Chapter 1

I was halfway through washing the lunch dishes.

Water running.

Foam everywhere.

My hands already wrinkled and raw from soap.

Then—

the squealing hit.

High-pitched. Shrill.

Like nails dragged across my brain.

I didn’t even bother looking up.

Alpha and Luna’s three precious daughters were at it again.

“Oh my Goddess, did you see him?” Jewel shrieked. “He’s so handsome. I hope he’s my mate!”

She’d turned eighteen a few months ago.

Since then, her entire personality had become one thing:

Find. A. Mate.

“If I wasn’t already happily mated,” Tracy purred, “I’d be trying to get him alone and have my way with him.”

She said it like it was cute.

Because in this pack, girls like her could say anything.

Girls like me—omegas—didn’t get to say no.

I scrubbed harder.

Tracy wasn’t even the worst part.

Her mate was.

Dexter.

Future Alpha.

His wandering eyes landed on me more times than I cared to count.

Like I was something cheap he could reach for whenever he wanted.

“Maybe Alpha Josh will turn out to be my mate when I turn eighteen,” the youngest, Emma, chirped.

I scoffed quietly and kept washing.

They were obsessed with boys.

Obsessed with mates.

Obsessed with being chosen.

I had a mate too.

Every wolf did.

I just hoped mine came later.

Because a mate would ruin me.

He would soften me.

Distract me.

Make me forget why I’m still alive.

That’s when my wolf spoke.

Rose’s voice slid through my mind, sharp and urgent.

“We have to find him.”

My fingers froze. Suds slid down my wrist.

“Not this again,” I muttered internally. “Why are you so obsessed?”

“Because he’s the key.”

Key.

The word punched a hole straight through my chest.

“Key to what?” I snapped back. “And don’t give me another riddle.”

Rose paused.

Then—finally—she dropped the first real clue she’d ever given me.

“If you want to take back what’s ours… we need his pack.”

My eyes widened.

That was new.

“So…” My throat went tight. “He’s an Alpha?”

Silence.

Rose shut down instantly.

Like she hadn’t said anything at all.

I wasn’t shocked.

I’m supposed to be Queen one day.

My mate being anything less than an Alpha would be strange.

But the problem wasn’t who he was.

The problem was who I was right now.

I was an omega in the Opal Sun Pack.

A basement girl.

A dish-washer.

A servant.

A wolfless omega—at least that’s what they believed.

For ten years.

Because when I was eight—

I watched my parents get murdered right in front of me.

Blood.

Screams.

Tearing flesh.

I didn’t save them.

I just survived.

Survived so I could take back what was mine.

Jackson.

My father’s Beta.

The man who used to kneel at my father’s feet—

and then climbed onto the throne with his hands still stained.

Every night since, the same nightmare hunted me.

Ten years without real sleep.

Ten years of darkness behind my eyes.

Ten years of pretending to be small.

Mate bonds were the sweetest poison.

Rose whimpered softly in my head.

She wanted him. Wanted him badly.

And part of me wanted it too.

A hand at my back.

Someone on my side.

But I couldn’t afford it.

Not yet.

First I had to live.

First I had to win.

“Oh, Betty~”

A sugary voice drifted behind me.

My spine went rigid.

Luna Jenny.

I turned immediately and bared my neck.

Submission.

Humiliation.

I hated the posture.

Hated the way it trained my body to obey.

“Once you’re done with those dishes,” she sang, “go freshen up for dinner service. We have a very important guest tonight, and I want everything perfect.”

“Yes, Luna,” I answered in my meek omega voice.

Luna Jenny wasn’t cruel.

She was beautiful—honey-blonde hair, light brown eyes, a smile like sunlight.

But she’d raised her daughters like princesses.

And the rest of us like tools.

I dried my hands and headed downstairs.

Basement level.

Omega quarters.

We each had our own rooms, but we shared a communal bathroom.

I stood in front of the mirror and pulled my long black hair into a sleek ponytail.

Ice-blue eyes stared back at me—tired, shadowed, rimmed with dark circles.

Ten years.

Ten years since I’d had one decent night without the nightmares.

I changed into a simple black dress.

