"Oh god, what have I done?" Alyssa whispered in absolute panic.
Her body ached in ways she had never felt before. A deep, throbbing pain between her thighs brought back the wild, forbidden memories of the night in vivid, terrifying detail.
She looked down at the bed, at the stranger who was still fast asleep.
He didn’t look like a shadow in a club anymore, but he still looked dangerous.
Dark, silky hair framed his chiselled face. A jawline that looked like it had been carved from marble, and the thick, dark stubble framing his lips and jawline gave him a rugged, lethal edge.
The expensive silver signet ring on his finger caught the light. He wasn’t just a normal stranger. He was someone important.
Suddenly a name flashed through her mind. Ingrid.
The thought of her stepmother hit her like a bucket of ice water. It was noon. She had been gone all night.
Panic overriding her aches, she scrambled off the bed, her bare feet hitting the cold floor.
She grabbed her dress, her hands shaking so violently she could barely pull it over her head.
She didn’t bother finding the sash. It was probably hidden within the tangled sheets, and she didn’t have time to look.
She slipped on her worn shoes, casting one last, breathless glance at the sleeping giant on the bed.
"Goodbye, stranger," she whispered to the quiet room. Then turned and slipped out the door quietly.
Outside the private quarters, Iridian looked vastly different in daylight. The neon lights were dead, the pounding bass replaced by the hollow silence of an empty warehouse.
The security guards at the exit eyed her disheveled hair and wrinkled dress with silent, knowing smirks, but Alyssa kept her head down and ran.
She ran all the way through the forest path, her heart hammering a frantic rhythm against her ribs. She knew what was waiting for her.
Her stepmother never missed an excuse to use the leather strap. But as she approached the clearing of her father’s cottage, her steps faltered.
Ingrid was standing on the porch, her face twisted into a scowl, a leather whip dangling from her right hand.
She wasn’t alone.
Melinda stood beside her, wrapped in a plush shawl, her eyes red and puffy as if she had been crying for hours. And behind them, looking grim and defensive, was Fabian.
Alyssa’s stomach dropped into a bottomless, icy void.
"Look what decided to crawl back," Ingrid sneered, her voice cracking like thunder in the quiet yard.
Alyssa stopped a few yards away, her hands clutching the skirt of her dress. "Stepmother, I’m sorry... I lost track of time in the woods."
"Save your filthy lies!" Ingrid barked, stepping off the porch. "Melinda told me everything. You found out about her bond with Fabian, and you attacked her. You tried to claw my daughter’s eyes out because you couldn’t accept that Fabian belongs to a real wolf."
Alyssa’s eyes widened, her gaze flying to her stepsister. Melinda was peering at her over the edge of her shawl, a faint smirk flashing on her lips.
"No... that’s not true! She’s lying, I never touched her!"
"That’s enough, Alyssa," Fabian’s voice cut through the air, cold and entirely devoid of the warmth he had given her for two years.
He stepped in front of Melinda protectively. "You lost your mind when I told you Melinda was my mate. I had to pull you off her before you did real damage, and then you ran off into the night before I could stop you."
Alyssa felt the air leave her lungs. The betrayal from last night was a clean cut, but this? This was a slow dagger through her heart.
"Fabian... how can you say that? You know I didn’t... you know what happened..."
"What I know is that you’re insane," Fabian said, his eyes scanning her wrinkled dress, his lips curling in disgust. "Look at you. You didn’t spend the night crying in the woods. You reek of another man’s scent."
A tense silence fell over the yard, and Alyssa’s cheeks burned with shame.
She knew he was right about the scent. The stranger from Iridian had marked her skin with his touch throughout the entire night.
"Disgusting," Fabian muttered, turning his back on her completely. "I need to take Melinda back with me, ma’am. For her safety."
"Go, Fabian. Take care of my daughter," Ingrid said, her eyes turning back to Alyssa with a terrifying, dead calm. "I’ll handle this brat."
As Fabian led Melinda away, Melinda turned her head just enough for Alyssa to see the smug victory in her eyes.
The moment they were gone, Ingrid lunged. She grabbed the neckline of Alyssa’s dress and dragged her into the house, straight to the basement.
"Your days of living in this house are over." she hissed. "I’ve already spoken to Gerald down at the borders. He’s looking for a quiet, wolfless maid. By next tomorrow, you’ll be his problem."
The words echoed in Alyssa’s head, but she didn’t fight. She couldn’t. The weight of the last twenty-four hours had broken something deep inside her.
When the leather whip finally came down across her back, tearing through the thin fabric of her dress, she didn’t even scream.
She just stared at the floor, letting the pain burn out the last remnants of the girl who had hoped for a happy ending.
...
Dorian woke up the moment the temperature in the room shifted.
He didn’t open his eyes immediately. His hand instinctively swept across the mattress, searching for the soft, curved heat that had kept his inner wolf quiet for the first time in years.
His fingers hit cold, empty sheets.
Then his eyes snapped open. His gaze instantly sharpened as he bolted out of bed. The room was empty.
The faint, intoxicating scent of rain and sweet skin was already fading from the air, overtaken by the sterile smell of the club’s ventilation system.
A dark, dangerous growl ripped from his throat suddenly, rattling the chandelier hanging from the ceiling.
He threw on his clothes, then grabbed his jacket and stormed out of the room.
He marched down the corridor, his boots echoing heavily, nearly slamming into Jake as the beta approached him.
"Alpha! There you are," Jake said with a wide smile. "The driver is waiting. We need to leave for the Northern territory before the council..."
"Where is she?" Dorian interrupted, his voice a low, lethal vibration that made the hairs on Jake’s arms stand up.
Jake blinked, taking a cautious step backwards . "Where is... who?"
"The girl with the blood-tipped hair," Dorian hissed, stepping into Jake’s personal space, his Alpha aura flaring so hard that Jake’s knees visibly trembled. "The one from the bar. Where did she go?"
"Alpha, I... I don’t know," Jake stammered, swallowing hard. "I asked the manager last night like you requested, but no one knows her name. She’s not a regular. She’s nobody."
"She isn’t a nobody," Dorian snarled, his jaw clenching until the bone clicked. "Lock down the perimeter. Check the security cameras at the entrance. I want her name and her whereabouts within the hour."
"But Alpha, the council..."
"I don’t give a damn about the council!" Dorian bellowed, his voice echoing through the entire back half of the club, causing the distant staff to freeze in terror. "Find her, Jake. Turn every stone in this wretched territory if you have to. If she crossed the border, find out who authorized it. Do not let her disappear."
Jake saw the absolute, unyielding obsession burning in his Alpha’s eyes and realized this wasn’t a casual whim.
He bowed his head sharply. "Right away, Alpha. I’ll mobilize the tracking units."
He ran off, leaving Dorian alone in the hallway.
Dorian walked back into the small bedroom, his chest heaving as he tried to calm the violent roaring of his wolf.
The beast inside him was scratching at his mind, furious that its prize had slipped away in the dark.
He reached down to the unmade bed, his hand catching on a piece of rough, faded fabric.
It was her sash, the one she had been wearing around her waist. Up close, it smelled faintly of lavender, cheap vodka, and the raw, erotic scent of their shared night.
He wrapped the faded fabric tightly around his fist, his knuckles turning white.
He didn’t know her name, her lineage, or what kind of tragedy had driven her into his arms, but he knew the scent of his own property.
"I will find you, little lamb," he murmured into the quiet room, his golden eyes flashing with a predatory promise. "You belong to me already."