Chapter One

"What's wrong? Can't even shift now?"

The voice cut right through Liora. She pressed her back against the cold wall of the dressing room and tried to breathe.

"Pathetic. Weak Omega bitch."

That was Danny the club manager. Thick neck, gold rings on every finger, breath that always smelled like cheap whiskey and worse decisions. He stood in the doorway with his arms crossed, looking at her the way people looked at roadkill.

Liora's wolf stirred faintly inside her. A flicker. That was all she got these days — a flicker.

"I said I'd pay you back." Liora kept her voice steady. "But I'm not going out there and letting drunk men buy my time."

Danny stepped closer. "See that VIP booth out there?" He jerked his head toward the curtain. The bass from the main floor thudded through the walls like a second heartbeat. "Tonight, you're going to make sure he has a very good time."

Liora didn't move.

"Scared already?" His lips stretched into something that wasn't a smile. "It's a wet party, sweetheart. All for him. Now go get pretty."

She turned away. Picked up her lip gloss. Stared at her own reflection like a stranger.

That's when she heard her the small, tired voice that lived somewhere behind her ribs.

Liora.Freya. Her wolf. Getting weaker by the day.

"I know," Liora whispered, so low no one else could hear.

Ever since we awakened at eighteen, I've been holding on. But now we need our mate's touch just to stay alive. I can feel myself fading.

"Don't say that." Liora's jaw tightened. "We're in this together. We've always been in this together, Freya."

Then do something.

Liora set down the lip gloss. She had a plan. A bad one, probably, but it was all she had.

We'll sneak out the back. Find Leoric. He's my mate he'll recharge us. It'll be quick.

She pulled her jacket off the hook and moved toward the side exit, keeping close to the wall, stepping around the broken amp that had been on the floor for three weeks.

She almost made it.

Then the curtain swung open and the noise of the main floor swallowed her whole — music, laughter, the slick smell of bodies and spilled drinks. And there, right in the center of it all, was the wet party in full swing.

Liora stopped walking.

Because across the room, sitting alone in the VIP section with a glass he hadn't touched, was a man she had never seen before.

And Freya — her dying, fading, barely-there wolf — sat up straight.

Liora shook her head and kept moving. Past the bar. Past the dancers. Almost to the door.

"Filthy Omega." A hand grabbed her arm from behind. One of Danny's guys — she could tell by the grip. "Think you can just walk out?"

"Sir — hey!" She twisted, her elbow catching his ribs, and stumbled sideways — directly into the VIP section to the path of the man with the untouched drink.

He looked up slowly.

Liora opened her mouth. Closed it. Then said the only thing that came to mind.

"I can cure your erectile dysfunction!"

Dead silence in a two-foot radius.

The man stared at her.

She stared back.

"Thank you," said an older gentleman two seats down, pressing a hand to his heart. "You're an angel."

Liora blinked. That wasn't who she'd been talking to.

She felt it then — a warmth moving through her chest, slow and steady, like sunlight through a window. Freya stretched inside her, surprised. Alive.

Why am I getting energy from him? He's not even my mate.

The man in the VIP seat — the one she'd accidentally propositioned — leaned back in his chair. His face gave nothing away.

"No need," he said, voice flat and unbothered. "My equipment works just fine."

What an arrogant

But the warmth was still there. Spreading. Real.

Holy moon goddess, Freya breathed. We're saved.

Liora pressed her lips together and said nothing. Just filed that information away somewhere important.

This stranger — whoever he was — could charge her up too.

She'd thought only a mate could do that.

She had a lot of questions. But right now, she was already twenty minutes late.

The restaurant was the kind of place with cloth napkins and candles on every table. Liora pushed through the door still smoothing her hair, still a little breathless, clutching the small gift bag she'd wrapped herself that morning.

"Happy birthday, honey." She spotted Leoric at a corner table and made her way over, sliding into the seat across from him. "Sorry I'm late. You will not believe the night I just had—"

Leoric's phone was face-down on the table. He picked it up before she could see the screen.

"Hey, babe." He didn't quite meet her eyes. "Still swamped with work stuff. Why don't you head home first? I'll catch up with you later."

Liora set the gift bag down slowly.

"Relax." She kept her voice light. "I'll wait. A birthday boy shouldn't sit alone."

Leoric smiled. It didn't reach his eyes.

Liora smiled back. Hers didn't either.

But under the table, her hand curled around the edge of her chair — and somewhere deep inside her, Freya went very, very quiet.