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1442 Words
God, she didn’t even know it, but she was testing every ounce of control I had left. The way she moved against me, like it was nothing, like she didn’t feel the heat sparking between us. Her essence clung to me, seeped into my skin, fogged my thoughts like a slow-burning poison laced with jasmine and defiance.
She was a runner.
And hell, she ran well.
I told myself I didn’t want to find her. Told myself it was better this way. But something about the way she fought the bond without even knowing what it was made the need to claim her roar louder in my chest. It wasn’t just desire. It was instinct. She is mine.
I don’t know what stopped me from grabbing her sooner. Maybe it was the way she glared like she might tear the world in half before she let me take her. Or maybe it was how damn fast she moved, too fast for someone who looked like her.
She wasn’t thin.
No. She was thick. The kind of thick the gods made when they were showing off.
I added a spring to my step, chasing down the wild creature fate had decided belonged to me. My wolf clawed inside me, furious and ready. I gave him just enough leash to move not to take control.
And then I pounced.
Fur burst from my skin in a flash, not enough for a full shift, just a shield, a warning, a claim. We hit the earth hard, but I cradled her in the landing, wrapped her in warmth she hadn’t asked for.
She growled beneath me. I muttered an apology I barely meant, and when her squirming stopped just long enough for me to breathe, I gathered her into my arms.
She didn’t fight me this time.
And I carried her panting, thrumming, burning. The walk to the pack house was…
I don’t even have the word for it.
Lilith was in my arms.
I’d stopped running, no reason to rush now. We were almost there, and I wanted to savor this.
Her body against mine. The way her weight curled trust into my chest even in sleep.
She was mine.
Even if she didn’t know it yet.
The other girl had screamed her name during the scuffle. Landon, ever the practical bastard, mindlinked me the second she did.
Alpha. The girl. Her name’s Lilith. Friend gave it up fast.
The name had clung to me like a brand ever since. But saying it aloud, saying it to her…
It felt heavier.
Final.
Like it belonged to me too.
She was asleep now, breath soft against my neck.
You’d think I knocked the air out of her. But her scent told a different story.
Something stirred beneath the surface.
Even the wind seemed to hold its breath.
Above the trees, the moon crept, bloated and glowing, not silver but red.
Bleeding red.
A blood moon.
I felt it before I saw it, deep in my bones. My wolf stirred, a growl licking the edges of my throat. It wasn’t supposed to rise for four more nights. That’s what the celestial Watchers said. But it was here, now. Early. Burning. Watching.
I was born beneath its firelight.
Marked by it. Shaped by it.
The nurse who caught me whispered, “A monster has been born” just before my mother devoured her like the rumours say.
What a time to find her.
Lilith shivered in my arms, and heat rolled off her skin like it recognized mine.
Her scent.
Gods, her scent was shifting. Sharpening. Sickeningly sweet. Too sweet.
It clung to my senses like sin.
I’ve heard of the mate bond. I’ve studied it. Felt it echo in others.
But this… this was different. Wilder.
Meeting a mate under a blood moon had never happened. Not in the recorded history of wolves.
Not once.
And now I understood why.
The moment I stepped onto pack land, it hit me, they could feel her too.
Unmated males. untrained and unprepared began reacting to her scent. Growls echoed low and rough from the outer quarters because they wanted her but her being in my arms alone was a warning. Wolves bowed their heads instinctively as I passed, some lowering to one knee, others simply stepping aside, their necks bared in silent submission.
But her essence still bled into the air, calling to every unclaimed wolf like a siren’s song.
Fuck.
I mindlinked Landon immediately.
Clear the pack house. Now. Every unmated male. I don’t care who they are or what they’re doing, get them out. And summon the pack doctor.
Now.
I didn’t wait for confirmation. I was almost at the door.
And the blood moon pulsed above us like a second heartbeat.
Her scent only got stronger.
Thicker. Sweeter. Maddening.
When we got inside, only the females remained. But even then, her scent clung to the walls, soaked into my skin like wildfire smoke.
I had to keep even Landon, my beta, away from the room. The way his jaw clenched and pupils flared, I knew it was affecting him too. He didn’t say a word, but he knew. He knew.
I stood outside the door, fists balled, breathing her in and hating myself for it.
Inside, she was sweating through the sheets, her breathing shallow, chest rising too fast.
I didn’t know what to do. And that scared me.
The pack doctor arrived just as I felt my wolf shift beneath my skin, too close to the edge.
He came with his mate, his assistant and our nurse. Thank the gods. A mated pair.
He looked me over once, eyes narrowing at the tension I could no longer hide.
“Alpha,” he said carefully, “wait here. We’ll take it from here.”
I nodded stiffly, jaw tight enough to crack bone.
He and his mate slipped into the room, and the door closed between us.
But not her scent. No, that lingered.
And the sounds. The quiet rustle of sheets. Her soft whimper. My claws dug into the wall beside me.
Minutes passed like hours.
When the doctor finally stepped out, his face was unreadable but I saw the sheen of sweat on his temple.
“She’s stable,” he said. “For now. I’ve given her something to bring the fever down. My wife is staying with her.”
I nodded, waiting for the part that would make sense of this chaos.
“I took samples, blood, saliva. Something’s… off. This isn’t like any fever I’ve seen. I need to run some tests back at the pack hospital.”
He hesitated, then added, “Her vitals are strong, but her body’s reacting like it’s preparing for a shift. And she’s not a wolf.”
“I told you her name,” I said quietly. “Lilith. She was caught in the activity at the southern border today.”
I paused.
I didn’t tell him the most important part.
That she was mine.
That she was my mate.
But from the way his eyes lingered on me, from the tension in his shoulders… I think he knew.
He had to.
Because keeping my wolf caged like this, it took more out of me than battle ever had. And he’d seen me on the field.
This wasn’t a wound.
It was a need
“You need to go, Alpha. Let my wife work. I’ll bring you the results as soon as I have them.”
He scurried off. I lingered.
My wolf insisted the rational thing to do was wait here. But maybe that was just his way of keeping me here. He needed me there.
Whispering urges, coaxing, twisting logic until it almost sounded sane.
She’s ours. Protect her. Mate. Touch her. Mark her.
I clenched my jaw and shut him out. Her essence still clung to me, thick and relentless, filling my lungs like smoke, making my blood throb with something dangerously close to hunger.
I walked away.
Not far. Just enough to clear my head. The smarter thing would be to understand what the hell was happening here. Talk to the girl she was with when I found her. Check the wreckage they left behind. Figure out if they’d found the injured human.
Most of the others were over at the town hall, the only ones left at the pack house were mated low-rankers, barely stirred by her scent. I took the stairs two at a time, settling in my study just a floor above her room
From here, I could still feel her.
Too much.
But at least I could breathe.
- Writer