No jewelry. No sparkle.

Being unnoticed was my safest weapon.

Then I went back upstairs to help the kitchen.

They were cooking everything.

The finest china.

Dishes fit for royalty.

Whoever Alpha Josh was, he mattered enough for them to go all out.

“Dinner will start soon, Betty,” Clova told me, handing me a silver tray. “Take the champagne and start serving the guests before they sit.”

Clova was head omega.

Kind.

Twenty years in the packhouse.

She’d learned the same lesson we all had:

Don’t ask why.

I nodded and took the tray.

As I approached the dining room door, Rose started to lose it.

She jumped around in my head, tail wagging so hard I felt pressure behind my eyes.

The excitement was dangerous.

I needed her to stop before she blew our cover.

Rose had hidden for ten years.

Everyone believed I was wolfless.

To keep her secret, she suppressed herself.

The only time she ever surfaced fully was when we trained alone in the forest.

“Rose,” I snapped silently, “what is going on? Settle down before you show.”

“I know,” she said quickly. “I’m sorry.”

That was all.

No explanation.

Of course.

Rose always kept secrets until she decided it was “time.”

I clenched my jaw.

“Push it down,” I ordered. “Now.”

She forced herself calmer.

The excitement still hummed under my skin—hot and restless—

but she held it back.

I pushed through the door.

The dining room glowed warm and bright.

Laughter. Glass clinks. Expensive perfume.

Beta and Gamma families gathered.

The Alpha family stood in a circle, talking like they owned the world.

I lifted the tray and put on my practiced smile.

“Champagne?”

“Champagne?”

I moved around the room, careful.

No eye contact.

No attention.

No mistakes.

But the closer I got to Alpha Frank—

the more Rose jittered.

My temples throbbed.

I was two seconds from telling her to calm the hell down before she ruined everything.

Ten years.

Ten years we’d convinced them I was nothing.

I refused to let today be the day it all collapsed.

I handed Alpha Frank his glass.

He took it without looking at me.

Then I turned to the man standing on his right.

The guest of honor.

Alpha Josh.

I lifted a glass toward him.

“Sir, would you—”

I looked up.

And the world stopped.

Silver eyes.

Moonlight-sharp.

Rimmed with thick lashes that would make any girl jealous.

My heart skipped.

He was the most beautiful man I’d ever seen.

Light stubble, a razor-cut jaw, full lips turned down in confusion—like he was staring at something impossible.

He didn’t take the glass.

He just… looked at me.

And I drowned.

Those silver eyes locked onto mine like my life depended on it.

Like they were pulling something out of my soul.

Rose went wild again.

Joy. Hunger. Possession.

I felt her clawing at my ribs.

I almost lost it.

Then someone cleared their throat behind me.

A warning.

A reminder of who I was supposed to be.

I dropped my gaze instantly.

My meek omega voice snapped back into place.

“Sir… would you like a glass of champagne?”

He still didn’t speak.

He took the glass.

His fingers brushed mine—barely.

And a shock of tingles lit up at my fingertips, rushed up my arm, and slid down my spine.

I jerked back like I’d been burned.

Without another word, I turned and walked fast—too fast—back toward the kitchen.

My heart was trying to break out of my chest.

I shut the door and pressed my back against it, breathing hard.

In.

Out.

In.

I was just starting to calm down—

when Rose dropped the bomb.

“So,” she purred in my mind, tail practically wagging through my skull.

“What did you think of our mate?”

Chapter 2

JOSH

I didn’t want to come to Opal Sun today.

Not even a little.

But being Head Alpha means you don’t get to stay comfortable.

You don’t get to ignore a pack that needs you—especially when their Alpha is about to step down.

Alpha Frank isn’t a bad leader.

He’s just… scared.

Scared of handing his pack to the wrong man.

And I can’t blame him.

I met Tracy’s mate, Dexter, earlier.

The moment I shook his hand, my instincts crawled.

Wrong.

Greedy.

The kind of male who smiles while planning how to take more than he’s owed.

Frank doesn’t have sons.

So his “only option” is the male who gives me a bad feeling.

That alone is enough to make me want to finish this visit fast and leave.

