Mate Me in Moonlight

Chapter 10

POV: Adeline

By midmorning the packhouse had settled into subdued rhythm. Wolves glanced toward the tree line more often than usual; tightness lived around their mouths when they thought no one was watching.

I had washed my face, braided my hair with hands that were still not steady, and told myself three times that the trembling was just the aftertaste of fainting, not fear.

The knock at my door was light.

"Adeline?" Freya pushed it open, dark braid slipping over her shoulder. "Aiden wants to see you in his office."

"Now?"

"Now." She stepped inside with tea and bread. "Drink this and take at least two bites so I don't have to explain why his almost-fainted guest collapsed again because she thought she could survive on air and stubbornness alone."

The tea was hot and sweet; the bread still warm. I didn't argue.

"He looks intense today," Freya said. "Even for him. Don't let the flannel fool you."

"The flannel never fooled me."

Her mouth tipped up. "Good. And if he makes you talk about anything you're not ready for, you're legally allowed to steal his chair and run."

I made my way to his office. The door stood slightly ajar, the scratch of pen on paper coming from within. I hesitated, my wolf lifting her head as if she already knew he was inside.

He stood behind his desk, dark hair pulled back with that familiar loose curl falling near his brow. Flannel sleeves rolled to his forearms. Maps and notes spread across the desk—a mind trying to impose order on something inherently violent.

When he looked up, some of that tension shifted, as if the weight inside him paused to make space for my presence.

"Adeline. Come in."

The office smelled of paper, cedar, ink, and the quieter notes of his scent drawn into everything he touched. My wolf pushed closer, the pull toward him making the air feel thicker, more dangerous.

"You wanted to see me," I said, taking the chair opposite his desk.

"I did." His eyes held mine. "I'm going to ask you for something difficult. If you're not ready, you can say no."

My spine tightened. "That's not an encouraging way to start."

"I want you to tell me everything you remember about what happened at Ash Hollow."

The request felt like cold fingers slipping under my ribs.

"No," I breathed. "I can't."

"Adeline—"

"I know why you're asking. But I can't talk about that night. Not yet. Maybe not ever."

His eyes stayed painfully steady. "I'm asking because the Alpha who did that to you is now playing with my borders, and I need to know what kind of monster I'm facing."

"The kind who burns wolves alive because he likes the way they scream," I said flatly. "The kind who watched my mate die and smiled like it was a successful experiment."

His jaw flexed. "I am sorry that you had to survive that. I am not sorry that you are alive. Both can be true at the same time."

The admission punched through me.

"I can tell you how Ironclaw fights," I said quietly. "Where they set fires, how they position their wolves. But I won't talk about him. He's already dead. I won't resurrect him in here."

Aiden inclined his head, accepting the boundary. "Then we start with what you're willing to give."

A firm knock interrupted us. Luca stepped inside, eyes grim.

"Runner from the east. One of the smaller border packs was hit late last night. Fire at the outer cabins, then a coordinated sweep. Half the warriors down. The attackers wore an emblem—a claw through a circle. Burned onto shields and into the trees when they left."

The air dropped several degrees.

Aiden stood slowly. "How close are they to our boundary?"

"Closer than I like. If Ironclaw keeps moving at this pace, it's not if. It's when."

The guilt rose inside me like cold water.

"We'll send supplies and healers," Aiden said. "We show Ironclaw they aren't picking off our neighbors unnoticed."

Luca hesitated. "They asked about her. They've heard rumors—about the survivor Ironclaw wanted and didn't kill. Some think she's why their Alpha is on the move. Some think she's the key to stopping him."

"They can blame me if it helps them sleep," I said. "It doesn't change what's coming."

After Luca left, silence settled heavily.

"He's tightening the net," I whispered. "He's not just taunting anymore. He's moving closer with every strike."

"He's underestimating us if he thinks we'll let him keep choosing the battlefield."

My gaze drifted from his face, needing reprieve, and landed on a small piece of carved wood near the corner of his desk.

A cedar token. Smoothed by careful work, shaped to fit in a palm. A wolf silhouette etched into one side—the kind packs gave in trust, in affection, in wordless vows of I see you, and I choose to.

It had the faintest trace of his scent already on it.

It sat apart from the clutter, as though waiting.

The realization that it was meant for me hit with surprising force—warm and aching and fragile. He hadn't given it yet, but its presence felt like an admission he wasn't ready to voice.

My wolf surged upward, chest full of stubborn, impossible joy. The pull toward him intensified—hungry, protective, instinctual.

I curled my fingers into my thighs and stayed exactly where I was.

"Adeline," Aiden said quietly.

He had noticed the direction of my gaze but didn't acknowledge the token. That restraint only made the bond burn hotter.

"You don't have to decide anything today," he said. "But Ironclaw is moving. And I would prefer not to worry that you've vanished into the woods to face them alone."

"It would be safer for everyone if I left and took their attention with me."

"Safer for who? They're already this close. If you walk out now, you give them exactly what they want: you, isolated, without a pack at your back." His gaze deepened. "You did that once. Did it make the nightmares stop?"

It hadn't. The loneliness had made them sharper.

"I won't tie you here," he continued. "But as long as Ironclaw is on the move, I am asking you to stay. Not as an Alpha issuing an order. As the man who carried you back from that ridge."

My wolf didn't argue. He is ours. And we are his. Leaving will not protect him. It will only break us.

Running hadn't stopped Ironclaw's advance. It had only made me smaller.

"Fine," I said at last, barely more than a breath. "I'll stay. At least until we see what he does next."

Relief flickered across his face.

"Then we plan together," he said. "When he comes again, he doesn't find the same girl he burned out of Ash Hollow. He finds an enemy standing beside a pack that will not break."

I managed a faint smile. "You're setting a high bar."

"I've seen what you're capable of when you're not fainting at my feet. I think you'll manage."

I rose. He stood as well, and for a moment we were closer than we had been all morning, the space between us filled with unsaid things and the bond humming beneath our skin.

I wanted to reach for the token. I wanted to ask if it was really mine, if he would still offer it knowing everything might soon be fire again.

Instead, I inclined my head, because my courage still had limits.

"I'll send word if I remember anything useful about their tactics."

"You're not a spectator in this, Adeline. You're part of the line we draw."

I left his office with my pulse too fast, the memory of his voice and that waiting cedar token stitched into my thoughts.

Ironclaw was closing in. Every rational part of me whispered this was the moment to run.

But my feet carried me down the stairs instead of out the door, and for the first time since I crossed this border, I made the choice to stay not because I had nowhere else to go, but because something inside me—wolf and human alike—refused to leave him, and this pack, to face the coming storm alone.