The Alpha’s Mate Beyond Instinct

A Pack built on instinct is about to learn how easily instinct can lie.

When drought exposes old measure marks along the River Cressel, wolf shifter and field surveyor Margot Mercer finds supernatural scent moving against the current. Someone has corrupted the hidden recognition system that keeps King’s Weir Pack safe—changing whom its wolves trust, obey, and recognize as mates.

The trail leads Margot back to Hugo Rooke, the future Alpha she once loved and the man whose instincts failed them both. Their renewed bond may be real, but Margot will not let supernatural certainty make her choices for her. Before Hugo can earn her trust, he must face the consequences of silence and prove that power can obey a boundary instead of claiming what it wants.

As false commands spread through dangerous crossings and a storm bears down on the river, Margot’s gift for tracing corrupted current and Hugo’s destructive inherited power may be the Pack’s only defense. Every use, however, strips away the recognition they depend on.

To save their people—and any future they might choose together—they must trust memory, consent, and conduct when instinct can no longer tell them the truth.