And I know what Frank is hoping.

He’s hoping the Goddess will be generous.

He’s hoping his middle daughter, Jewel, will be my mate.

I can feel it in the way he watches me.

In the way he keeps nudging her closer.

Thankfully, the Goddess has other plans.

Because at twenty-five, I still haven’t met the one woman made for me.

Storm whimpers in my head at the thought.

He hates the empty space where she should be.

“Trust me,” I tell him silently. “I want her too.”

The formal dining room is full.

Alpha family.

Beta and Gamma families.

Polite laughter. Small talk. Waiting for dinner.

I’m pretending to listen to Frank and Beta Terrence tell some story I don’t care about.

All I can think is—

After dinner, I’ll pull Frank aside.

We’ll talk business.

I’ll solve what I can.

And I’ll go home.

That’s the plan.

Then it happens.

A shiver slides up my spine.

Not cold.

Presence.

Strong enough to make Storm’s head lift inside me.

I turn.

And my world narrows to one thing.

Ice-blue eyes.

Stunning. Clear. Lethal.

For a second, the room disappears.

It’s just her.

A girl holding a champagne tray like she’s trying not to exist.

Hair the color of night, pulled back tight.

Long lashes as dark as her hair.

A heart-shaped face. High cheekbones. Full lips. Skin like cream.

She isn’t dressed like the others.

Simple black dress. Plain heels.

Omega.

Servant.

The kind of girl this room looks through.

Except I can’t look through her.

I can’t look away.

Storm shifts inside me, unsettled.

The sound of Alpha Frank clearing his throat snaps the spell.

I realize everyone is watching me watching her.

As if she is the one who did something wrong.

Her voice is soft when she asks, “Sir, would you like a glass of champagne?”

I take it.

But I don’t just take it.

My fingers graze hers.

Barely.

A brush.

And heat sparks across my hand like a live wire.

My breath catches hard enough to hurt.

She tenses too.

Like she felt it.

Like her body understood something her mind refused to say.

Then she turns on her heel and walks away fast.

Too fast.

Like she’s running from the thing she just triggered.

I stare after her until the door swings closed behind her.

Storm’s voice is rough in my mind. Confused.

“Josh…”

“Is she ours?” I ask him.

Storm hesitates.

“I don’t know,” he admits, miserable. “I didn’t sense a wolf.”

My chest tightens.

Wolfless.

Omega.

An impossible pairing for a Head Alpha.

And she looked young—around eighteen.

If she hasn’t surfaced by now…

She might never.

I tell myself to let it go.

I tell myself she isn’t mine.

But her eyes stay burned behind my eyelids.

Every time I blink, I see that ice-blue stare.

Frank chuckles awkwardly, eager to smooth the moment.

“Sorry about that, Alpha Josh. Betty is one of our more awkward omegas, considering she doesn’t have a wolf.”

Betty.

A name that doesn’t fit her face.

It sounds small.

And it makes something in me go still.

“Has she never had one,” I ask carefully, “or did something happen to it?”

I shouldn’t ask.

I know I shouldn’t.

Because questions are interest.

And interest turns into attention.

And attention turns into… complications.

But the words are already out.

Frank answers like it’s nothing.

“As far as we know, she’s never had one. She came here about ten years ago—no parents. Said they were killed in a rogue attack. She had nowhere else to go. We took her in until her wolf surfaced… but it never did. So we let her stay. She’s worked the packhouse ever since.”

Ten years.

No parents.

Rogue attack.

Basement life. Service work.

A girl with eyes like a queen, living like a shadow.

My jaw tightens.

I nod once—too neutral.

Too controlled.

I don’t want anyone to see I care.

Because the second they think I care, they’ll start using it.

Dinner starts.

I force myself through it.

Smiles. Polite conversation. Boring food I don’t taste.

And Betty doesn’t come back.

Not once.

No flash of black hair.

No ice-blue eyes.

Nothing.

Storm is restless.

So am I.

By the time dinner ends, my plan has changed without me agreeing to it.

I should meet with Frank tonight.

I should finish this and leave.

But I can’t leave.

Not yet.

Not with that girl lodged under my skin like a thorn.

