Unthinkable Bonds

-Paige-

Leaving the deep, damp embrace of the forest was always incredibly difficult for me. The ancient, reaching branches of the massive trees and the thick scent of wet soil offered a strange comfort—it was the absolute one place in this world where I never truly felt alone. The lingering, unnatural cold from the horrifying vision I had just experienced still gripped my bones tightly, making my entire body shiver. I finally forced myself to pull away from the tree line, dragging my boots through the mud as I climbed the long, wooden staircase leading directly to Sloane’s Alpha office in the pack house.

I knocked on the heavy oak door. Trent, her husband, opened it with a quiet sigh. He motioned silently for me to come inside, pointing toward a plush leather chair situated beside the crackling fireplace. I immediately moved toward the heat, immensely grateful for the vivid orange flames dancing wildly in the hearth, desperately trying to thaw the supernatural chill from my skin.

A few feet away from the fire, Sloane was stretched out on the long leather couch, taking a much-needed afternoon nap. She was heavily pregnant, her swollen belly pointing straight up toward the ceiling as she breathed deeply. She looked visibly exhausted, dark circles bruised beneath her eyes.

Trent took the seat directly opposite me, leaning forward with his elbows resting heavily on his knees. His usually bright, energetic eyes were weighed down with a deep, profound sorrow as he stared blankly into the burning fire.

"I don’t know how we’re going to do this, Paige," he murmured softly, confessing his deep, agonizing fears into the quiet room. "She barely sleeps as it is. She’s completely exhausted all the time. And as an Alpha... her highly vulnerable position right now terrifies me. If anything happens, she can't fight like she used to."

I swallowed hard, feeling a thick, hard knot instantly form in my throat. We both fully knew the brutal, unflinching reality of pack dynamics. An Alpha was always the first line of defense, but also the primary target in any coordinated attack against the pack.

"You’re right to be concerned, Trent," I told him softly, refusing to sugarcoat our grim, highly dangerous reality. I held my trembling hands closer to the fire. "Ever since yesterday, my instincts have been screaming. Something is coming. Something we are absolutely not prepared for."

Before Trent could push me for any further details or ask about my premonition, a soft groan drifted from the couch. Sloane stirred, her honey-gold eyes blinking open as she woke from her brief nap.

"Trent, baby, could you please leave us alone for a few minutes?" she asked gently, pushing her heavy body up with a slight wince. "Paige and I need to discuss official pack business in private."

Trent nodded silently, giving me a deeply pained look before stepping out and letting the heavy office door click firmly shut behind him. Sloane slowly made her way across the room to take her rightful seat behind her massive, intricately carved ancestral desk. Though her slender, pregnant frame made her appear incredibly fragile right now, I knew firsthand it was an illusion. She was one of our fiercest, most agile, and deadly warriors. Nobody questioned her taking the permanent Alpha role.

"If your vision was as bad as you look right now, I’m already highly concerned," she said, her expression instantly shifting. The tired, pregnant friend vanished in a split second, replaced entirely by pure, calculating Alpha authority.

I leaned forward and recounted every single terrifying detail of my vision, making sure to leave absolutely nothing out. I vividly described the sickening sound of thick tree trunks snapping like twigs. I told her about the massive, crushing footprints appearing deep in the mud out of thin air, completely devoid of a physical body. I explicitly described the invisible mass charging through the woods, and the brutal slaughter of the elite Lycans I had just witnessed. I saw their flesh being torn open by claws we couldn't even see, their desperate screams echoing in the phantom wind.

When I finally finished my grim report, a long, incredibly heavy silence stretched between us. The rhythmic, steady sound of the heavy rain aggressively hitting the large floor-to-ceiling windows behind her was the only noise filling the massive office.

Sloane leaned back heavily in her leather chair, her sharp eyes narrowing as she processed the violent information. "In your vision, was the creature originally on Lycan territory?"

I nodded in rapid confirmation. "Yes. I never saw it cross onto our exact land during the main attack."

"It’s after the Lycans, Paige," she deduces sharply, tapping her index finger against the polished ancestral wood. "Jace told me yesterday that the beast completely stopped chasing the Lycan unit once they ran deeper into our wolf territory. It deliberately hung back. It only engaged our wolves when our fighters actively attacked it first."

She paused, her brow furrowing deeply as she pieced the puzzle together. "This smells heavily like magic, P. Very strong and extremely dark magic. A witch. Whoever was directing that invisible creature was specifically directing it to kill the Lycans, but they gave it a strict command not to touch our wolves."

Pure, unadulterated panic immediately seized my chest, squeezing my lungs tightly. "We have to send them back," I interrupted her, my voice rising in blind panic. I was utterly terrified by the sheer destructive capability of the thing I had just witnessed. "Kick them out! It could wipe out our entire pack if they stay here!"

Sloane looked at me for a long second, her expression flat. Then, a highly amused smirk played heavily on her lips, breaking the tension entirely. She scoffed sarcastically. "You seriously want me to send your mate out to his absolute death?"

Taken completely aback by the sudden, jarring reminder of yesterday's hospital nonsense, I shot straight up from my chair and began pacing the entire length of the office.

"Sloane, listen to yourself! He’s a Lycan!" I exclaimed, throwing my hands up in the air, utterly exasperated that I had completely forgotten that crucial, highly problematic detail amidst the sheer, blinding panic of the vision.

"I mean, if he’s a literal beast in battle, can you imagine how he is in—" she started, her eyes dancing with highly inappropriate, mischievous glee.

"The Moon Goddess forgive your filthy thoughts, Alpha," I glared sharply at her, cutting off her entirely inappropriate sentence immediately.

"Oh, come on, P," she teases relentlessly, a wide, genuine grin spreading across her face. "You speak of the Moon Goddess, but she’s the exact one who paired you with him! Finding one’s fated mate is a very rare blessing! You can't just ignore it."

Instantly, my face burned incredibly hot. A massive wave of fire rushed up my neck and completely covered my cheeks. It wasn't out of anger at her relentless teasing, but from the sudden, agonizing, and overwhelmingly vivid realization of what exactly I had witnessed in the emergency room yesterday.

I saw that man completely naked on the surgical table. When Damon and the other Lycans had shifted back to their human forms during the chaos, none of them had the time to put on a single piece of clothing. As the medical team had hauled him onto the bloody mattress, there was absolutely nothing left to the imagination. I had seen every single inch of his heavily muscled body completely bare. My mind mercilessly flashed back to his huge, thick cock resting fully exposed between his powerful, blood-covered thighs. His heavy testicles and full male anatomy were entirely on display under the harsh, bright fluorescent hospital lights. I had stood there frozen, staring right at his raw, completely uncovered reproductive organs, while he locked eyes with me and whispered that I was his mate.

The incredibly graphic, highly explicit memory completely short-circuited my brain. I buried my bright red, burning face entirely into my trembling hands, completely and utterly mortified, and collapsed heavily back into my plush chair.

Sloane simply chuckled warmly from behind her giant desk. The sound of her lighthearted, highly entertained laughter completely erased the deadly, serious topic of the invisible beast we had been intensely discussing mere moments prior.