CHAPTER 5 – FIRST SHIFT

The footsteps stopped outside the bedroom door.

Three sets. I could hear them through the wood, through the blood pounding in my ears. My skin was on fire and too tight at the same time. Another cramp rolled through my stomach and I bit down on a groan.

Karl didn't move off me. He pulled the blanket higher and tucked my head under his chin, one big hand splayed across my back, the other still on my neck.

"Stay quiet," he breathed, so low only I could hear. "They can't see you like this."

The handle turned.

It didn't open. Locked.

Jace's voice came through. "Maddox. Open up. Alpha wants the human downstairs."

Karl's eyes were full gold now, lit from behind. His voice when he answered didn't sound human. "He's in my bed, Jace. You really want to come in here?"

A pause. "He's shifting early. I can smell it from the hall. You didn't even wait for the moon."

"Not your business."

"It is when you hide a latent in your room on a bleed night," another voice said. "Pack law says—"

"Pack law says he's mine because he saw," Karl snarled. "You want to challenge that, you do it tomorrow after he's through it. Not while he's hurting."

My back arched without permission. Heat ripped down my spine like someone was pulling my nerves out through my skin. I gasped into Karl's chest.

He felt it. His arm tightened.

"Theo. Breathe with me," he said, ignoring the door. "In. Out. With me."

I tried. It didn't work. My bones ached deep. My teeth hurt. My ears were ringing and suddenly I could hear everything — the watch ticking on Karl's nightstand, the three heartbeats in the hall, Jace's smug breathing.

"Too loud," I whimpered.

"I know," Karl murmured. He pressed his mouth to my temple. "Your senses are turning on. It's okay. I'm here."

A fist hit the door. "Maddox!"

Karl moved so fast I didn't see it. One second he was holding me, the next he was off the bed, standing in front of the door in just his sweats, shoulders wide, blocking me from view.

He unlocked it and opened it two inches.

Jace was there with two others. His eyes went straight past Karl to me in the bed, sweating in Karl's shirt.

"Holy shit," Jace said, inhaling. "He's—"

"Mine," Karl finished. "Say it."

Jace's jaw worked. "He's yours."

"Louder. For the hall."

"He's yours, heir," Jace said, and he hated every word.

Karl nodded once. "Now get out of my doorway before I show you what the second night feels like."

They left. Karl locked the door again and was back on the bed in one move, pulling me back against his chest.

I was shaking hard. Sweat stuck the shirt to my back.

"It hurts," I whispered. "Everywhere."

"I know, baby," he said. The word slipped out without him thinking. He didn't take it back. "First shift always hurts. Your body doesn't know the shape yet."

He shifted me so I was straddling his lap, facing him. His hands went to my hips, holding me steady.

"Look at me," he ordered. "Only at me."

I did. His gold eyes held mine.

"I'm going to help," he said. "It'll sting, then it'll ease. You trust me?"

I nodded, couldn't speak.

He leaned in and pressed his open mouth to the spot where my neck met my shoulder — the same place he'd mouthed in the locker room. He didn't kiss. He bit down, just enough to break skin.

A flash of pain, then heat poured from the bite straight into my veins. Not like venom. Like relief. Like cold water on a burn.

I cried out and grabbed his shoulders. My nails dug in.

Karl groaned against my skin and licked over the bite once, sealing it. The ache in my bones dulled from a scream to a throb.

"What— what was that?" I panted.

"Anchor bite," he whispered, forehead against mine. "Not a full claim. Just enough of my venom to tell your wolf who to follow when it wakes up."

My head was spinning. My skin still felt too tight, but I could breathe. I could hear his heart, steady and loud under my ear.

The bedroom door opened again — no knock this time.

Neither of us moved.

Silas Maddox walked in.

He was in person now, not on a screen. Bigger. He stopped two feet from the bed and looked at me in his son's lap, wearing his son's shirt, with his son's bite fresh on my neck.

He inhaled once.

Then he smiled. Not kindly.

"Well," the Alpha said. "Jace was right."

Karl's arms locked around me. "Dad."

"Second night and he's already half-turned in your bed," Silas said. "You couldn't wait, huh?"

"He was in pain," Karl said. "He started early."

Silas came closer. I flinched back into Karl automatically. Silas noticed.

"What's your name, son?" he asked me.

"Theo Ellis," I said, voice hoarse.

"Theo," he repeated. "Do you know what you are?"

"A... benchwarmer?" I tried.

Silas actually laughed. "You're a latent wolf, Theo. Dormant for nineteen years. My son's scent woke you up. That means by pack law, you're North Shore now. Whether you like it or not."

My stomach dropped. "I didn't choose—"

"No one chooses the wolf," Silas said. "But you choose the Alpha who holds you through it. My son chose you in that locker room. Did you choose him back?"

I looked up at Karl. His gold eyes were locked on me, waiting, scared under the alpha stare.

I thought about two years of being invisible. About him saying my name for the first time. About him stepping in front of Jace in the pool. About him holding me while I fell apart.

"Yes," I said. "I choose him."

Karl exhaled like I'd punched him. His hand tightened on my hip.

Silas nodded. "Good. Then you stay here tomorrow for the full moon. Karl will see you through the shift. If you live, you're his. Officially."

He turned to go, then stopped at the door.

"And Karl," he said without looking back. "If you lose control tomorrow night and hurt him, I'll put you down myself. He's pack now."

The door shut.

I was shaking again, but not from pain. From everything.

Karl pulled the blanket up around us and laid back, taking me with him so I was sprawled across his chest.

"You heard him," Karl whispered into my hair. "You're mine tomorrow. Officially."

"And tonight?" I asked.

He rolled us over so I was under him, his weight pinning me gently to the mattress. He kissed the fresh bite on my neck, then my jaw, then finally, carefully, my mouth.

"Tonight," he said against my lips, "you're still mine. Just not in front of the pack yet."

Outside the window, the moon was rising, one night early, and my bones ached again — but this time, I wasn't scared of the pain.

I was scared of how much I wanted it, if it meant he would keep holding me like this.