So I make an excuse.

“Let’s meet tomorrow morning,” I tell Frank. “We’ll need the whole day for discussions.”

He looks relieved. Grateful.

He offers rooms for me and the warriors I brought.

And of course—

Jewel is the one who shows us.

She walks too close.

Talks too softly.

She knows what her father wants.

“Here is your room, Alpha,” she purrs. “Mine is on the next floor if you need anything.”

That tone.

I’ve heard it a hundred times.

Female ambition disguised as sweetness.

Before tonight, maybe I would’ve noticed she was pretty.

Strawberry-blonde hair. Green eyes. Curves in all the right places.

Tonight, she’s just… noise.

“Thank you,” I say flatly. “I’ll retire for the night.”

I open my door.

I don’t look back.

And when she lingers in the hall, I shut the door in her face.

Hard.

Clear.

Final.

Because I’m not interested.

Not in her.

Not in anyone—

when all I can see is ice-blue eyes and black hair and a hand that sparked when mine touched it.

I toss my duffel onto a chair.

The room is plain. Clean. Temporary.

It should be easy to sleep here.

It isn’t.

I shower, hoping hot water will burn the restlessness out of my bones.

It doesn’t.

I lie down.

Storm paces inside me.

My mind keeps dragging me back to the dining room door.

To the way she ran.

To the way her body tensed like she recognized something.

I try to force my eyes shut.

Minutes pass.

An hour.

Nothing.

Finally I give up.

I pull on sweatpants and head downstairs.

Outside.

Air.

The moment I step into the open night, my chest loosens.

Rain falls light and steady.

The forest smells clean.

Alive.

I breathe in, deep.

Better.

Less trapped.

Storm pushes forward—restless, demanding.

I break into a run toward the treeline.

And when I reach it, I strip off my clothes and let Storm take over.

Bones shift.

Fur ripples.

The world expands.

We run.

Fast.

Hard.

Rain slicking our coat. Mud under paws. Trees blurring past.

Then—

a scent cuts through everything.

The most incredible thing I’ve ever smelled.

Forest after fresh rain.

And something sweeter under it.

Honey.

Warm.

Addictive.

It hits my bloodstream like poison and medicine at the same time.

My mouth floods.

Storm growls low in my chest—hungry, possessive, certain.

Our paws change direction without thought.

Our body chooses.

“I think I smell our mate,” Storm says.

And my heart, even in a wolf’s chest, slams once—

like a door locking.

Chapter 3

BETTY / ISABELLE

Rain hit my skin like cold fingers.

It helped me breathe.

The forest was unusually quiet—every little creature tucked away from the downpour.

No chirps. No rustling.

Just water and my pulse.

In.

Out.

The air tasted like wet earth and pine.

Each inhale loosened the fist around my chest.

Because if I stayed inside that packhouse one more second—

I would’ve cracked.

The moment Rose said the words—our mate—panic slammed into me like a wall.

My lungs tightened.

The ceiling felt lower.

The hallways felt narrower.

And the worst part?

He was right there.

A room away.

Alpha Josh.

My mate.

The thing I’m not ready for.

So I lied.

“I’m not feeling well,” I told the other omegas.

Then I ran.

Out the back.

Past the stairs.

Past the rules.

Past the eyes that always watched.

Straight into the rain.

Straight into the only place that didn’t feel like a cage.

Goddess.

Why me?

“I’m sorry,” Rose whispered for what had to be the millionth time. “I shouldn’t have sprung that on you like that.”

“It’s fine,” I forced out. “I would’ve found out eventually.”

I didn’t have the energy to soften it.

Normally I would’ve soothed her.

Normally I would’ve held her guilt like it was mine.

But right now my insides were shaking.

I never imagined I’d meet him here.

Not while I was trapped in this life.

Not while I was still wearing the mask.

Because that’s what I am in Opal Sun.

A nobody.

A wolfless omega.

A girl who keeps her head down and her mouth shut.

And the only good thing—the only thing—was this:

He didn’t recognize me.

Not as his mate.

Not as anything.

He looked at me like I was strange.

Like I was… nothing.

It should’ve hurt.

