Damon POV
"Find the girl with the Rose Mark. Bring her to me alive."
The words left my mouth before I could stop them. Twenty of my best warriors looked at me with confusion, but I couldn't explain why I'd said it. I didn't even know what a Rose Mark was.
All I knew was that five minutes ago, pain had burst across my chest like someone had set me on fire. When I ripped open my shirt, there it was—a mate mark. After twenty-five years of nothing, the Moon Goddess had finally chosen to give me a mate.
And she was somewhere in this rogue-infested warehouse area.
"Alpha," my Beta Lydia said slowly, "what's a Rose Mark?"
I had no idea. The words had just come out, like something deep inside my wolf knew what I was looking for even if my brain didn't.
"Just find her," I snapped, pushing down the fear clawing at my chest.
I'd never wanted a mate. Mates were weakness. They were targets that enemies could use against you. They were mistakes that got people killed.
Like Emma.
I shoved that thought away before it could drag me under. Emma was dead, and it was my fault for loving her. I wouldn't make that mistake again.
"Spread out," I told my warriors. "Search every building. She's here somewhere."
My wolf was going crazy, pacing and growling inside my head. The mate bond was pulling me forward like an unseen rope, stronger than anything I'd ever felt. Even though I didn't want this, my body was moving without my permission, following the smell that seemed to call to my very soul.
We jogged through empty streets, our paws silent on the sidewalk. I'd changed into my wolf form because it was faster, but also because my wolf could track our mate better than my human nose could.
There. The smell hit me like a truck.
Pain. Fear. Blood.
And underneath it all, something that smelled like daisies and rain. Something that made my wolf whine with need.
I howled without meaning to. The sound echoed off empty buildings, filled with sadness I didn't want to feel. My fighters howled back, letting me know they heard and understood.
We were close.
I rounded the corner of an old factory and saw them—three of my border guard wolves standing over someone on the ground. Their scents reeked of guilt and fear.
"What happened here?" I demanded, changing back to human form.
"Alpha!" Jake, my head border guard, jumped like he'd been caught stealing. "We were just—we found this rogue causing trouble and—" "Liar." The word came out as a growl.
I could smell it on them. They hadn't been checking. They'd been hunting for sport, chasing down weak rogues for fun. It was something I'd told them never to do, but some of my soldiers still thought of rogues as less than wolves.
But this rogue was my mate.
The girl on the ground wasn't moving. Blood matted her dark hair, and her clothes were torn. She looked so small and broken that rage burst in my chest.
"You hurt her," I snarled.
"Alpha, she attacked us first!" Jake protested. "She had a pipe and—"
I grabbed him by the throat and lifted him off the ground. "You. Hurt. My. Mate."
His eyes went wide with fear. "Your mate? But she's just a rogue—"
I squeezed harder. "Say that again. I dare you."
"Damon." Lydia's speech was calm but firm. "Let him down. We need to help her."
She was right. I dropped Jake, and he collapsed breathless. I knelt beside the motionless girl and gently turned her over.
The breath left my lungs.
She was beautiful, but not in a perfect way. Her face was thin from hunger, and old scars crossed her arms like she'd been hurt many times before. But when I looked at her, something in my chest went quiet for the first time in years.
Then I saw the mark on her chest, glowing dimly through her torn shirt.
It was the most amazing mate mark I'd ever seen. Roses and thorns twisted together in a pattern so complicated it looked like art. It covered her entire upper chest, silver lines that seemed to pulse with their own light.
"The Rose Mark," Lydia breathed. "How did you know?"
I had no answer. I just stared at the girl who was meant to be mine forever, and felt nothing but cold fear.
I didn't want this. I didn't want her.
But my wolf was singing with joy, and the mate bond was already wrapping around my heart like chains.
"Get the healer," I ordered. "Now."
As my warriors separated to follow orders, I stayed kneeling beside my unconscious mate. She was so still I had to lean close to make sure she was breathing.
That's when I smelled it.
Under the smell of blood and fear, under the wildflowers and rain, was something else. Something familiar.
Something that made my blood turn to ice.
I knew that smell. I'd been tracking it for months, following tales of a rogue who'd been helping other rogues escape from pack territories. A rogue who'd cost me dozens of possible new pack members.
A rogue I'd sworn to catch and punish.
My mate wasn't just any homeless dog.
She was my enemy.
The girl who'd been taking from my pack, freeing prisoners, and making me look weak in front of other Alphas.
The girl I'd promised to make pay for every insult to my power.
The girl I'd sworn to kill.
And now the Moon Goddess expected me to love her?
I looked down at her peaceful face and felt my heart breaking and hardening at the same time. The mate bond was already trying to change how I felt, making me want to protect her instead of punish her.
But I was stronger than some magical tie. I was Alpha Damon Steele, and no one—not even the Moon Goddess—would tell me who to love.
My mate's eyes fluttered open. They were the most beautiful green I'd ever seen, like emeralds in sunlight.
And when she looked at me, they filled with the same recognition I felt.
She knew who I was too.
"No," she whispered, her voice broken and frightened. "Not you. Anyone but you."
I smiled, and it wasn't kind.
"Hello, little thief. We finally meet."