Chapter 1
977 Words
The music hit my chest like a fist, and I let it.
It was the only thing that made sense—steady, pounding, loud enough to drown out the chaos building inside me.
Laughter blurred into bass.
Bodies pressed too close.
A full college‑aged pack party, wolves everywhere, all of us blowing off steam on pack territory far from any humans. The alpha and his beta are here to make sure we keep the peace.
And my control was slipping.
Not now.
Heat coiled low in my belly, sharp and demanding. I pressed my thighs together instinctively, breath hitching as another wave rolled through me.
Panic followed.
No. No, no, no.
Not here.
Not in a house full of wolves with senses too sharp and instincts too hungry.
If they smelled it—
If they smelled me—
My heart slammed against my ribs. I angled my body away from the nearest group, squeezing my legs tighter as if that alone could trap the scent of my arousal, my heat. It felt thick in the air to me, heavy and obvious, like a secret burning neon above my head.
“What is wrong with me?” I muttered, but no one could hear over the music.
Another pulse hit. Hotter. Deeper.
I pushed through the crowd toward the hallway, murmuring apologies I didn’t mean. I just needed space. Air. A moment to breathe without feeling like prey.
The bathroom line stretched halfway down the corridor.
Seriously?
My control frayed.
A door stood half-open farther down the hall. Dim. Quiet.
Without thinking, I slipped inside and closed it behind me.
Silence wrapped around me.
A bedroom. Bed neatly made. Dresser. The faint scent of citrus detergent and something unmistakably male.
I leaned back against the door, pressing my palms flat against the wood as I forced air into my lungs.
Breathe.
My thighs pressed together again.
If someone caught my scent like this…
A shiver ran through me.
“Get it together, Casey,” I whispered.
I smoothed my dress, tucked my hair behind my ear, and reached for the handle.
The door swung open—
—and he was there.
Tall. Broad. Still as a carved statue waiting to come alive.
The alpha’s son, Miles.
Everyone knew him.
Everyone.
Dark hair fell slightly into eyes that were deep brown—almost black—but already flickering at the edges with gold. His shoulders filled the hallway. Power radiated from him, quiet and absolute.
He would be alpha soon.
The future leader of the pack.
And he was looking at me like I was the only thing in the world.
“Oh—sorry,” I blurted. “I thought this was the bathroom. I didn’t mean to—”
“It’s not my room,” he said.
His voice was smooth. Controlled.
Unlike his eyes.
They moved slowly over me. Deliberate. Intent.
His nostrils flared.
Everything inside me went still.
He could smell it.
The air changed.
Thickened.
He stepped forward.
Instinct pulled me back into the room. The door clicked shut behind him.
Why did he close it?
His jaw tightened like he was fighting something. His hands flexed at his sides once—just once—before stilling.
“You’re in heat,” he said quietly.
Mortification burned through me. I pressed my thighs together again, but it was pointless now.
He already knew.
“I—I don’t know what’s happening,” I whispered.
He inhaled again. Slower this time. Deeper.
His control cracked.
Desire hit his face raw and unfiltered.
“You shouldn’t be alone,” he said, but the words were strained.
Not protective.
Hungry.
He took another step.
Heat rolled off him in waves—pine, rain, something wild and dominant underneath. It wrapped around me, sank into my skin, fed the fire already there.
His eyes dropped to my mouth.
The look there wasn’t casual attraction.
It was craving.
Like he’d been starving and I was water.
“I can smell you,” he admitted roughly. “And it’s driving me insane.”
My pulse thundered.
He was barely holding himself together. I could see it in the tension in his shoulders, the way his breath deepened, the way his fingers twitched like he was restraining the urge to grab me.
Future alpha.
Powerful.
Feared.
And undone by me.
Without warning, he leaned in.
His lips hovered just short of mine.
I should have stopped him.
But when he kissed me, it wasn’t gentle.
It was restrained desperation.
Like he was trying not to devour me.
His hand gripped my waist too tightly at first before easing. A low sound vibrated in his chest—half growl, half surrender.
He craved me.
I could feel it in the way his body pressed closer. In the way his control kept slipping and snapping back into place.
He broke the kiss abruptly, breathing uneven.
“You have no idea what you’re doing to me,” he said hoarsely.
Something ancient stirred inside my chest.
Then—
The bedroom door burst open and a couple stumbled in laughing.
The spell shattered.
I slipped past them, into the hallway, heart racing.
But I didn’t make it far.
The music cut.
Silence slammed into the house.
He stepped out of the hallway.
And the entire pack felt it.
His eyes found mine instantly.
They weren’t brown anymore.
They were gold.
Gasps rippled through the room.
The alpha stepped forward from across the living room, silver at his temples, authority radiating from him.
But he wasn’t looking at his son.
He was looking at me.
Recognition dawned in his expression.
Miles inhaled once.
Deep.
And the growl that tore from his chest wasn’t restraint.
It was recognition.
“Mine.”
The word echoed.
The room froze.
Not chosen.
Not claimed for politics.
Fated.
Irrevocable.
- Writer
