Darius's POV
I punched the stone wall of my office so hard my knuckles cracked.
The pain didn't help. Nothing helped. Three hours had passed since I kissed Sera Nightfall, and my wolf was clawing at my mind like a caged animal eager to escape.
Go back to her, the beast snarled inside my head. Claim what's ours.
"She's not ours," I growled out loud, moving behind my desk. "She's eighteen years old. She's a nobody. She's—"
Ours, my wolf urged, flooding my thoughts with the memory of her scent. That impossible moonfire sweetness that made every feeling I had roar to life.
I'd been with endless women. Beautiful, sophisticated females who knew exactly what they were going into. I never lost power. Never felt anything beyond physical pleasure. Love was a luxury Alphas couldn't afford, and I'd built my reputation on being cold, calculated, and completely in charge.
Until tonight. Until one kiss from a girl who should have meant nothing changed my entire world upside down.
The door to my office burst open without a knock. Celeste Ravencrest swept in wearing a flowing red dress that probably cost more than most pack members made in a year. Her dark hair was perfectly arranged, her makeup stunning despite the late hour.
"Darling," she purred, moving toward me with predatory ease. "You vanished from the ceremony. The Ravencrest group was asking for you."
Right. The group. The political marriage we'd been discussing for months. The alliance that would unite our areas and make both our packs stronger.
The marriage that made perfect sense for everyone except my wolf, who was currently trying to claw its way out of my chest to get back to Sera.
"I had pack business to handle," I said, pushing my voice to stay level.
Celeste moved behind my desk, running her fingers along my shoulders. "You seem tense. Let me help you relax."
Her touch felt like ice compared to the fire that had shot through me when I touched Sera. I stepped away from her, moving to the window that looked out over the pack area.
"Not tonight, Celeste."
"Is something wrong?" Her voice sharpened. "You've been acting strange all evening."
Strange. That was one word for it. Completely losing my mind was probably more true.
"I'm fine. Just tired."
She was quiet for a long moment. When she spoke again, her tone was carefully casual. "I noticed you went outside during the ceremony. I hope none of the younger pack members were making trouble."
My hands clenched into fists. She'd been watching. She always was.
"Nothing I couldn't handle."
"Of course not. You're so good at handling... problems." She moved to stand beside me at the window. "Some problems require permanent solutions, don't you think?"
There was something in her voice that made my Alpha instincts come to life. A threat. But against who?
"Celeste," I said slowly, "what exactly are you suggesting?"
She smiled, but it didn't reach her eyes. "Nothing at all, darling. I just know how much you value pack steadiness. It would be such a shame if anything disrupted our planned union."
Before I could reply, she kissed my cheek and glided toward the door. "Don't stay up too late. We have wedding plans to finish tomorrow."
The moment she left, I slammed my fist against the wall again. This time, the stone actually cracked.
My wolf was right about one thing – I needed to see Sera. Not to claim her or do anything stupid, but to make sure she was safe. Something about Celeste's words felt like a warning, and I couldn't risk ignoring it.
Twenty minutes later, I was running through the forest in wolf form, following Sera's smell trail toward her cottage. My huge black wolf could cover the distance in minutes, but I forced myself to go slowly, to think clearly.
This was crazy. I was the Alpha of the strongest pack in three regions. I had duties, alliances, a carefully planned future that didn't include losing my mind over a girl who'd just turned eighteen.
But as I got closer to her house, my wolf's agitation grew stronger. Something was wrong.
I shifted back to human form at the edge of her land and pulled on the clothes I'd carried. The house was dark except for a single light in what I knew was her bedroom window. She was safe inside.
So why did every sense I had scream danger?
I circled the small house carefully, using my Alpha senses to search for danger. That's when I found them – tracks in the soft earth beneath her bedroom window. Big boots. At least two different guys, maybe three.
Someone had been watching her house. Recently.
My wolf snarled with rage. The smell was strange – not quite werewolf, but not entirely human either. Rogues, maybe, or something worse.
I followed the trail into the trees, my anger growing with every step. The prints led to an area about fifty yards from Sera's back door. Someone had waited here for a long time, watching her house through the trees.
But it was what I found in the clearing that made my blood run cold.
Carved into the bark of the biggest pine tree were symbols I recognized from the oldest pack histories. Ancient marks that hadn't been used in over a century. Marks that meant only one thing.
The hunt starts.
My phone buzzed with an important text. I almost ignored it, but the source made me look twice.
Unknown Number: The girl is in more danger than you know. They've been planning this for months. Protect her or lose everything that matters. This is your only warning.
My hands shook as I read the message again. Who was "they"? How did someone get my secret number? And what did they want with Sera?
I ran back to her house, my heart pounding. Through her bedroom window, I could see her shadow moving around. She was pacing, probably unable to sleep after everything that had happened tonight.
I should leave. Go back to my duties, my planned future, my logical life.
Instead, I found myself picking up small stones from her yard. The first one bounced softly against her window. The second made her shadow freeze.
By the third stone, her window opened.
"Darius?" she whispered, leaning out to look down at me. "What are you doing here?"
"I needed to make sure you were safe."
"Safe from what?"
That was the question, wasn't it? Safe from the rogues who'd been watching her? Safe from whatever ancient threat those images represented? Safe from me and this impossible pull that was destroying my control?
"From everything," I said honestly.
She was quiet for a moment, and I could see her arguing with herself. Finally, she said, "The front door's unlocked."
Five minutes later, I was sitting in her tiny kitchen while she made tea with shaking hands. The moonfire smell was even stronger inside her house, wrapping around me like a drug I couldn't resist.
"Someone was watching your house tonight," I told her, pushing myself to focus on the danger instead of the way her hair caught the lamplight. "I found tracks, and..." I paused. How did I explain old hunting symbols to a girl who probably didn't even know the darker parts of pack history?
"And what?" she pressed.
"And I think you're in trouble. Real trouble."
She set down her mug with a shaky laugh. "Story of my life. What else is new?"
"This is different, Sera. Someone tagged trees near your house with old pack symbols. Hunting symbols."
The color drained from her face. "Hunting symbols for what?"
Before I could answer, every light in the house went out.
In the sudden darkness, Sera's gasp was the only sound. Then came another sound that made my blood freeze – the slow, intentional scratch of claws against her front door.
"Darius," Sera breathed, fear thick in her voice.
I moved in front of her instantly, my body hiding her from whatever was outside. My Alpha senses were screaming, but I couldn't spot the threat. Whatever was out there didn't smell like animal or human or anything I'd encountered before.
The scratching stopped. In the quiet, I heard Sera's heart hammering against her ribs.
Then came the voice. Low, raspy, saying words that chilled me to the bone: "We know you're in there, Moonfire. Come out and play, or we'll come in and make the Alpha watch while we take you apart piece by piece."
Sera's hand grabbed my arm. "Moonfire?" she whispered. "What does that mean?"
I didn't answer because I was starting to understand, and the truth was more frightening than any threat. Moonfire wasn't just a smell. It was a bloodline. A genetic marker that showed maybe once in a century.
And it meant Sera wasn't just some random omega who'd caught my eye.
She was the key to power that every supernatural creature in North America would kill to rule.
The front door burst inward with a crash that shook the entire house. Three massive figures filled the entry, their eyes glowing red in the darkness. They looked like wolves, but wrong somehow. Too big, too sharp, with teeth that gleamed like silver knives.
"Hello, little Moonfire," the biggest one said, its voice a nightmare growl. "We've been looking for you for a very long time."
Behind me, Sera whimpered. And despite everything – my duty, my engagement, my perfectly planned life – only one thought filled my mind.
I would die before I let anything hurt her.