The city had a heartbeat.
It pulsed in the rhythm of rain hitting cracked sidewalks, in the bass thump of music from underground clubs, in the whispered deals of men who ruled from the shadows.
Adrian Voss knew that heartbeat — because he owned it.
The Bloodfang Syndicate was his kingdom. Human or werewolf, it didn't matter. You crossed him, you vanished.
Tonight should have been routine — a meeting with an arms dealer behind the rusted doors of the East Dock warehouse. But the moment his boots hit the wet pavement, the scent hit him.
It cut through the stench of gasoline and gunpowder like moonlight through smoke.
Warm. Sweet. Forbidden.
Mate.
Adrian's jaw tightened. His wolf surged, restless and snarling, demanding he follow. But that was impossible. Mates were rare, sacred. And his would never be human — it had never happened in the history of their kind.
Yet his senses dragged him toward a narrow alley lit only by a flickering lamp.
That's when he saw her.
She was pressed against the graffiti-stained wall, her coat soaked through, rainwater clinging to strands of dark hair. Two men loomed over her — low-level scum from a rival gang — their greasy hands pawing at her as they blocked her escape.
Adrian didn't think.
He moved.
The first man barely had time to blink before claws tore through his throat, blood blooming hot in the cold rain. The second stumbled back, fumbling for his gun, but Adrian had already slammed him into the wall with enough force to crack brick. His neck snapped in a clean, brutal twist.
Silence fell. Only the rain remained.
The girl's breath came fast, chest rising and falling. She stared at him — no, not at him, but into him — as though some part of her already knew the truth.
"What… what are you?" Her voice was barely a whisper, trembling with both fear and something else she didn't yet understand.
Adrian stepped closer, his boots splashing through puddles, golden eyes burning into hers. He could hear her heartbeat — quick, uneven, intoxicating.
"You don't want the answer to that, little one," he said, his voice low, dark velvet wrapped in steel.
"I—" She hesitated, but didn't run.
Bad idea.
His hand came up, not touching her, but braced on the wall beside her head. The scent of her was a drug. His wolf was pacing, snarling, claim her now. But Adrian forced himself to breathe, to remember that the human world didn't survive truths like his.
"What's your name?" he asked.
"Elara," she said softly. "Elara Hale."
The name hit him like a gunshot. It stirred something deep, something ancient he didn't have time to unravel. But he knew one thing — whoever she was, she was his. And in his world, that meant she was in danger.
The sound of approaching footsteps broke the moment. Adrian's head snapped up, hearing the rush of boots in the distance. More men. More trouble.
He reached for her without asking, his fingers wrapping around her wrist — firm, unyielding. "You're coming with me."
"Wait—"
"No," he growled, the Alpha in his voice leaving no room for argument. "Out here, you're prey. With me, you're alive."
She didn't have time to protest before he pulled her into the shadows. The city roared around them, but all Elara could feel was the heat of his hand and the lingering echo of his eyes — eyes no human should have.
She didn't know it yet, but her life had just been split in two — before Adrian Voss, and after.
And Adrian… he already knew he would burn the entire city to the ground before he let anyone take her from him.