Instead it felt like relief.

Because if he had recognized me—

If the bond had snapped tight—

I might have lost control right there in front of everyone.

And I cannot lose control.

Not once.

Not now.

My life is one long storm.

But sitting in the rain makes my thoughts sharpen.

Clearer. Colder.

It reminds me who I am.

And who I’m pretending to be.

I’m eighteen.

A shifter princess hiding in a random pack like a stain no one wants to notice.

I have been hiding my entire life.

From the moment Rose and I were born, my parents hid us from the world.

No announcement.

No celebration.

No “heir is born” feast.

Only secrecy.

Because there were people who would’ve used us the second they knew we existed.

And they were right to be afraid.

Rose and I were… special.

Born under a full moon.

In the middle of a rainstorm.

The Goddess came to my parents herself.

And she named me.

The Luna of Rain.

The Queen of Storms.

No one else had powers like ours.

Rain.

Sleet.

Snow.

Lightning.

Wind.

Beautiful.

Deadly.

And “deadly” is exactly why we were hidden.

Because power is never safe.

Power is bait.

Ten years ago, I went from a palace to nothing in minutes.

One moment: my royal parents alive, training me to rule.

The next: blood and screaming and a world ripped open.

All because of one traitor with a hungry heart.

Jackson.

A man who wanted what was never meant to be his.

My throne.

My kingdom.

My mother.

My father.

They died.

And I lived.

And the guilt sits in my throat like a stone.

I will not stop.

I will not “move on.”

I will not let their deaths be for nothing.

I will take back what was stolen.

I will make them proud.

That is the point.

That is the only point.

So where does a mate fit into a life like mine?

He doesn’t.

He’s a complication.

A weakness.

A leash.

Because Jackson and his rogues won’t stop until I’m gone.

And they won’t just come for me.

They will come for anyone I love.

Anyone I hesitate for.

Anyone I would trade my safety to protect.

And there is no weakness bigger than a mate.

The bond turns you soft in places you can’t afford softness.

It makes you care when caring can get you killed.

I feel my mind trying to drag me under.

Dark thoughts pulling at my ankles.

Grief opening its mouth.

It would be so easy to sink.

So easy to let the cold swallow me whole.

But I don’t.

I can’t.

Not after everything.

Not when I’ve already survived ten years of pretending.

Rose is quiet now, curled small inside me.

Still guilty.

Still wanting him.

I can feel it.

That ache.

That longing.

But longing doesn’t get us a throne back.

Longing doesn’t kill Jackson.

Longing doesn’t keep us alive.

I lift my face to the rain and let it wash over my lashes.

Let it sting.

Let it wake me up.

Because this is my reality:

My mate exists.

And he is powerful.

And he is close.

And if I’m not careful—

he won’t just find me.

He’ll claim me.

And the moment that happens…

my life stops being mine.

So I breathe.

I steady.

I harden.

I don’t get to fall apart.

I don’t get to be a girl who wants.

I have to be a queen who takes.

And I will.

I will keep fighting.

No matter what the Goddess threw in my path.

No matter who she tied to my soul.

I will keep fighting.

Chapter 4

BETTY / ISABELLE

I push myself off the ground.

My fingers flick.

The rain over the clearing… stops.

Silence drops with it.

I can’t sit here and drown in my own head.

Self-loathing won’t save me.

Training will.

Anything but thinking about Alpha Josh.

“Let’s train, Rose.”

Rose hesitates. Cautious. Always cautious when we’re exposed.

“Are you sure? You know it takes concentration.”

“I’m sure.”

I listen first.

Head tilted.

Breathing slow.

No footsteps.

No voices.

No чуж—no strangers.

Just the forest and the steady drip of water off leaves.

Then I call her forward.

Rose surges up through me like warmth.

Bones shift.

Fur spills across skin.

In a heartbeat I’m on all fours, paws sinking into damp earth.

Sapphire-blue.

Glowing under moonlight.

Our fur catches silver when the moon hits it—like raindrops trapped in it, blessed and cruel at the same time.

When we run, that silver turns into something else.

A storm.

“What do you want to train?” Rose asks, tail flicking. “I’ve been wanting to try summoning a mini tornado.”

