don’t answer. I just walk off the field, pretending I don’t feel his eyes on me the whole way.

That night, I can’t sleep. It isn’t the first time. In fact, I haven’t had a decent night’s sleep since we moved to the lodge. When I enter the guest room, it’s warm, the fire crackling low, but my mind won’t quiet.

The moon filters through the massive window, casting a wash of silver over the floorboards. I sit in the armchair, knees drawn up under me, staring out the window and watching it rise higher in the sky.

My wolf is restless. Pacing. She doesn’t understand this game I’m trying to play—doesn’t understand why we keep running from what we both feel. I keep going over that story from theWindrider texts. Soulbound. Wolves drawn together not by logic or choice, but by something far older. It sounds beautiful and terrifying.

But what if that’s not what this is? What if Lucas isn’t my fated mate? What if he’s just a mistake I should avoid at all costs? But what if I can’t?

I think about the way he touched me today. The way our bodies knew each other before our minds could catch up. It wasn’t romance—there was nothing soft about it. It was instinct. It was fire, and I’m not sure if I want to be consumed or saved.

A floorboard creaks in the hallway. My sense of hearing pricks up. My body tenses, but after a brief pause, the steps pass my door. I know it’s him. I can feel it in the air, in the way the silence changes.

Lucas—always circling, always watching.

I press my forehead to my knees and close my eyes. The moon glows brighter outside the window, casting its light like a promise. Or a threat.

I don’t know what Lucas is to me. Not yet. But something’s coming, and I need to figure it out before it’s too late.

CHAPTER 6

SOPHIA

What little sleep I got last night was restless. Oscar, Kylie and I have headed out into the wilderness beyond the Nightshade’s forest. We’re Windriders. Staying in one place for any length of time is difficult for us.

The forest is still—too still. No birdsong. No rustle of leaves from foraging creatures. Just the cold bite of pine-saturated air and the soft crunch of damp moss beneath our boots. We’re back at the ridge, where there are claw marks slashed into bark, stained with blood, like warnings no one’s willing to say out loud.

Oscar walks ahead of me, eyes sharp, steps careful. Kylie brings up the rear, knife already out, fingers flipping it like she’s trying to keep herself entertained. Neither of them speaks. They don’t need to. The silence says enough.

I crouch near the tree where we found the markings, brushing aside a clump of wet leaves. Something glints faintly under the debris. Not natural. Definitely not forgotten. I reach in carefully and pull it free.

My stomach knots.

“Is that—?” Oscar steps closer, eyes narrowing.

I nod, holding the object in my palm. What’s left of it, anyway. The twisted cord, the cracked stone bead, the shredded leather tie. It used to be a Windrider talisman. The kind we only gift to kin or blood-sworn allies.

Kylie whistles low. “Well, that’s not ominous at all.”

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