RAYNA POV
The forest is too quiet.
Even the wind feels like it's watching me as I move through the Mistwood trees, every step soundless, every breath controlled. Enemy territory. The home of the Alpha I was trained built to kill.
Rowan Fenwick.
The final mission.
The one Magnus promised would earn me the truth about my parents… the truth I've been bleeding for since I was old enough to hold a blade.
Never speak to the target.
Never hesitate.
Never bond.
The Order's three rules. The only rules that matter.
A twig snaps behind me.
I spin, blade drawn but the forest blurs.
A violent heat explodes inside me, boiling under my skin. My knees buckle. My hands claw at the ground as something ancient and wild surges through my veins.
Not pain.
Power.
My vision flickers gold.
No.
No, no this can't be happening.
Humans don't shift. Humans don't burn from the inside out. Humans don't
A growl rolls through the darkness.
I force my head up.
There he is.
The Alpha.
Tall, broad-shouldered, half-shadow, half-moonlight. Eyes glowing like wildfire as he stares at me with a look I can't decipher.
Rowan Fenwick.
And then it happens.
A pull.
A snap.
A golden thread tightening between us like fate just reached down and chained me to him.
My breath stutters. The world tilts.
He whispers, voice rough and certain:
"Mate…"
"No." My voice cracks. "You're wrong."
His presence hits me like gravity. Heavy. Icy. I can't breathe around it.
I stumble back
But the heat inside me roars, shifting, twisting, trying to break free.
"My wolf…" I whisper.
The thing Magnus swore I didn't have. The thing he hid. Controlled. Lied about.
Rowan steps closer. "You crossed my border. Your wolf woke up."
"I don't have a wolf," I hiss, though my body betrays me with another violent shudder.
"You're shifting for the first time," he says, kneeling beside me. "Let me help you."
"I don't need your help."
"You do. Look at me."
I make the mistake of obeying.
His eyes soften. Just slightly.
It disarms me more than any blade.
For a heartbeat, I want to lean into him.
But I can't forget why I'm here.
I was sent to kill him.
My fingers brush the hidden dagger at my thigh.
Rowan notices instantly.
His hand closes around my wrist not harsh, but unbreakable. "Who sent you?"
My thoughts spin, tangled between heat and agony and that impossible word
Mate.
I open my mouth to lie.
But what comes out is the truth I never meant to speak:
"I don't know who I am."
ROWAN POV
I knew something was wrong the second the border flared.
But I never expected her.
She's shaking on the forest floor, eyes glowing a fierce blue-gold, body fighting a shift she clearly doesn't understand. No wolf should awaken like this violent, uncontrolled, painful.
Unless it was suppressed.
Hidden.
Locked away.
I crouch, reaching toward her, and the mate bond snaps through me so hard my chest stutters.
Not gentle.
Not slow.
Instant.
Like destiny slammed into me with teeth bared.
She flinches from my touch, but her scent winter rain and steel wraps around me, anchors itself in my lungs, in my bones.
She's mine.
And she's terrified.
Her hand moves toward her thigh. A knife. A threat. But I don't let go of her wrist.
"Who sent you?" I demand.
Her eyes lift to mine cold, hurting, confused and my wolf lunges forward with a possessive snarl.
Not at her.
At whoever did this to her.
She whispers, "I don't know who I am."
Something inside me cracks.
I gather her against me as another wave of pain rips through her. She fights me, but her body is too weak, her wolf too chaotic.
"Stop resisting," I murmur against her hair. "I've got you."
She trembles.
And behind the fear, I can smell it
A question.
A need.
A bond she hasn't accepted yet.
Not that it matters.
Because I have already decided:
I'm not letting her die in these woods.
And I'm not letting anyone take her from me.
Mate.Assassin.Enemy.
Whoever she is…
She's mine now.