“I don’t know what it is, but something is wrong.”
Jace looked up from where he was sitting near the fireplace, one eyebrow raised.
Riven stood near the cabin door, staring through the window at the dark forest beyond it.
His expression was calm but restless.
He had been like that for the better part of the morning.
Jace finally sighed.
“You’ve been staring at those trees for ten minutes.”
“I know.”
“And?”
“And nothing.”
Jace frowned.
“Then why do you look like you’re about to walk into the forest and interrogate a tree?”
Riven glanced at him.
Jace shrugged.
“I’m just saying.”
Riven looked back outside.
He couldn’t explain it.
There was a strange feeling sitting in the back of his mind.
It wasn’t fear.
Riven didn’t scare easily.
It wasn’t anger either but it felt like something was calling out to him.
A feeling that something was about to happen and, for reasons he couldn’t understand, he felt like he needed to be somewhere else.
“I need to run,” Riven said.
Jace immediately straightened.
“You want company?”
“No.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
Jace studied him for another moment before leaning back.
“Fine. But if you come back acting even weirder than you do now, I’m blaming the forest.”
Riven gave him the faintest smirk.
“Do that.” Then he walked out.
The moment Riven stepped into the forest, his wolf stirred.
“Tristan.”
‘I know’.
His wolf was restless too.
For hours, Riven ran.
He moved deeper into the forest, crossing streams, rocky paths, and territories that most wolves avoided.
His senses remained alert as he ran, picking up every unfamiliar scent and movement around him.
Yet, the strange feeling refused to disappear.
If anything, it grew stronger.
Then Tristan suddenly spoke.
‘Wait!’
Riven slowed.
“What?”
“I smell something.”
Riven stopped completely.
The forest became quiet around him.
He lifted his head and breathed in slowly.
There were countless scents in the air.
Trees.
Water.
Animals and wolves but one scent stood out.
It was faint, and different.
Riven frowned.
Probably nothing.
‘No.’
Tristan’s voice had changed.
He was more alert, more interested.
‘Something is here.’
“We’ve been running for hours. Whatever it is, it can wait Tristan.”
‘No!’
Riven rolled his eyes.
“We’re going back.”
He turned around.
Tristan growled inside his mind.
‘Riven.
Stop!.’
Riven froze.
His wolf rarely spoke to him like that.
“What?!”
For a moment, there was silence.
Tristan inhaled deeply and suddenly, his entire demeanor changed.
Riven’s heart seemed to stop.
“What did you say?”
‘Our mate is nearby.’
Riven stared into the forest.
For years, he had wondered what it would feel like to find his mate not constantly but he had never built his entire life around the idea.
His mission had always mattered more.
His father’s last words had followed him for years, and finding the King’s surviving daughter had remained one of the few things that still connected him to the life he’d lost.
A mate had never really been part of his plan.
But now..
‘Mate.’
The word echoed through his mind.
Riven’s expression remained controlled.
Inside, however, happiness rushed through him so suddenly that even he was caught off guard.
His wolf was practically celebrating.
“She’s here?, You’re certain?”
‘Completely!’
Riven breathed in again.
The scent was stronger now: Sweet, inviting, and strangely familiar despite the fact that he had never smelled it before.
His body moved before his mind could catch up.
He ran faster than before.
Branches whipped past him as he followed the scent.
His senses sharpened, locking onto the unfamiliar presence.
Then he heard it, A growl.
Another.
And then the unmistakable sound of wolves fighting.
Riven stopped for half a second.
Four scents.
One of them was Her.
When he reached the clearing, he saw her.
A young woman stood surrounded by four rogues.
Riven’s eyes narrowed.
She was fighting alone and she was holding her own.
One rogue lunged.
She dodged.
Another came from the side.
She twisted away and struck him hard enough to send him stumbling backward.
Riven stared.
An Omega, At least, that’s what the scent suggested.
Yet she was moving far too quickly.
Her reflexes were sharp, movements were controlled.
She wasn’t simply throwing herself at them blindly.
She was watching, calculating, adapting quickly and despite being outnumbered, she refused to back down.
Something inside Riven swelled with pride.
‘That’s our mate.’
He watched as she blocked another attack and forced the rogue backward.
Four against one and she was still standing.
His wolf practically vibrated with excitement.
Riven, however, remained still until he noticed the fourth rogue.
The wolf had disappeared from Nyra’s line of sight.
He was circling behind her.
The rogue lowered himself, preparing to strike.
Riven moved.
He crossed the distance in an instant and slammed into the rogue before he could reach her.
The attack sent the rogue crashing away.
Riven landed between them.
And that brought him to the present.
Nyra stared at the stranger standing in front of her.
The remaining rogues had gone completely still.
One of them swallowed hard, his eyes widened.
“Riven.”
The name seemed to drain whatever confidence they had left.
Nyra’s gaze shifted between them.
She knew that name.
Everyone did.
Riven, The Most Fearsome Rogue and now he was standing directly in front of her.
Riven slowly turned his head toward the rogues.
His expression was almost frighteningly calm.
“Leave.”
The rogues didn’t move.
“Don’t make me repeat myself or I can’t guarantee you’ll all leave alive.”
One of them took a nervous step backward.
“W-We didn’t know she was-”
Riven raised one hand.
The rogue immediately stopped talking.
Riven’s voice remained quiet.
“I’m not interested in your explanation.”
Everywhere fell silent.
He looked at each of them.
“You have three seconds.”
The rogues exchanged terrified glances.
Riven began counting.
“Three.”
One of them immediately backed away.
“Two.”
Another turned around.
“One.”
They all ran away like their lives depended on it because their lives actually did.
All four disappeared into the forest without another word.
Riven watched them go for a moment before turning his attention back to Nyra but Nyra wasn’t looking at the forest anymore.
She was staring at him.
Her heart was beating strangely fast not from the fight or exhaustion.
Inside her mind, Eira had suddenly gone completely wild.
“Mate!”
Nyra froze.
“What?”
‘Mate!’
“HUH?.”
Eira practically bounced inside her.
‘YES!’
Nyra stared at the man standing several feet away.
“Eira, do you really know who this is? That’s RIVEN”
‘YES, Our mate!’
“You have got to be kidding me”
Eira’s excitement only increased.
‘Mate!
Mate!
Mate!’
Nyra had never felt her wolf this excited.
Eira was usually confident and fiercely protective, but this was different.
She was almost overflowing with happiness.
Nyra blinked.
” Are you sure?”
‘Absolutely.’
Nyra’s eyes widened.
‘You’re certain?’
“I have never been more certain about anything.”
Nyra looked at Riven again.
Of all the wolves in the world, of all the possible mates she could have found.It had to be him.
The feared Rogue.
The man whose name alone had made four wolves flee without a fight.
RIVEN.
She swallowed.
Nyra didn’t know whether to laugh, panic, or simply walk away.
She had spent her entire life being called an Omega who was too stubborn, too independent, and too difficult and now her wolf had apparently decided that the most feared Rogue in the werewolf world was her mate.
Fantastic.
Just fantastic.
Meanwhile, Riven stood quietly watching her.
He had expected many things when he finally found his mate.
Perhaps fear.
Perhaps excitement.
But he hadn’t expected this.
She wasn’t running, She wasn’t throwing herself at him either.
She was simply staring at him as though trying to figure out what kind of problem had just landed in front of her.
Riven almost smiled.
Then he took a step toward her.
Nyra instinctively remained still.
Their eyes met and Riven smiled, not the cold, intimidating expression that had sent the rogues running.
A real smile.
Then he said one word.
“Mate.”
Thanks for reading.