Kael POV
Maya was going to work herself to death, and I had no idea how to stop her.
"Rafe, I need you digging irrigation channels along the south wall. Finn, gather every stone bigger than your fist—we're building a fire pit that'll actually hold heat. Marcus, help Oryn identify every edible plant within two miles. Move!"
It was dawn. She'd been awake all night with Sophie, planning. The younger girl had finally crashed an hour ago, but Maya kept going like a machine that forgot it needed fuel.
Fifteen battle-hardened warriors jumped to obey a tiny female who barely reached my shoulder.
"She's terrifying," Soren muttered beside me, but he was smiling. "I've never seen anyone command Finn before. The elk usually tells everyone to shove it."
"She doesn't see us as predators," I said, watching her sketch crop layouts in the dirt with a stick. "She sees us as... people. Maybe that's the difference."
My wolf had been going insane since she arrived. MINE, it kept howling. PROTECT. CLAIM. But I shoved the instinct down ruthlessly. I was a scarred exile. She was a miracle. I had no right to dream.
Even if her scent—moonflower and something uniquely her—made my chest ache every time she passed.
"Kael!" Maya called. "Stop standing around looking broody. I need your military brain."
"My what?"
"You were a general. You know tactics, logistics, organizing people." She pointed at her dirt sketches. "Help me figure out the most efficient work assignments. We've got five weeks and six days to turn this canyon into a farm. I need a battle plan."
A battle plan. For farming. This woman was either genius or insane.
Probably both.
I knelt beside her, studying her drawings. "You're spreading our forces too thin. Focus on one area first—get it producing before moving to the next. Build success on success."
Her eyes lit up. "Yes! Okay, so we start with the area closest to the water source. Get irrigation working first, then—" She gestured excitedly, lost in her planning.
I found myself smiling. Actually smiling, something I hadn't done in the six months since exile.
"What?" she asked, catching my expression.
"Nothing. Just... you're different."
"Different bad or different good?"
"Different like you forgot to be afraid of us." I gestured at the males working around the canyon. "Most females would be terrified. Demanding guards, keeping distance. You're ordering us around like we're your personal army."
"Should I be afraid?" she asked seriously.
"Probably. We're exiles. Outcasts. Males who broke the rules. Technically, we're dangerous."
"So am I." Her smile was sharp. "I'm a trauma surgeon, Kael. I've held human hearts in my hands. Cut into bodies and put them back together. Told families their loved ones died on my table." Her dark eyes met mine. "Danger doesn't scare me. Cruelty does. Giving up does. But danger? That's just a problem to solve."
My wolf purred so loudly I was sure she'd hear it.
"You're something else," I said quietly.
She stood, brushing dirt from her hands. "I'm exhausted is what I am. But we don't have time for—"
Her legs buckled without warning.
I caught her before she hit the ground, pulling her against my chest. She weighed nothing. Her head lolled against my shoulder, and up close her scent was overwhelming—moonflower and vanilla and something that made my wolf want to wrap around her and never let go.
"Maya?" I said urgently. "When did you last eat?"
"Um." Her voice was muffled against my chest. "Yesterday? Maybe?"
"Maybe?" I growled. "You've been running on nothing for two days while treating wounds and planning and facing down Brutus—"
"I'm fine. Just dizzy." She tried to stand. Failed. "Okay, maybe not fine."
I swept her up properly, one arm under her knees. She made a small squeak of protest.
"Put me down. I have work—"
"You have nothing if you collapse." I carried her toward the cave. "You're eating, drinking, and sleeping. In that order. Not negotiable."
"You can't just order me around—"
"Watch me."
Brutus's laughter echoed from his corner. "The mighty healer, carried like a child. How the powerful fall."
Every muscle in my body tensed. My wolf wanted to rip his throat out for mocking her.
But Maya's small hand touched my jaw, turning my face toward hers. "Ignore him. He's just mad I survived yesterday."
The touch sent electricity through my veins. Her palm was soft against my scars—scars that made most people flinch. But her fingers traced them gently, curiously.
"These must have hurt," she whispered.
"They were meant to." I forced myself to keep walking, to not lean into her touch like a starving animal. "My own pack gave them to me. For refusing to kill civilians."
