The woods were thick with mist when Natasha crossed the Evergreen line.
Her heart beat like a war drum beneath her ribs, her fingers shaking as the cool air slid over her skin. Her body ached with expectation. Her wolf scratched just beneath the surface, desperate to feel him again.
She hadn't told Rowan. She hadn't looked back.
The only thing she could feel was the pull—ancient, painful, relentless. The partner bond thrummed through her blood like a forbidden song, pulling her into enemy land once more.
Then— A growl. Deep. Low. Feral.
Before she could move, Jude was there.
He moved like smoke and shadow, slamming her back against the thick trunk of a pine. Bark scraped her skin, breath rushed out of her lungs—but the heat of him pinned her more than his grip.
One hand fisted in her hair. The other braced against the tree, caging her in. Their chests barely touched, but it felt like they were already locked together.
"What the fuck are you doing here?" His voice was ragged, pure dirt. It wasn't rage. It was fear, barely masked.
Her eyes locked with his, burning green to freezing blue. "I had to."
"You shouldn't have come back."
"Then why didn't you stop me last time?"
He bared his teeth. "Because if I had, I would've marked you."
The quiet after was instant. Heavy. Saturated with the sparking energy of everything unsaid.
She breathed slowly and shook. "So do it."
His jaw tightened. His fingers flexed in her hair.
"Don't tempt me."
"I'm not tempting you," she whispered. "I'm claiming you."
That shattered him.
Jude leaned in, mouth touching the shell of her ear. His breath burned her. "You don't know what you're asking for."
"I do."
His hand slid down her waist. "Then run."
She blinked. "What?"
His eyes darkened, black soaking into blue. His wolf was awake, hungry.
"Run," he growled, voice animal. "Now."
She didn't need to be told twice.
Her shift came in a rush of golden light and muscle, paws hitting the earth with wild grace. The forest burst around her in a blur of smell and sound. She didn't look back.
Because she felt him behind her.
Jude's huge black wolf tore through the trees, a thunderstorm of fur and heat. He didn't hunt like a man—he hunted like a mate.
And Natasha ran, not to escape, but to spark him.
Her golden hair shimmered beneath moonlight as she weaved through the trees, heart racing in rhythm with his chase. The wild had never felt more alive. Each snap of a branch, each sound of paw against earth—it was foreplay in the oldest language.
And then—he was on her.
He tackled her mid-leap, their bodies meeting in a fall of snarls and snapping jaws. Teeth grazed fur, fingers dug into dirt. It wasn't a fight.
It was a naming dance.
She twisted beneath him, golden eyes burning into his. He loomed above her, breath hot, huge paws on either side of her face. A low growl rumbled in his throat, deep and territorial.
And then they shifted.
Skin replaced fur. Flesh replaced fang.
Natasha gasped beneath him, the weight of his body covering hers. They were naked, twisted in grass and sweat and heat. Jude's hands gripped the earth on either side of her head, shivering.
"You drive me insane," he breathed.
She reached up, brushing her fingers over his lips. "Then stop fighting it."
His eyes locked on hers, and his head dipped, lips touching hers—
It wasn't a kiss.
Not yet.
But it was closer than ever.
Then—
The trees cracked with a new sound.
A mocking laugh.
Lilith.
They both froze.
Jude's body went rigid over hers, his hand snapping to her shoulder protectively. Natasha's breath stilled in her lungs.
"Touching the stray again, Alpha?" Lilith purred from the shadows.
She stepped into view like a stormcloud edged in moonlight. Her silver-blonde hair spilled over her shoulders, and her lips curled into a smile full of knives.
"You just can't help yourself, can you?"
Jude rose slowly, naked and unafraid, but there was anger in every line of him. "Lilith."
"Should I alert the others?" she continued, circling them like a cat. "Or will you tell them yourself that you've decided to rut in the dirt with the traitor's daughter?"
Natasha stood, too, body bare and trembling—but not from fear.
Lilith's eyes narrowed. "You look filthy next to him. You are filthy."
Natasha didn't move. "At least I don't lie to get what I want."
"Oh, sweet girl," Lilith said, voice pouring hatred, "you have no idea what I want."
Jude stepped between them. His voice was authority, ice, warning. "Leave."
Lilith's eyes flicked to him, and for a moment, something dark passed through her face. Hurt. Fury. A dying hope.
"Fine," she said. "But this ends soon. Whether by your hand or mine."
And she vanished into the trees.
The quiet that followed was sharp.
Natasha wrapped her arms around herself, every inch of her skin suddenly raw. "She's going to make you choose."
Jude didn't look at her. "I already chose."
Her heart stuttered. "Then why does it still feel like I'm losing?"
He didn't answer.
Didn't move.
Then, softly—so quietly it nearly broke her—he said, "You have to go."
Natasha looked at him, her pulse in her throat. "Say that again."
"You have to go."
She stepped toward him. "Look at me."
He didn't.
"Look at me, Jude."
His eyes met hers, and they were at war. Need. Regret. Fire.
"I can't protect you," he said. "Not from Lilith. Not from my pack. Not from what this bond will do to both of us."
"So you'll reject me?" Her voice was a blade. "Again?"
His silence was answer enough.
She turned.
Started walking.
And stopped only once—to look back, to see him standing in the trees like a figure cut by pain.
"I came back for you," she breathed. "Even after everything."
He didn't move.
Didn't beg.
So she walked away.
But in his chest, his wolf howled again.
And this time, it screamed her name like a curse... and a vow.