The moon hung swollen over Blackpine, thick with light and promise. Selene had felt it coming for days—her body restless, her wolf pacing beneath her skin, every nerve stretched taut. Heat. The first since she had taken the Alpha’s throne, and it clawed at her insides like fire.
By nightfall, she was drenched in sweat, her sheets torn, her nails digging bloody crescents into her own thighs as she writhed alone in her chamber. The air reeked of need, musky and sharp, a signal no wolf could ignore. She hated how it weakened her, hated how her body betrayed her strength. But there was no denying it—this was not something an Alpha endured alone.
The door opened without warning. Her Betas had scented it long before she called.
Kade entered first, his chest bare, scars gleaming in the torchli
