Page 23 of Hunted By the Wolves
Rafe nodded once.Respect, clean and immediate.
The lift chimed.
Rafe’s head lifted a fraction as the doors opened and the morning shifted again.
Elara stepped out first, arms full—bread still warm, fruit, a container that smelled unmistakably like eggs and herbs.Victor followed, solid and composed, and Ivan brought up the rear with a grin and a bag slung over one shoulder.
“We are totally gatecrashing breakfast,” Elara announced cheerfully.“But we brought reinforcements.”
Riley froze for half a heartbeat then straightened.“Hi.”
Elara’s eyes lit.“You cooked all of that?”
Riley nodded, suddenly shy.“Um, yeah.”
Elara laughed.“I love you already.”
Breakfast became a thing—not formal, not tactical, just a slice of normal in their day.Chairs scraped.Plates passed.Conversation layered and overlapping.The bears filled the space easily, grounding it without dominating it.It was not often that Rafe saw either of the bears willing to sit back and allow someone else to hold the center of the conversation, but for Elara, they were more than willing to do so.
Rafe found himself watching Riley as she listened, how she tracked voices, how she weighed tone and intent.She asked questions that mattered.She laughed at the right moments.She didn’t perform.
Elara leaned back slightly, studying her.“So.You’ve seen what rogues can do, that douchecanoe Christian must be one, and you’re living with the consequences of that fucked up prick.What do you think of hybrids and what Chimera’s actually doing?”
Riley frowned, thinking.“I didn’t know what I was looking at at the time,” she said slowly.“But I knew enough about human and shifter anatomy to know it was something different.Bones don’t move like that.Muscle doesn’t layer itself that way without tearing.”She shook her head.“Whatever he was, it wasn’t just drugs or trauma.It was structural.”She hesitated, then added quietly, “That’s when I realized he was something I had never seen before.I just didn’t have a word for it yet.”
Elara nodded, expression softening into something thoughtful.“And that’s the difference,” she said.“Shifters are born what they are.Hybrids are made.Chimera takes a natural system and physiology and forces it to become something else.Enhancements, accelerators, gene splicing.Power without balance.”
Riley absorbed that, eyes distant for a moment.Then she looked back up.“So ...hybrids are what happens when someone decides control matters more than survival.You don’t care if the body breaks, as long as it does what you want.”
Elara’s smile was slow and fierce.“Exactly.”
Riley blinked.“Really?”
“Really.”
“That is fucked up,” Riley said and they all laughed even as they agreed.
Elara’s gaze softened when she turned back to Riley.“Do you feel safe with the Wolves?We have space for you upstairs if you want to stay with us.We want whatever makes you happy.”
Rafe and Dorian both stilled completely, the room narrowing to the quiet rush of breath.
Instinct surged—sharp, possessive, ancient—demanding Rafe step in, claim space, make the choice for her.His wolf pressed forward hard enough to blur the edges of his control, a single truth burning through him—protect, anchor, keep.
He swallowed it down.
Didn’t move.Didn’t speak.
Because whatever this was, whatever Riley chose next, it had to be hers, not choice taken from her again.
Riley answered without looking at him.“Yes.I feel safe with Rafe and Dorian, and I want to stay here.”
The words hit Rafe harder than any blow ever had.
Not relief, not at first.Something deeper, quieter, more dangerous.The sudden, overwhelming awareness that she had chosen this place.Chosen them.That she had weighed fear against instinct and stepped forward anyway.
His wolf surged, fierce and exultant, a near-physical pull in his chest that threatened to buckle him.Ours.The certainty rang through him, bright and absolute.
He locked it down with iron discipline, forcing the reaction inward where it couldn’t touch her, couldn’t pressure her, couldn’t turn her choice into something else.
