The blade cut through air. I did not miss the target, but I had never been aiming at it in the first place. I was aiming at the memory instead.
Raena in the river returned to me in relentless detail. I heard that voice again, low and haunting, and I saw that fire burning in her eyes. Even the image of that damn oversized shirt clung to my mind like wet fabric to skin.
No matter how hard I trained—no matter how many arrows I lost or how many hours I stayed in the ring pounding the stuffing out of padded betas—I could not banish her from my thoughts.
“I need another target,” I muttered, yanking the arrow from the wood and splintering the shaft in my hand.
“You mean a distraction?” Kai said from behind me, my second-in-command, his voice too damn knowing.
“Same thing.”
“You’ve been acting weird since the ceremony.”
“I’ve been busy,” I said flatly.
“Training all day, not sleeping, snapping at everyone who says the word ‘mate’—yeah. Real normal behavior.”
I ignored him and kept my body moving, trying to cling to what my father always said: An Alpha doesn’t crave. An Alpha chooses. And never, ever from the enemy’s bloodline.
He had drilled it into my skull from the time I was a boy. Control your thoughts. Bury your instincts. Loyalty to the pack comes first.
Over the past few days, however, my instincts clawed at my ribs with her name on every breath.
By the time the ritual dinner arrived, I felt as though I was crawling out of my own skin.
I stood in front of the mirror, tightening the black leather cords around my wrists and pulling on my formal gear—a dark fitted jacket with silver embroidery at the shoulders and the Hollowmoor crest stitched across my chest. My hair lay slicked back, and my jaw clenched so tightly I half expected a crack to run through the bone.
“You look like a prince ready for execution,” Kai commented when I walked past him.
“Good. That’s exactly how I feel.”
The hall was already full. Long tables seated warriors, elders, and visiting Alphas shoulder to shoulder. The air smelled of roasted meat and woodsmoke, but beneath it ran something heavier and unmistakable—expectation.
All eyes turned to me at once. I was the new Alpha, twenty-four years old, unmated, and still unclaimed.
The whispers started to rise again, climbing over the clatter of knives and cups.
“So, Silas,” one elder said too loudly. “Will this be the night we finally see you pick a she-wolf?”
Another voice chimed in. “Unless the rumors are true and you’re more interested in male wolves.”
Laughter rolled across the table in an unfriendly wave that broke against my patience. I gripped the table until the wood pressed crescents into my palms.
“Do you have something to say?” I snapped, looking at the elder directly.
He raised his hands, all innocence. “Just curious. Everyone’s been wondering. You haven’t shown interest in anyone. Not even when offered.”
“Maybe I’m not interested in being forced into something,” I growled.
“Or maybe,” he leaned closer, “you’ve already chosen—and it’s someone your father would burn the pack down over.”
The back of my throat tightened like a fist closing. And then I saw Raena.
Walking into the room like she was born from moonlight and smoke, she moved with the kind of certainty that redirects gravity. Her hair hung down, thick and wild; her eyes were lined with kohl; her lips were a little too red to be accidental. She wore dark Ashfang formal armor tailored like silk laid over leather, her shoulders sharp as a blade’s first edge, her waist cinched, and her combat boots still dirty with real miles.
She didn’t belong here, and yet she managed to make everyone else fade into the margins, including me.
“Stop staring,” Kai hissed from beside me.
“I’m not.”
“You are.”
“She shouldn’t even be here,” I muttered, jaw locked.
“She was invited. Politics. Get over it.”
But I could not get over it, especially not when she strode to the opposite side of the table and stood there as if the room answered to her alone.
She was watching me—I could feel it—her gaze steady and unblinking, as though she could track the sweat beading at my neck and the heat crawling under my skin. My chest rose too fast, and my heart slammed too loud for the quiet hall.
“What the hell is going on,” I whispered to myself.
I stood so fast my chair screeched against the stone.
“I need air.”
I didn’t wait for anyone’s comment. I shoved through the doors into the night and breathed like I had just run a mile uphill. The stars were out in a hard, glittering scatter. The cold was sharp enough to bite. And yet I was burning from the inside out.
I leaned against the stone railing and closed my eyes until the dizziness eased.
“You’re seriously gonna give the elders more to whisper about?” came a voice behind me.
I stiffened instantly, every muscle pulling taut.
“I knew you’d follow me.”
Raena stepped out of the shadows, arms crossed over her chest. “I was curious. Watching you sweat at the dinner table was the most entertaining thing I’ve seen all week.”
“I wasn’t sweating.”
“You were panting like you’d shift on the damn table.”
I looked away, letting the darkness cool my expression. “Why are you here?”
“Same reason you are,” she said, stepping closer. “To escape the fake smiles and arranged futures.”
I turned to her slowly, feeling the axis of the night tilt. “You’re not supposed to be here.”
“Neither are you,” she shot back.
“You don’t get it. You make things worse.”
“Worse?” She arched an eyebrow. “You mean confusing? Tempting? Dangerous?”
I stepped forward. “Yes.”
There was a beat of silence that stretched thin as wire. Then her voice dropped.
“You think this is easy for me?”
“Don’t.”
Her breath hitched, barely audible. “Why not?”
“Because I can’t—” I broke off, swallowing hard against the truth. “I can’t want you.”
She stepped in. Close. Too close.
“You already do.”
Her hand brushed mine, and I flinched as if the touch scorched.
“Raena,” I begged, voice cracked. “Stop this.”
She tilted her head, so close I could feel her breath warm on my lips.
“Then tell me you don’t want to kiss me right now.”