Chapter 4
949 Words
THERON.
I had been dreading this day for weeks.
Not because I didn’t want to lead. I had been raised to do exactly that, groomed from the moment I could walk beside my father’s powerful stride. But now that the crown, the weight, the burden of Silverton rested on my shoulders, it didn’t feel like pride. It felt like chains.
I didn’t know if I was ready.
My father had been a great Alpha. Strong. Decisive. Ruthless when needed. But the world was shifting. We weren’t only defending borders and leading hunts anymore. Politics, alliances, and whispering threats filled the air like smoke.
Wildheart Pack, our longtime rivals, were stirring again. Rumors of raids and secret alliances reached my ears weekly. They were getting stronger, bolder. And we… we were holding our breath.
I should’ve been thinking of all that tonight, at the coronation. Every hand I shook, every forced smile I wore, every calculating gaze I met should’ve reminded me of what was at stake.
But I wasn’t thinking of any of that.
I was thinking of her.
Adrianna.
She’d appeared like a ripple across still water, soft, quiet, unexpected. A face I’d never seen before, or perhaps never noticed. But once I saw her, I couldn’t look away.
Even now, as I guided her down the dim corridor of the empty pack house, my palm wrapped around hers, I could feel the heat of her skin seeping into mine. Every step made her hand tremble slightly.
“You okay?” I asked gently, stopping just outside my room.
She nodded but wouldn’t meet my eyes. “Yes. I just… this doesn’t feel real.”
“It doesn’t have to,” I said. “Not tonight.”
She looked up then. Her eyes were wide, uncertain, shining under the soft lantern light. Something inside me twisted. I wasn’t used to feeling protective. I was used to command. To power. But with her, it felt like something else, something deeper. A pull I couldn’t explain.
I opened the door and led her inside.
The room was lit only by the moon filtering through the large window. The pale light bathed everything in silver, my bed, the wooden floor, even her soft features as she stepped in, hesitantly.
She stood near the center, arms crossed slightly, gaze sweeping the space.
“You don’t have to do anything you’re not comfortable with,” I said, closing the door behind us.
“I know,” she whispered.
I walked over, slow, giving her space. “But I need you to know something.”
She looked at me again, questioning.
“I didn’t bring you here because I wanted a distraction. Or because you looked pretty in candlelight. I brought you here because I couldn’t stop thinking about you all night. And I don’t even know your last name.”
She laughed, just a little, and her shoulders relaxed.
“It's not a very interesting one,” she said. “I don’t even remember my real one. They called me Adrianna Frost at the orphanage.”
I stepped closer. “Then Adrianna Frost, would you allow me to worship you for one night?”
Her breath caught, and her lashes fluttered. Her lips parted as if to speak, but she nodded instead.
My wolf stirred immediately, claws scraping just under my skin. He didn’t like moving slowly. He wanted to claim. To taste. To mark.
But I kept him at bay.
She deserved gentleness.
I reached up and brushed a strand of hair behind her ear, letting my fingers linger against her jaw.
“You don’t have to be afraid of me,” I said quietly.
“I’m not,” she replied. “I think I’m more afraid of how I feel around you.”
“How do you feel?”
“Like I’m not myself anymore. Like everything I thought I knew about the world is changing.”
“Good,” I murmured, dipping closer. “Because I feel exactly the same.”
She reached up, hesitantly, and placed her palm against my chest. The contact nearly undid me. Her warmth soaked through my shirt, right into my skin. I cupped her face, leaning down, pressing my forehead to hers.
“You make it hard to think, Adrianna,” I whispered. “And I’ve never liked that in anyone before.”
Then I kissed her.
Softly at first. Testing. Savoring.
Her lips parted under mine, and she made a sound in the back of her throat that had me gripping her waist, pulling her gently closer. She melted into me, fingers curling into my shirt.
The kiss deepened, turning urgent.
When I lifted her into my arms, she didn’t protest. She buried her face against my neck and let me carry her to the bed.
Moonlight followed us.
When I laid her down and hovered over her, our breathing tangled, eyes locked, it felt like nothing else existed. No ceremony. No Wildheart. No crown.
Just us.
“Are you sure?” I asked, one final time, voice hoarse with restraint.
She nodded. “Yes.”
And that was all I needed.
That night, I didn’t just touch her. I worshipped her.
Every inch of her was a discovery. Every gasp from her lips felt like a sacred vow. I memorized the softness of her skin, the arch of her back, the way her name tasted in my mouth as she whispered mine.
Her presence filled every c***k I hadn’t known existed in me.
She let me in without fear. And I gave myself
to her like I’d never given myself to anyone.
The moon climbed higher, casting us in silver and shadow.
- Writer
