(Gianna's POV)
The air changed.
Dominance rolled through the forest like a landslide-absolute, no room for argument. Alpha-level. The rogues buckled instantly, whimpering, scattering into the underbrush.
A massive white wolf stepped out of the tree line. Twice the rogues' size. Fur like new snow. Eyes the color of glacial ice.
It stopped ten paces away and turned its head toward me.
I didn't move.
The wolf lowered its head. Then it made a sound-not a growl, not a bark.
A whistle. Two notes. One rising, one falling.
My body recognized it before my mind did. A signal from another lifetime-the safety call Theodore and I invented as children, playing wolf-and-hunter in the Rivers forests. Two notes meant: come out. You're safe.
I stepped out from behind the boulder.
The white wolf watched me for a long breath. Then it shifted-bones cracking, fur receding, the massive frame contracting into human form.
Theodore stood where the wolf had been. Tall, broad-shouldered, in the black tactical uniform of the Alpha King's border patrol. Ice-blue eyes locked on mine.
It was him, my ex-fiancé-Theodore Sterling. Sterling Pack's alpha heir. Current Beta of the Alpha King. Even deep in the underground mine, I could still hear of his glorious deeds.
"Beta Theodore," I said.
His gaze moved over me-grey skin, twisted nails, the dragging leg, the infection smell the wind couldn't cover.
"You're hurt," he said.
"I can still walk."
Snow fell between us. Neither of us moved.
"Charlotte said she would pick you up today. She left you here," he said. Not a question.
I said nothing. My silence was answer enough.
The muscle in his jaw went tight. The vein at his temple jumped once. Then he shifted again. White fur spread. Bones reformed. Steelclaw reappeared-vast, warm. He lowered himself to the ground.
An offer.
Somewhere deep in me, Gina moved. Not a word. Not a whimper. Just a tremor.
I climbed onto his back without speaking. His fur was warm. His heartbeat steady beneath me.
For the first time in four years, I wasn't cold.
I hate that I still long for this warmth.
Steelclaw moved through the forest without sound.
The Pack's scent grew stronger as we neared the border-pine resin, hearth smoke, the particular musk of wolves who belonged somewhere. Patrol markings on the trees grew denser. I recognized the territory boundary before I saw it.
I put my hand on his spine. "Put me down."
The white wolf kept moving.
"Put me down," I said again. "I'll walk from here."
He slowed. Stopped. Lowered himself to the ground.
I slid off his back. My left leg hit the snow and I bit down on my back teeth.