I huff a laugh through my nose.

“Ambitious.”

“It’ll take a lot,” she admits. “But we can do it.”

We can.

We’ve been learning control since I was a child.

In the beginning my emotions ruled the sky—

I cried, it rained.

I panicked, lightning snapped.

By five, I could summon rain with a flick instead of a breakdown.

Control wasn’t a gift.

It was survival.

Tonight the moon is high and bright, the clouds thin.

A perfect night to pull strength straight from it.

I brace.

Paws digging in.

I focus on wind—

and Rose freezes.

“I hear someone.”

My blood turns cold.

Rose lifts her nose.

And then it hits me.

A scent.

So intoxicating it steals my breath.

Forest after thunder.

Wet earth and crushed pine—

and pure male musk underneath.

Heavy. Hot. Possessive.

My mouth waters.

My body leans toward it before I decide to move.

I want to run.

I want to bury my face in that scent until I forget my own name.

Rose panics in my skull.

“It’s our mate,” she snaps. “If we can smell him, he can smell us.”

My pulse spikes.

Too close.

Too soon.

Rose is already moving us—fast, urgent.

“I’m shifting back. You—summon rain. Now. Wash us.”

Less than a second later, I’m back on two feet.

Hands shaking as I drag my clothes on.

The scent is stronger now.

Closer.

He’s coming.

I force the sky to obey.

Rain slams down in sheets.

Cold and hard, drenching me instantly—soaking my dress, plastering fabric to skin.

It should feel miserable.

It doesn’t.

Rain is my safe place.

Rain is the one thing that’s always listened to me.

Rose retreats deep, deep inside.

Gone.

Hidden.

Wolfless.

A lie that’s kept me alive for ten years.

I grit my teeth as water runs down my throat.

“I thought you wanted him to know,” I snap inside my head. “You’ve been begging for him for years.”

“The time isn’t right,” Rose answers, clipped.

Of course.

Always on her schedule.

“Why can I smell him now,” I hiss, “but not earlier in the dining room?”

“I blocked his mate scent,” she says. “So you wouldn’t freak out and run before you even got to look at him.”

I roll my eyes, but my heart is hammering.

Because she’s right.

If I’d smelled him in that room—

I would’ve shattered.

The rain pounds harder, washing the clearing clean.

Washing me clean.

Washing her clean.

But the scent…

That scent still clings to the air like a promise.

Then the bushes across from me move.

A shape steps out of the dark.

A wolf.

Massive.

Gray—deep charcoal, like storm clouds stacked thick in the sky.

He fills the clearing with presence alone.

My breath catches.

I should look afraid.

I don’t.

I’m too busy staring at him like my body recognizes him before my mind dares to.

He’s huge.

Not quite as big as my father’s wolf was—midnight-black, terrifying—

but close.

And something about him is… inevitable.

He turns.

Walks back into the trees.

For a heartbeat, disappointment pinches my chest.

Why is he leaving—

Then he returns.

Human this time.

Sweatpants. No shirt.

Rain glosses him like oil.

And my brain forgets how to function.

Rose’s voice pops up like a wicked little devil from deep inside me.

“Damn,” she breathes. “Our mate is hot.”

I should scoff.

I can’t.

Because—fuck—she’s right.

He’s carved. Hard muscle in all the right places.

An eight-pack that flexes when he moves.

Rain drops tracking down his chest, caught in the lines of tattoo ink that runs over his arms and across his torso.

The water slides down—

over his stomach—

and disappears beneath the waistband of his sweatpants.

Right above that sharp V that makes my mouth go dry.

“Holy shit,” I whisper.

Not to Rose.

To the universe.

To the Goddess who thought it was funny to hand me a temptation shaped like a man.

His dark hair is shorter on the sides, longer on top, wet and falling forward.

It shadows his eyes.

Silver eyes.

Those same silver eyes.

And he’s looking at me now.

Not politely.

Not casually.

Like he’s measuring me.

Like he’s already decided I’m interesting.

His mouth curves—slow, knowing.

A smirk.

He caught me staring.

And I know—because I can feel it—he’s doing the same thing to me.

