Damon's POV
I couldn't stop walking outside her house like some crazy stalker.
What the hell was wrong with me? I was Alpha Damon Sterling, leader of the most powerful pack in five regions. I didn't chase after young kitchen workers. I didn't lose control. Ever.
But that smell... God, that scent was driving me insane.
It had started three hours earlier during the monthly pack meeting. I was standing at the front of the great hall, going through boring pack business as usual. Budget reports, territory patrol plans, complaints about neighbor disputes. The same stuff every month.
My wolf was half-asleep in my head, barely paying attention, when suddenly he went totally wild.
MATE! MATE! MATE! he howled inside my skull so loud I almost grabbed my head in pain.
"What the hell?" I muttered, looking around the room.
That's when the smell hit me.
Vanilla and daisies and something sweet that made my mouth water. But underneath all that sweetness was something else - something that called to every sense I had. It smelled like coming home after a long, hard trip. It smelled like safety and comfort and everything I'd never let myself want.
My eyes swept across the crowd, desperate to find the cause. Pack members shifted in their seats, possibly wondering why their Alpha had stopped talking mid-sentence and was sniffing the air like a bloodhound.
"Alpha Damon?" Beta James called from the front row. "Are you alright?"
I couldn't answer. My wolf was going absolutely crazy, clawing at my insides, demanding I find whoever smelled like heaven and claim them instantly.
Then she walked in.
Luna Ashford slipped through the back doors, trying to be unseen like always. She wore a simple blue dress that looked old but clean. Her long brown hair was pulled back in a braid, and she kept her eyes down as she found an empty place in the last row.
The moment she sat down, that incredible smell got stronger.
My wolf went quiet for exactly one second. Then he burst.
MINE! MINE! MINE! TAKE HER! CLAIM HER! NOW!
Every muscle in my body went tight. My hands clenched into fists. I had to use every bit of my Alpha training to keep from shifting right there in front of everyone and pulling her out of the room.
This was impossible. Luna was seventeen years old - still a kid by werewolf law. She couldn't be my mate. Werewolves didn't notice their mates until they turned eighteen and their wolf fully awakened.
But my wolf didn't care about rules or logic. He only cared that somewhere in this room was the person he'd been waiting his whole life to find.
I tried to continue the meeting, but I couldn't focus on anything except Luna's scent. Every time she moved, even just to brush her hair back, the smell got stronger and my control got weakened.
"The budget for territory patrols needs to be..." I started, then totally lost my train of thought as Luna shifted in her seat.
Beta James was looking at me with concern. The pack members were talking among themselves. I was making a fool of myself in front of everyone.
"Meeting dismissed," I said suddenly. "Beta James, handle the rest."
I turned and walked quickly toward my office, but my eyes found Luna one more time before I left the hall. She was looking right at me with those big brown eyes, and when our gazes met, something magical passed between us.
She felt it too. I could see it in the way her lips split in surprise, in the way her hand flew to her throat like she couldn't breathe.
In my office, I slammed the door and leaned against it, my heart beating like I'd just run ten miles.
"This is not happening," I said out loud. "She's a child. She's nobody. This is not happening."
But even with the door closed and a whole hallway between us, I could still smell her. That perfect, maddening smell that made my wolf pace restlessly inside my head.
I tried to focus on papers, but my hands were shaking too much to hold a pen. I tried to answer emails, but I kept typing Luna's name instead of real words. After an hour of failing to do anything useful, I gave up and chose to go for a run in the woods.
Maybe if I ran far enough and hard enough, I could escape whatever spell that girl had accidentally cast on me.
I was going for the back exit when I heard a crash from the kitchen area. Without thinking, I turned direction and walked toward the sound.
I told myself I was just checking on pack property. Making sure nothing important was broken. It had nothing to do with hoping to catch another whiff of that incredible smell.
But when I rounded the corner and saw Luna on the floor, surrounded by broken parts of my grandmother's antique vase, all my excuses fell apart.
She looked up at me with tears in her eyes, and my wolf completely lost his mind.
HURT! MATE IS HURT! PROTECT HER! FIX IT!
Before I could stop myself, I was crouched beside her, my hands reaching out to check for injuries.
"Are you okay?" I asked, my words coming out rougher than I meant it to.
"I'm fine," she whispered, but I could see blood on her hands from the broken glass.
"You're bleeding," I said, and carefully took her small hands in mine to check the cuts.
The moment our skin touched, the world burst.
Heat shot up my arms like lightning. Luna's smell wrapped around me so strongly I felt dizzy. And underneath it all, I felt something I'd never experienced before - a pulling feeling, like an invisible rope connecting my soul to hers.
Luna gasped, and I knew she felt it too.
"Alpha Damon," she breathed, looking at me with wide, shocked eyes.
For a moment, we just looked at each other. Her hands in mine, her smell filling my lungs, that impossible pull getting stronger every second.
Then Elder Marcus appeared behind me like a ghost.
"Damon," he said in a voice I'd never heard before. "Step away from the girl. Right now."
Something in his tone made my wolf snarl with defense, but I forced myself to let go of Luna's hands and stand up.
"It's nothing," I said immediately. "She fell. I was helping."
But Elder Marcus was looking between Luna and me with an expression of pure fear.
"How old are you, child?" he asked Luna softly.
"Seventeen," she whispered. "But tomorrow is my eighteenth birthday."
Elder Marcus went pale as death.
"Damon," he said slowly, "we need to talk. In private. Now."
He grabbed my arm and nearly dragged me back to my office, leaving Luna to clean up the mess alone. As soon as the door closed, he started walking like a caged animal.
"This is bad," he grumbled. "This is very, very bad."
"What's bad?" I asked. "What's going on?"
Elder Marcus stopped moving and looked me straight in the eyes.
"That girl," he said quietly, "is your mate."
"That's impossible," I said instantly. "She's not eighteen yet."
"Damon," Elder Marcus said seriously, "sometimes, when the mate bond is especially strong, it can manifest a day early. Especially when..." He paused, looking nervous.
"When what?" I asked, getting restless.
"When the Oracle's prophecy is about to come true."
My blood turned to ice. "What prophecy?"
Elder Marcus walked to his old wooden box and pulled out a yellowed piece of paper. His hands shook as he handed it to me.
"Read it," he whispered.
The words were written in old-fashioned script, but I could make them out: When the Alpha who fears love meets the girl who needs it most, on the night she becomes woman, their bond will wake ancient magic. Three hearts will dance around one heart, and only truth will set them free.
"Three souls?" I asked, confused.
Elder Marcus nodded grimly. "The promise isn't just about you and Luna. There's a third person involved. Someone whose link to both of you will either save or destroy everything."
My hands crumpled the paper. "Who? Who else is connected to this?"
"I don't know," Elder Marcus revealed. "But Damon, if this prophecy is real, if Luna really is your destined mate, then tomorrow night when she fully transforms..."
"What?" I demanded when he didn't finish.
Elder Marcus looked at me with eyes full of fear.
"Tomorrow night, the mate bond will be so strong that you won't be able to fight it. And if the third soul is who I think it might be..."
The office door suddenly burst open.
My cousin Marcus Sterling stood there, his face wild with fear.
"Damon," he gasped, "I felt it. I felt the bond awaken. It's her, isn't it? The girl from the vision. She's finally here."
I stared at my cousin in shock. "How do you know about the girl?"
Marcus's face went dead white.
"Because," he whispered, "I've been dreaming about her for three years."