"Then they're marks of honor, not shame." Her eyes were fierce despite her exhaustion. "You chose morality over orders. That takes more courage than following blindly."
Something inside me cracked wide open.
I set her down on the cleanest patch of cave floor, then made her drink water while Soren heated meat from yesterday's hunt. She ate mechanically, clearly forcing food down.
"You need to rest," I said.
"Can't. Too much to do."
"Maya—"
"Five weeks, Kael. Five weeks and six days before Brutus claims me. Before Sophie and I become breeding stock for the Stone Tribe." Her voice shook. "I can't rest. I can't stop. Because if I do, we lose everything."
I knelt in front of her, taking her hands in mine. They were scratched, dirt-stained, trembling with exhaustion. "You're no good to us dead. Rest for four hours. I'll wake you at midday. We'll keep working while you sleep."
"But—"
"That's an order, rare one." I smiled slightly. "You said you wanted my military brain. Well, generals know when soldiers need rest. You're running on fumes."
She studied my face for a long moment. "Four hours?"
"Four hours."
"You'll wake me?"
"I promise."
She lay down, and within thirty seconds she was unconscious. I watched her chest rise and fall, this impossible female who'd crashed into our lives and given us something we'd lost: hope.
My wolf purred again. OURS. PROTECT.
Down, boy, I told it firmly. She's not ours. She's just... here. Temporarily.
But even I didn't believe that anymore.
"Kael." Oryn's urgent whisper made me turn. "We have a problem."
"What now?"
"The plants Maya wanted for fertilizer—I need to collect them from the north ridge. But that's Stone Tribe territory. If they catch me there..." He didn't finish. We both knew what happened to trespassers.
"Then I'll go with you. We'll be quick."
"It's a two-male job minimum. We need Thorne too." Oryn hesitated. "But that leaves only Soren and the others to guard both females if Brutus tries something."
Damn. He was right. We were spread too thin.
"Do it anyway," I decided. "We need those plants more than we need perfect security for two hours."
We left quietly, the three of us, slipping out of the canyon before Brutus noticed. The north ridge was dangerous but rich with the nitrogen-fixing plants Maya needed.
We'd been gone maybe an hour when Thorne suddenly stiffened, his tiger form's ears flattening.
"What?" I whispered.
He shifted partially human. "Smell. Wrong smell. Many males. Coming fast."
My blood turned to ice. "From which direction?"
"The canyon." His golden eyes were wild with panic. "They're going for the females. It's a raid."
We ran. Faster than we'd ever run. But I knew with sick certainty we'd be too late.
When we burst back into the canyon, the scene was chaos.
Twenty new males—not Stone Tribe, different scents—surrounded our cave. Soren was down, bleeding from his head. Our other males fought desperately, but they were exhausted, wounded, outnumbered.
And in the center of it all, a massive black wolf held Maya by the throat, her feet dangling off the ground.
"Greetings," the wolf said in a cultured voice, not bothering to shift. "I am Alpha Mordecai of the Shadow Clan. We heard rumors of unclaimed females in the Wastelands." His jaws tightened slightly, making Maya gasp. "I've come to collect what's mine."
Sophie screamed from where two males held her.
Brutus stood to the side, smiling like this was the best entertainment he'd seen in years. The bastard had let them through. Maybe even invited them.
"Release her," I snarled, my wolf bursting out. "She's under my protection."
"Your protection?" Mordecai laughed. "You're exiles. You have no claim, no rights, no territory. These females are free for the taking." He looked at Maya's struggling form. "And I'm taking them both."
Maya's eyes found mine across the cave—terrified but fierce. Her lips moved, forming words: Help Sophie.
Always thinking of others. Even when she was dying.
"Let them go," I said, my voice deadly calm. "Or I'll paint this canyon with your blood."
"You and what army?" Mordecai's grip tightened.
Maya's face was turning blue.
I had three seconds to decide: charge and watch her die, or negotiate and hope for a miracle.
Then Maya's hand moved to her waist, where she'd tucked sharp rocks from her medical work.
Her eyes met mine one more time.
And she stabbed the rock straight into Mordecai's eye.