Chosen By Fang

Chapter two

Damien’s POV

I woke up to the sweetest scent I had ever been graced with in my entire life.

It was warm…feminine…soft…but still, it was sharp in a way that demanded me to open my eyes and look for its source. It opened a craving in me that I had never had.

This was… her.

My sheets were cold. Empty. Which meant the scent shouldn’t have been there at all.

‘She was special,’ Dane said immediately, stretching awake inside me like a satisfied cat. ‘Different.’

“You say that about anything with a pulse,” I muttered, scrubbing a hand down my face.

'I absolutely do not.'

“You absolutely do,” I replied, sitting up.

Silk sheets slid to the ground, and I didn’t bother myself with the mess. Squinting my eyes to reduce the sun’s unforgiving jab into the room was more important.

And her scent…goddess…that was important too. I needed to shut it out, though.

It was intoxicating.

Dane hummed, pleased. ‘She didn’t fear us.’

“That’s not a compliment,” I said dryly.

‘It is when they should.’

I exhaled slowly, grounding myself.

Logic first, and then instinct second.

Always.

The girl from last night…we shared something uncommon. It was her first time in my house, and yet, she looked at me like we had known each other for centuries.

She had that practiced gaze around her…like she knew something that I didn’t and as someone with the kind of power I had, that unsettled me more than I cared to admit.

I swung my legs over the bed, intent on checking the estate and putting the lingering distraction behind me when my bedroom door flew open.

“Alpha!”

Ezra stumbled inside. His hair was a mess, jacket hanging from one side of his waist, the sleeve of the other hand empty, and his chest swelled and deflated so fast, I wondered why it didn’t burst.

I raised an eyebrow. “Good morning to you too. There’s this common thing in the 21st century…I know we’re from a different time, but it’s called knocki--”

“The Pearl,” he gasped. “The Midnight Pearl…it’s…”

I was already on my feet.

“It’s what…Ezra?!”

“It’s missing…I can’t…we can’t find it.”

I let out a what would have been a shaky breath, but I forced it to be stiff.

Ezra ran a hand through his hair. “Security’s in panic mode. No alarms tripped. No forced entry. It’s like it…just grew legs and walked off.”

‘You think she took it?’ Dane theorized carefully, almost like he didn’t want to upset me.

I ignored him.

Wasn't it obvious? The way she looked at the pearl like it was more than just an artifact. The way her fingers twitched when we saw her..and her pulse quickened?

Every other thing in the room had a price tag. Only the pearl didn't, and yet, she was most interested.

“Lock down the east wing,” I said, pulling on my shirt. “Quietly. I don’t want guests alerted. Pull footage from midnight onward. Anyone who shouldn’t be there, flag them.”

Ezra hesitated. “Damien…this wasn’t random.”

I paused, fingers curling slowly.

“I know,” I said. “But we’re going to at least make sure everyone was where they were supposed to be.”

“It’ll be impossible to track…not before the pearl is long go--”

“Do it!” I roared. His mouth slammed shut and his head bobbed in agreement.

“Right away, sir.”

And just like that, for the first time in a very long while, something had slipped through my fingers.

And it wasn’t just one thing.

‘Mine,’ Dane growled softly as I reminisced her scent.

I didn’t correct him.

Not yet.

The estate had since descended into chaos as soon as the news about the missing pearl was spread.

Staff moved faster.

Voices dropped.

I was in the control room, watching calculatedly as the personnel flicked through the camera feed of people coming in and out of the jewellery room.

“Anyone unfamiliar?” I asked.

“No, Alpha.”

“Any guests linger after midnight?”

“Only verified donors.”

“Any staff change shifts unexpectedly?”

A pause. Then a cautious, “Not that we can see.”

The operation was such a success, even I hated how proud I was of the person’s intellect.

This was clean, and whoever did this must’ve known the estate inside out.

And yet, between questions, my eyes kept drifting. Down hallways. Toward terraces. To doorways that had been empty hours ago.

I wasn’t just looking for a missing artifact.

I was looking for her.

Ezra noticed. Of course he did. The man had known me long enough to smell trouble before it grew teeth.

“Should we pull the guest registry again?” he asked carefully. “Cross-reference faces with staff logs?”

“Yes,” I said. Then, without meaning to, “There was a girl…”

Several heads turned.

I cleared my throat. “A guest. Younger. Observant. She asked questions about the Pearl.”

Brows lifted. Subtle. Curious.

“And that’s relevant… how?” one of the senior stewards asked.

I smiled thinly. “People who ask questions tend to steal things.”

“Most people must’ve been hear to steal, then,” he raised his brows with a look that said, ‘I’ve got more important things to do.’

I redirected the conversation back to logistics.

Security blind spots, artifact access protocols, timeline reconstructions were all on my lips, but my mind splintered in directions it had no business going. I moved through the estate as if retracing memory instead of footprints, following instinct instead of logic.

And instinct led me to the terrace.

The familiarity of this place wasn't lost on me.

Her scent lingered faintly, woven into the night like an echo that refused to fade. I inhaled slowly, carefully, letting it settle in my chest. Sweet…warm…everything that I knew it to be, and more. Sharper this time, because here, it was more than just her aura.

Her delicious scent of arousal lingered as well.

Dane stirred, pleased. ‘She was here.’

“I know,” I muttered. “I was here too.”

I followed it to the balustrade, to the spot where lantern light thinned and the stone still held warmth from earlier.

The memory hit without warning. Her voice played over and over again, where she told me not to stop.

No.

Where she begged me…not to stop.

It was almost like a gas canister full of her scent was opened here.

I tracked the scent further, down the steps, across the gravel path toward the main gate. It grew thinner, stretched by distance and time, until it dissolved completely at the curb.

Tire rubber. Exhaust.

A taxi.

Damn it.

Ezra caught up to me a moment later, breathless. “You okay?”

I straightened, schooling my expression. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

He studied me for a beat too long. “You’re… off.”

“Long night,” I said lightly. “Missing heirlooms tend to do that.”

Ezra gave me a one-eyed stare. It was deliberate, meant to tell me he knew more than I let on, but I simply shrugged him off.

Now wasn’t the time for one of those emotional charades.

“We’ll find the pearl, Alpha,” he reassured me instead of the lecture he prepared mentally, and I nodded gratefully.

“We will.”

But as he walked away, I stayed where I was, staring at the empty road.

I swore under my breath to find something else.

The girl who smelled warm…and sweet, with an air that commanded something sharp.

Trouble, maybe? It would be a good kind of trouble.

“I’ll find you,” I said quietly.

It wasn’t a threat. It was a promise.