Luna's POV
I dropped the plate I was washing when someone pounded on my door.
The dish broke on the floor, sending pieces flying everywhere. My hands were shaking as I dried them on a towel. It was almost midnight. Nobody visited kitchen workers this late unless something was very wrong.
Maybe someone was hurt. Maybe there was an emergency. Maybe— Another knock, harder this time. Urgent.
I hurried to the door and opened it without thought.
Alpha Damon stood on my doorstep, and he looked totally lost.
His hair was messy like he'd been running his hands through it. His silver eyes were wild, almost frantic. He was breathing hard, looking at me like I was the answer to a question he couldn't figure out.
"Alpha?" I whispered. "Is everything okay?"
He didn't answer. He just stood there looking at me with this hunger in his eyes that made my stomach flip over.
"You smell like home," he said suddenly, his voice rough and confused.
Before I could ask what he meant, Alpha Damon stepped inside my house and kissed me.
His lips crashed against mine, and my whole world burst.
I'd never been kissed before. Never even shook hands with a boy. But kissing Alpha Damon felt like coming alive for the first time. Fire shot through my body, making my toes curl and my heart pound so hard I thought it might burst.
His hands twisted in my hair, pulling me closer. He tasted like mint and danger and something wild that made me dizzy. When he broke the kiss, we were both breathing like we'd run a race.
"I don't understand this," he whispered against my face. "I've never needed anyone before."
"Alpha Damon," I started, but he pressed a finger gently against my lips.
"Just Damon," he said quietly. "When we're alone, just call me Damon."
Something warm spread through my chest. The most powerful man in our world asked me to use his first name. He was looking at me like I was valuable, like I mattered.
"Damon," I said softly, trying how his name felt on my tongue.
His eyes got darker. "Say it again." "Damon."
He kissed me again, softer this time but somehow more intense. I melted against him, feeling safe and wanted and special for the first time in my life.
When we broke apart, I was brave enough to ask, "Why are you here?"
Damon's jaw tightened. "I don't know. After the meeting, I tried to work. Tried to think about pack business. But I couldn't get your smell out of my head. It was driving me crazy."
"My scent?"
"Vanilla and wildflowers," he said, touching my face gently. "It's the most beautiful thing I've ever smelled. It makes me want to..."
"Want to what?"
"Protect you. Keep you safe. Never let you out of my sight." His voice got rough again. "Which is crazy because I don't do relationships, Luna. I don't do mates or feelings or any of this."
My heart sank a little. "Then why are you here?"
"Because I can't stay away," he admitted, sounding irritated with himself. "Because every sense I have is screaming that you belong to me. Because when I saw you tonight, everything else stopped mattering."
He pulled me closer, and I could feel his heart beating as fast as mine.
"This is dangerous," he whispered. "I have responsibilities. Political deals. There are people who expect certain things from me."
"Like what?"
Damon's face got painful. "Like marrying Seraphina Nightshade to strengthen our pack alliance."
The words hit me like cold water. "You're getting married?"
"It's not official yet," he said quickly. "It's just... expected. Our packs need each other for safety."
I tried to step back, but Damon held me tight.
"But I don't want her," he said desperately. "I want you. God help me, Luna, I want you so much it's making me crazy."
Before I could reply, he kissed me again. This time it was desperate, like he was trying to remember the taste of my lips. I kissed him back just as desperately, knowing this might be the only chance I'd ever get.
When we broke apart, both of us were shaking.
"I should go," Damon said, but he didn't move.
"Don't," I whispered. "Not yet."
"If I stay, I'm going to want things I can't have."
"What if I want those things too?"
Damon's control finally snapped. He kissed me like a man drowning, his hands soft but desperate as they traced my face, my arms, my waist. I'd never felt anything like the fire he lit inside me.
"Luna," he breathed against my neck. "You're going to be the death of me."
"Then let me be," I mumbled back.
We were so lost in each other that we didn't notice the shadow moving outside my window. We didn't hear the soft footsteps on my porch. We didn't sense the danger until it was too late.
The front door burst open so hard it slammed against the wall.
Marcus stood in my doorway, his eyes glowing silver and his face twisted with pain.
"Get away from her!" he growled at Damon.
"Marcus?" Damon spun around, reflexively pushing me behind him. "What are you doing here?"
"The same thing you are," Marcus said angrily. "Following a mate bond that's tearing me apart from the inside."
My blood turned to ice. Marcus felt the mate bond too?
"That's impossible," Damon growled.
"Is it?" Marcus stepped inside, and suddenly the air in my small kitchen felt electric. "Tell me you haven't been going crazy since the meeting. Tell me her smell isn't driving you insane."
"She's my mate," Damon said dangerously.
"She's mine too."
The two men stared at each other like they were about to fight, and I realized with rising horror that they were both telling the truth. I could feel it now - two different pulls in my chest, both equally strong.
"This can't be happening," I whispered.
That's when Elder Moonwhisper appeared in my broken doorway like she'd been waiting outside the whole time.
"Actually," she said quietly, "this is exactly what's supposed to happen. The three souls have finally found each other."
"Three souls?" I asked weakly.
The Elder smiled, but it wasn't a happy look. "Damon, Marcus, and you, child. Bound together by magic older than our pack rules. But here's the problem..."
She paused, looking at each of us with old, knowing eyes.
"The link isn't complete yet. And if it doesn't finish connecting before sunrise, all three of you will die. But finishing it... completing it will wake up something that's been sleeping for a thousand years. Something that powerful people have been trying to keep hidden."
The temperature in my kitchen suddenly dropped twenty degrees.
"And it's already starting to wake up."