Ryker Vance POV:
My thumb pressed into the fragile skin of his wrist. Underneath, his pulse was a frantic, terrified bird beating against the cage of his bones. Sparks, fierce and white-hot, still skittered up my arm from our point of contact, a sensation I had only read about in old lore. A myth made real. My wolf didn't purr now. He was silent, coiled, every instinct focused on the trembling boy in front of me. On *my mate*.
Elian tried to pull back, a weak, desperate tug that was more reflex than resistance. I didn't let him. My grip tightened, not enough to bruise, but enough to be an anchor. An absolute. The scent of rain and crushed mint filled my head, a clean, sharp fragrance layered over the sour tang of his fear.
I leaned closer, my voice a low rumble meant only for him, drowning out the stunned silence of the training ground. I had to know. I had to see the proof. "Are you feeling unwell?"
He flinched, his hazel eyes wide and swimming with confusion.
"The stomach pains," I continued, my voice dropping even lower, reciting the litany of symptoms I had ignored, the signs of his soul withering that I had once dismissed as weakness. "The ringing in your ears... Does your head still swim when you stand too fast?"
His breath hitched. It wasn't just fear in his eyes now; it was a dawning horror. The kind of horror you feel when someone speaks your most private, shameful secrets aloud. He shook his head in a jerky, frantic denial, but his body betrayed him. I could feel the tremor that ran through him, the weakness in his thin frame. He was already sick. The decay had already started.
"Ryker."
Drake's voice cut through my focus. A heavy hand landed on my shoulder. I didn't turn. My gaze was locked on Elian's, on the fragile life I had almost thrown away.
"What are you doing?" Drake's voice was tight with a mixture of confusion and public embarrassment. "Let him go. He's just an Omega."
*Just an Omega.* The words were a razor blade, scraping against the raw, protective fury that was building in my chest. In the life before, I would have agreed. I would have shoved Elian away and laughed with Drake about the boy's pathetic weakness. The memory was acid in my throat.
I didn't look at my friend. I didn't release my mate. My eyes held Elian's, a silent vow passing between us that he couldn't possibly understand yet. Addressing my Beta-in-training, my future second, I let the cold finality of my decision settle over the training ground like a winter frost.
"He's your future Luna."
The hand on my shoulder vanished as if burned. I heard Drake take a sharp, incredulous breath. Behind him, the silence of the training yard shattered. A wave of whispers erupted, spreading through the assembled trainees like fire through dry grass. I had just dropped a boulder into the placid pond of our pack's hierarchy, and the ripples were already becoming a tsunami.
Good. Let them talk. Let them stare.
Elian's face had gone completely white, his lips parted in shock. He looked from my face to the gawking crowd and back again, his panic escalating. He was a cornered animal, and I was the cause.
I had to get him out of here.
I finally released his wrist, but only to step in front of him, blocking his path, shielding him from the dozens of prying eyes. The whispers died down under the weight of my glare as I swept it across the field.
"You're coming with me," I said, my voice back to that low, private tone. "We're going to eat."
He shook his head, taking a stumbling step back. "No, I—I can't. I have duties. The cleaning rotas…"
"Your duties are canceled."
"But the Packhouse…" he stammered, his eyes darting towards the massive stone building that dominated the compound. "The main dining hall… Omegas aren't permitted. Alpha Vance would—"
His ingrained fear, the rules beaten into him since birth, were a wall between us. He saw a predator. He saw a high-ranking Alpha breaking a rule that would bring punishment down on *his* head, not mine. My expression hardened, not with anger at him, but at the system that had taught him to be so small.
My voice dropped, laced with the first thread of a command. Not a full-throated order that would break his will, but a soft, inescapable weight. "You are with me now. No one will stop you." I saw the conflict in his eyes, the instinct to obey warring with the instinct to flee. I pushed a little harder, the word a silken chain. "Stay."
It was like a switch had been flipped. The tension in his shoulders dissolved. The frantic energy bled out of him, leaving a hollowed-out exhaustion in its place. His body slumped in forced submission, his gaze dropping back to the dirt. He was no longer fighting.
I had him.
Leaving a stunned and speechless Drake in my wake, I turned towards the Packhouse. I didn't touch Elian again. I didn't have to. He followed a single step behind me, a captive shadow being led into the lion's den. Ahead of us, the massive oak doors loomed, dark and imposing.