His gaze drags.

Down my soaked dress.

The fabric clinging to my ribs. My waist. My thighs.

Rain makes my clothes a second skin.

And his eyes don’t look away from it.

“Out here alone?” he asks.

His voice is deep.

Low.

It hits my spine like a touch.

“Don’t you know the forest can be dangerous at night?”

The words sound like a warning.

The tone sounds like a claim.

I lift my chin and give him a smile I don’t fully feel.

“Don’t worry,” I say. “I can take care of myself.”

His smirk deepens.

“Is that right?”

He takes a few slow steps closer.

Not rushed. Not aggressive.

Worse.

Controlled.

Like he knows I’ll stay still and let him close the distance.

I force my hands to my hips.

Cock my hip out like I’m not one breath away from losing my mind.

“Well,” I say lightly, “I could… until the big bad wolf showed up.”

I let my gaze flick down his body once, openly this time.

If he’s going to stare, I will too.

Then I tilt my head.

“The real question is—what are you doing out here?”

His eyes flash.

For a split second, they glow—silver turning brighter.

His wolf is right there under his skin.

Watching.

Listening.

Owning.

“I smelled something,” he says.

His voice drops even lower.

“It pulled me out here.”

He looks around the clearing.

Sharp. Searching.

“And then…”

His gaze snaps back to me.

“…it disappeared.”

A chill runs through me despite the rain.

He smelled Rose.

He smelled us.

He smelled the bond before I washed it away.

And the way he’s looking at me now—

he doesn’t believe it simply “disappeared.”

He believes it’s hiding.

My throat tightens.

Any normal girl would blurt it out.

I’m your mate.

Any normal girl would crave the relief of saying it.

But my life isn’t normal.

My life is a trap with teeth.

Jackson and his rogues are still out there.

Still hunting.

Still waiting for one mistake.

And a mate is the biggest weakness a girl like me can have.

A bond is a leash someone else can grab.

A mate is a target painted in blood.

So I keep my face smooth.

Keep my smile lazy.

Keep my voice teasing.

“Maybe you just imagined it,” I say.

His eyes narrow slightly.

Not amused.

Interested.

Predatory.

“Maybe,” he murmurs.

Another step.

Closer.

Rain sliding down his jaw.

Down his throat.

He stops just far enough away that he isn’t touching me—

but close enough I can feel his heat through the cold air.

Close enough that my body leans forward like it wants the contact.

The bond tugs.

A slow, aching pull right behind my ribs.

He inhales.

Once.

Deep.

Like he’s tasting me.

Like he’s committing my scent to memory.

And my stomach flips, because I realize—

I might have washed away Rose.

But I can’t wash away me.

Not completely.

Not from him.

His gaze locks on mine.

Silver on ice-blue.

His smirk fades into something darker.

Quieter.

Dangerous.

“You’re not from Opal Sun,” he says softly.

Not a question.

A statement.

My pulse stutters.

I force a laugh. “And what makes you think that?”

His eyes drop to my throat.

To the place a mark would go.

Then back up.

“Because you’re standing in my forest in the rain,” he says, voice like velvet over steel.

“And you’re not afraid.”

My skin prickles.

I should deny harder.

I should back away.

I don’t.

I tell myself I’m only here for a moment.

That he’ll leave tomorrow after his meeting with Frank.

That fate will put distance between us again.

That I can have a little fun and then disappear.

That’s what I tell myself.

But Storms don’t ask permission before they hit.

And neither do mates.

I lift my chin and hold his stare.

“Maybe I just like the rain,” I say.

His mouth twitches—almost a smile.

Almost.

Then his eyes sharpen again.

And the way he looks at me makes my body ache in a way that feels brand new and far too old at the same time.

He leans in just slightly.

Not touching.

Not yet.

But close enough that his words brush my lips like a threat.

“You’re hiding something,” he murmurs.

My breath catches.

Rain pounds around us.

My soaked dress clings tighter.

And my wolf—buried deep—shifts once in panic.

Because I feel it.

The bond pulling.

The truth pushing up.

And the terrifying part is—

I’m not sure I’m the one in control anymore.