Darius's POV
The phone call went straight to voicemail.
I stared at my cell, confusion and fear twisting in my gut. Sera always answered when I called. Always seemed happy to hear from me. But now, three missed calls and nothing.
Something was wrong.
My wolf paced furiously inside my mind, demanding I go to her immediately. The need to see her, to make sure she was safe, had been getting stronger every hour since I'd left her cottage at dawn.
"Alpha?" My Beta, Marcus, knocked on my office door. "The Ravencrest delegation is here for the engagement planning meeting."
Right. The marriage. The political alliance that would secure peace between our regions and strengthen both our packs.
The engagement I'd barely thought about for three days because all my thoughts were taken by a girl with moonfire eyes and a smile that made my chest ache.
"Tell them I'll be there in five minutes," I said, trying to force my Alpha mask back into place.
But as I straightened my tie and checked my reflection, I couldn't shake the thought that something fundamental had changed in me. Something that made the idea of marrying Celeste feel wrong in ways I couldn't explain.
The meeting was torture.
Celeste sat beside me in the meeting room, playing the perfect future Luna while our families discussed ceremony details, guest lists, and political advantages. She looked beautiful and calm, everything an Alpha's mate should be.
So why did being near her feel like wearing clothes that didn't fit?
"Darius?" Celeste's voice cut through my drifting thoughts. "Your opinion on the ceremony location?"
"Whatever you prefer," I said immediately.
She frowned slightly. "You seem distracted today, darling. Is everything alright?"
Before I could answer, that familiar smell hit me like a physical blow.
Moonfire. Sweet and wild and absolutely delicious.
Sera was somewhere in the pack house.
My wolf went crazy, flooding my system with the desperate need to find her, to get to her, to make sure she was safe. I gripped the edge of the meeting table so hard the wood creaked.
"Excuse me," I said, standing up suddenly. "I have urgent pack business to attend to."
I was out the door before anyone could react, following Sera's scent trail through the hallways like a man possessed. It led me to the main entrance, where she stood talking to the receptionist with a manila folder in her hands.
She looked pale and tired, like she hadn't slept. When she saw me, something flashed across her face – hurt, confusion, and something that looked almost like fear.
"Sera." Her name came out rougher than I meant. "What are you doing here?" "Dropping off clinic paperwork." Her voice was carefully polite, absent in a way that made my chest tight. "I didn't mean to interrupt anything important."
"You're not interrupting. You could never—" I stopped myself before I said something that would make everything worse. "Is everything okay? You look upset."
"I'm fine." But her eyes were too bright, like she was fighting tears.
The receptionist cleared her throat. "Alpha? The Ravencrest family is wondering when you'll return to the meeting."
Right. The meeting. My engagement plans.
I watched Sera's face go carefully blank at the memory. "I should let you get back to your... responsibilities."
She started to leave, but every feeling I had screamed at me to stop her. I caught her wrist gently, feeling that now-familiar jolt of electricity when we touched.
"Sera, wait. Can we talk? Tonight?"
"I don't think that's a good idea anymore." She pulled free from my grip. "You have more important things to focus on."
She walked away before I could explain, leaving me standing in the lobby with my wolf howling in grief.
I made it through exactly ten more minutes of engagement planning before I couldn't take it anymore.
"I need some air," I stated, ignoring Celeste's sharp look.
I found Sera in the pack clinic's break room, sitting alone with her head in her hands. The sight of her looking so beaten made something protective and fierce roar to life in my chest.
"Hey," I said softly, closing the door behind me.
She looked up, and I could see she'd been crying. "What do you want, Darius?"
"I want to know why you're upset. I want to know what I did wrong."
"You didn't do anything wrong." Her laugh was bitter. "That's the trouble. You've been perfect. Too perfect."
"I don't understand."
She stood up, wrapping her arms around herself. "Did you really think I wouldn't find out? About your engagement?"
My stomach dropped. "Sera—" "Three nights, Darius. Three nights of you making me feel special, making me think maybe I mattered to you, and you never once mentioned that you're supposed to marry someone else next week."
"It's not what you think—"
"Then what is it?" Her voice cracked. "Because from where I'm standing, it looks like I've been your entertainment while your real life was planned around me."
The pain in her voice cut through me like claws. "That's not true. What's going between us—"
"Is what, exactly?" She stepped closer, her eyes burning. "What are we doing here, Darius? What did you think was going to happen?"
I opened my mouth to answer and realized I had no idea what to say. Because the truth was crazy.
The truth was that somewhere in the last three days, I'd fallen totally, desperately in love with her. The truth was that the thought of marrying anyone else made me literally sick. The truth was that my wolf had claimed her so fully that being away from her felt like dying.
But I also had a pack to lead, alliances to maintain, and hundreds of lives depending on my choices.
"I thought maybe we could find a way," I said lamely.
"A way to what? To keep me as your secret while you marry another woman?" Her eyes filled with tears again. "I'm not that kind of person, Darius. I can't be someone's dirty little secret."
"You're not—" I stopped because she was right. What exactly was I giving her? A life in the shadows while I played happy families with someone else? "I have to go," she whispered.
This time, when she tried to leave, I didn't stop her. I just stood there like a wimp and watched the best thing that had ever happened to me walk away.
But as the door closed behind her, something snapped into place in my chest. Something that felt like a chain wrapped around my heart and pulling tight.
The mate bond.
Real, permanent, and absolutely obvious.
I sank into a chair as the truth hit me like a truck. This wasn't just attraction or obsession. Sera Nightfall was my mate. My wolf had known it from the first moment he'd smelled her, but now my human side understood it too.
She was mine. Meant for me in ways that went beyond choice or logic or ease.
And I was about to lose her because I was too much of a coward to choose love over duty.
My phone buzzed with a text from Celeste: Darling, where did you disappear to? We need to finish the guest list.
I stared at the message, then at the door Sera had just walked through. The mate bond pulled at my chest, demanding I go after her, claim her, mark her as mine before anyone else could touch her.
But I also heard my father's voice in my head: Alphas don't get to choose love over duty. That's what makes us leaders instead of selfish children.
Maybe I could have both. Maybe I could find a way to respect my engagement while keeping Sera close. Protect her without claiming her officially. Love her without destroying everything I'd made.
It wasn't ideal, but it might be the only option that didn't end in war or exile or worse.
I was still trying to tell myself it could work when Marcus burst through the door.
"Alpha, we have a problem. Sera Nightfall's house was broken into an hour ago."
My mate bond flared with fear. "Is she hurt?"
"She wasn't there. But whoever did it left a message."
He gave me a photograph of words carved into her kitchen table: Last warning, Moonfire. Disappear or be lost.
My wolf burst with rage so pure it nearly forced a shift right there in my office.
Someone was threatening my mate.
My job and my pack responsibilities suddenly seemed very small compared to the need to tear apart whoever had dared to touch what was mine.
"Double her guard detail," I snarled. "And find out who did this."
"Alpha," Marcus said slowly, "maybe it would be better if she stayed somewhere more secure. The pack house has better defenses—"
"No." The word came out as a growl. "She stays where she's comfortable. We bring the security to her."
As Marcus left to carry out my directions, I realized I'd already made my choice.
Duty or love, pack politics or mate bonds, careful planning or following my heart – none of it mattered anymore.
Someone was hunting Sera, and I would burn down anyone who tried to take her from me.
Even if it meant breaking every promise I'd ever made.