CHAPTER 4 – PACK LAW

The Alpha wasn't on a phone.

He was on a laptop in Coach's office, on video, and the second Karl pulled me through the door, the man on the screen looked straight at me like he could smell me through the camera.

He looked like Karl in twenty years. Same gold-brown hair, same shoulders, same eyes that didn't blink enough. He was wearing a suit, not sweats. Behind him was a wall of windows and forest.

"Dad," Karl said. He kept his hand on my lower back. Not pushing. Just there.

Silas Maddox — Alpha of the North Shore — didn't look at his son. He looked at me.

"That's him," he said. His voice was low and even. "The human."

"Theo Ellis," I said. My voice cracked. "Sir."

"Come closer."

Karl's hand tightened on my back. "He's under my claim."

"I can see that," Silas said. "I can also see you marked him with blood in a public pool, Karl. On a bleed night. Are you trying to start a challenge?"

"He saw me shift," Karl said. "Pack law."

"Pack law says you bring the witness to the den for judgment, not dress him in your clothes and parade him at practice," Silas said. "Jace already called me."

Karl went still. "Jace—"

"Is my beta's son and he thinks you're compromised," Silas cut in. "Bring the boy to the house. Tonight. If he's latent, we do this right before the moon. If he's just a human you like, you let him go."

"He's not just—" Karl started.

"Bring him," Silas said, and hung up.

The office was quiet.

Karl let out a slow breath. He looked at me. "You heard him."

"Is that an order?" I asked.

"It's protection," he said. "If I leave you in the dorms tonight, Jace will come for you. To prove I'm weak."

He grabbed his keys off the desk. "Come on."

---

Karl's house wasn't a frat house. It was off campus, behind a gate, all stone and glass and trees. Pack house. I could feel it before we got out of the car — like the air was heavier.

He parked and came around to open my door. He didn't let go of my hand as we walked in.

Inside smelled like him everywhere. Cedar and clean laundry and that wild under-scent.

"My room's upstairs," he said. "You'll sleep there."

"Where will you sleep?"

He looked at me. "With you."

My stomach flipped.

His bedroom was bigger than my whole dorm. Big bed, dark sheets, one wall of windows facing the woods. He went to his dresser and tossed me a soft black t-shirt and sweats.

"Shower first," he said. "You still have my blood on your neck. It'll drive everyone crazy downstairs."

I went into his bathroom. It smelled like him too. I stood under the hot water until the pink on my neck washed away. When I got out, I put on his clothes. They were too big and warm.

When I came out, Karl was sitting on the edge of the bed, shirt off, elbows on his knees. His back was a map of muscle. There were faint silver scars along his spine.

He looked up. His eyes went dark when he saw me in his shirt.

"Better," he said quietly.

I sat next to him, not touching. "What did your dad mean, 'if he's latent'?"

Karl turned to face me. "Most wolves are born. Some are made by bite. And a few... a few are born human with the gene asleep. They live whole lives thinking they're human until an Alpha's scent wakes it up. They smell different. Irresistible. Like you."

"How do you know I'm not just human?"

"Because I've been around humans my whole life," he said. "They don't make my wolf sit up and beg the second I breathe them in. They don't make it hard to think on the third night."

He reached out, slow, giving me time to pull back. I didn't. He tucked a damp piece of hair behind my ear, his fingers brushing my jaw.

"Tomorrow is full moon," he said. "If you're latent, your first shift will hit with it. It hurts like hell the first time. You need an anchor. A scent. A wolf to hold you down so you don't tear yourself apart."

"Is that you?" I whispered.

"It has to be me," he said. "I claimed you. My scent is already in you."

My breathing went shallow. Not asthma. Something else. Heat was building low in my belly from just his hand on my face.

"Karl," I said. "Last night in the locker room, you said you had enough control not to ruin me on the floor."

"I remember."

"Do you still?"

His thumb stroked my cheek. "No."

He leaned in and pressed his forehead to mine. We just breathed for a minute.

"I'm on the second night now," he whispered. "It's worse than the third. My wolf knows you're in my bed wearing my clothes. He wants to finish what we started."

"So finish it," I said.

He groaned, low in his chest. "Theo. If I take you tonight, while you're still human, I won't be gentle. And if you shift tomorrow, your body won't know if it's pain from me or pain from the change. I won't do that to you."

He pulled back and stood. He went to the window and gripped the frame, knuckles white. Trying to control it.

I got up and went to him. I put my hand on his back, between his shoulder blades where the scars were.

He shivered.

"Then don't take," I said. "Just stay."

He turned around. His eyes were full gold now, glowing in the dark room.

"You don't know what you're asking," he said.

"I'm asking you to get in bed with me," I said. "That's all."

He stared at me for three heartbeats. Then he nodded once.

We got under the covers. He stayed on his side at first, a foot of space between us. I could feel the heat coming off him like a furnace.

After ten minutes, I rolled over and put my head on his chest.

He froze. Then his arm came around me, careful, like I would break. His hand slid under the shirt I was wearing — his shirt — and rested flat on my bare back.

"Sleep," he murmured into my hair.

I almost did. Then the heat in my belly turned sharp. A cramp rolled through my gut, deep and low. I gasped.

Karl was instantly over me, eyes bright. "Theo?"

"Stomach," I managed. "Cramp."

His nose flared. He inhaled against my neck, then lower, at my collarbone.

His whole body locked up.

"You're burning up," he said. "Your scent just changed."

"What does that mean?"

"It means it's starting," he said, voice rough. "Not tomorrow. Tonight."

Another cramp hit, stronger. My skin prickled all over, too tight. I grabbed his shoulders.

"Karl—"

He pressed his mouth to my forehead, then to my temple, breathing me in like he could calm it.

"Look at me," he ordered. "Breathe with me."

I tried. Our eyes locked, gold to brown.

Downstairs, a door slammed. Voices. Jace.

Karl's head snapped toward the bedroom door, his teeth bared.

"They're early," he growled. "They smell it too."

He pulled the blanket up over both of us and tucked me against his chest, one hand on the back of my neck, holding me still as the cramps rolled through me.

"Hold on to me, Theo," he whispered in my ear as footsteps came up the stairs. "Your first shift is starting, and I'm not letting anyone else in this room while you fall apart in my arms."