The Blackwood Shadow

Summary 

Liam had spent his life believing mates were simple.

One bond. One truth. One inevitable path.

Then he saw her shift.

Moonlight fractured through the trees as power tore through her body—wolf first, then tiger, then something that made the air bend and hiss like it couldn’t decide what rules applied anymore. Magic threaded her bones. Not borrowed. Not learned.

Inherent.

Liam’s instincts slammed into him with brutal force.

Mate.

No—mates.

The bond splintered, doubled back on itself, wrong enough to make his head spin. Wolves didn’t get more than one pull. The world didn’t allow it.

But she stood there breathing, alive, defiant—everything fate said shouldn’t exist.

She turned, eyes sharp, unafraid. Predators didn’t scare her. Neither did warriors.

Good.

Because changelings like her didn’t survive long. Not in a world that feared what it couldn’t classify. Even other hybrids would hunt her if they knew what she was.

And someone always knew.

The forest went still.

Liam stepped into the clearing before she could run.

“I won’t hurt you,” he said, though every law he’d ever lived by said he should. “But others will.”

She studied him like she was deciding whether to kill him first.

Interesting choice.

“Come with me,” he said. “To the Dark Howlers.”

Not a command. Not a claim.

A promise.

Because whatever fate had done—whatever it had broken to make her, Liam knew one thing with absolute certainty:

If the world came for her, it would have to go through him first.

And fate had just made its first mistake.

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