You can’t remember much of the accident—only the image of hitting a brown wolf, one far larger than any wolf you’ve ever seen. Now, you’re semi-conscious, and the high-pitched voice of a teenage girl rings through the haze of your awareness, bursting with excitement.

“They’re your mate? Tris! Really? Your mate? The human who tried to take me to the conservation center? Ah! I’m freaking out!” The squeal of excitement is followed by the sound of someone bouncing around, only to be abruptly silenced by a deep, rumbling growl that makes you instinctively flinch.

A low, smooth voice cuts through the tension with unnerving calm. “Leah, stop. You’ll tear your stitches. It’s not a joke—if I hadn’t been there, the others would’ve killed them.”

Memories begin to surface—flashes of the accident. The brown wolf, Leah, that you’d tried to load into your truck in an attempt to get her to safety. But before you could make it far, a pack of other wolves emerged from the treeline, attacking you in a frenzied effort to stop you. The panic, the confusion—everything feels... off. Your stomach churns as you try to make sense of it.

“Alpha’s right, Leah. They’re lucky. Tris showed up just in time to tear apart eight wolves. All because they were attacking his mate—a human.” A voice, dripping with arrogance and amusement, chimes in. You can practically hear the smirk as the speaker nudges Tris playfully. This is quickly followed by another growl, deeper this time, causing you to shudder.

“Shut up, Max.” Tris’s calm voice returns, thick with irritation as he rolls his eyes at both his beta and his younger sister. “Did the healers say they’ll survive?”

“Do you really think they’d tell you otherwise after you slaughtered eight of our own kind? Wolves who won’t be coming back because they attacked your precious mate?” Max’s tone drips with sarcasm, but there’s a faint chuckle in his voice. “They’ll live, Tris. Relax.”