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The parking garage was nearly empty when Jenny finally left the hospital at eleven in the evening. Her shift had run long, an emergency surgery requiring every available hand, and by the time she scrubbed out, exhaustion had settled deep into her bones.

The burner phone had remained silent all day. No follow-up message, no clarification, just that single warning from her father. Family matter requires your immediate attention. Expect contact soon. Soon could mean anything. Hours, days, weeks. But with her father, soon usually meant now.

Jenny's footsteps echoed off the concrete as she walked toward her car, parked in the far corner under a flickering fluorescent light. The garage was quiet, the kind of oppressive silence that made her wolf stir with unease. She quickened her pace, keys already in hand.

A sleek black car with tinted windows pulled into the aisle ahead of her, blocking her path. Jenny stopped, her heart rate spiking. The car was expensive, the kind that whispered money and power, and it sat there idling like a predator.

The driver's door opened. A man stepped out, tall and broad-shouldered, wearing a perfectly tailored suit that probably cost more than Jenny's monthly rent. She recognized him immediately. Marcus Kane, her father's Beta, the second-in-command of the Williams Pack.

"Dr. Williams," Marcus said, his voice calm but carrying an undercurrent of authority that made her wolf respond instinctively. "Your father has been waiting."

"I had an emergency surgery," Jenny said, forcing herself to remain calm. "I was planning to call him after my shift."

"Your shift ended twelve hours ago, according to the schedule he was given. He expected you hours ago."

"Emergencies do not follow schedules."

Marcus's expression did not change, but Jenny saw the subtle shift in his posture, the way his weight settled differently on his feet. He was not threatening her, but his presence alone was a command. "The Alpha wishes to speak with you. Now."

Jenny wanted to argue, wanted to insist on driving herself, on maintaining some small measure of independence. But she knew it would be pointless. Her father had sent his Beta to retrieve her, which meant he was done waiting.

"Fine," she said, hating how defeated she sounded. "Let me get my car."

"That will not be necessary. Someone will bring it to the territory tomorrow."

Marcus held out a phone, an expensive model she did not recognize. Jenny took it with reluctant fingers, already knowing who would be on the other end of the line.

"Hello, Father."

"Jennifer." Her father's voice was calm, measured, and absolutely unyielding. "I told you to expect contact. I did not expect to have to send Marcus to collect you like a wayward child."

"I had patients who needed me."

"And I have a pack that needs you," Michael Williams said. "Your responsibilities extend beyond that hospital, daughter. You know this."

Jenny closed her eyes, fighting the anger that rose in her chest. "What is so urgent that it could not wait until tomorrow?"

"We will discuss that when you arrive. Marcus will bring you home. Do not make this more difficult than it needs to be."

The line went dead. Jenny stared at the phone for a long moment, her jaw tight with frustration. She wanted to scream, to throw the phone against the concrete and walk away. But that would solve nothing. Her father had made his position clear, and she had no choice but to obey.

She handed the phone back to Marcus. "Let us go."

The Beta opened the rear door of the car, a gesture that was somehow both polite and commanding. Jenny slid into the back seat, sinking into leather that was far too comfortable for her current mood. Marcus got behind the wheel, and the car pulled smoothly out of the parking garage.

They drove in silence through the city streets, heading north toward the forested hills where the pack territory lay hidden. Jenny watched the buildings give way to suburbs, then to scattered homes, then to nothing but trees and darkness. The transition was jarring, a reminder of how completely separate her two lives had become.

"How bad is it?" Jenny asked finally, unable to stand the silence any longer.

Marcus glanced at her in the rearview mirror. "The Alpha will explain everything."

"That is not an answer."

"It is the only answer I am authorized to give."

Jenny bit back a sharp retort. Marcus was loyal to her father above all else, and pushing him would accomplish nothing. She turned her attention to the window, watching the forest grow denser as they left civilization behind.

Her wolf stirred, sensing the proximity to pack territory. It had been four months since she last visited, and her beast was eager to run, to hunt, to be among its own kind. But Jenny kept it firmly leashed. She could not afford to let her guard down, not yet.