CHAPTER 2

ARIA

Faint voices and muffled conversations gently roused me from my unconscious state. My senses slowly returned, but my head felt heavy, and the world around me seemed blurry and distant.

As I struggled to focus, I finally opened my eyes. What I saw was unexpected—a young man standing beside me, his face unfamiliar and filled with concern. My mind scrambled to piece things together.

I had fallen from the cliff, and then—nothing. I’d heard voices just before I lost consciousness. Had someone found me? Had they decided to spare my life and bring me somewhere safe?

The young man’s voice broke through my thoughts. “How do you feel?” he asked, his eyes scanning my face with genuine concern. “It’s nothing short of a miracle that you survived that fall.”

I blinked, trying to focus on his words. My throat felt dry, and I instinctively licked my lips, trying to find moisture. Slowly, I attempted to sit up, but dizziness hit me, and I faltered. Immediately, the young man reached out, his hands steadying me as he gently guided me back down. It was then that I noticed another figure in the room, a man standing by the door, watching the scene with quiet attention.

The man gave me a weak smile, though it didn’t reach his eyes. “I’ll go inform the Alpha that she’s awake,” he said, his voice neutral. Without another word, he turned and left the room, his footsteps fading down the hallway.

Something wasn’t right. Why were they all acting so kind and attentive toward me? My instincts told me that this situation was far from what it seemed. “Where am I?” I asked, my voice trembling slightly.

“Bloodfang Pack,” he replied. “And I’m Aaron, the pack’s doctor.”

“Bloodfang Pack?!” The words escaped my mouth before I could stop them, my eyes widening in shock and fear.

What the hell is going on? I had heard countless stories about the Bloodfang Pack, and none of them involved kindness or compassion.

The reputation of Lucian Draven, their Alpha, was well-known among wolves. He was infamous for his hatred of rogues. It was said that he would do anything to rid his land of them, and now, here I was—a rogue, in their territory, receiving care. It didn’t make sense. Why was I being treated like this?

What if this is all a trap? What if they are trying to make me fit for torture?!

Just then, a soft chuckle broke through my thoughts. I blinked and turned to see Aaron, the young man who had been by my side. He was trying—and failing—to hide his amusement. “Can your eyes get any bigger?” he teased, a smile tugging at the corners of his lips. “How about you suspend whatever wild thoughts are running through your head until you meet our Alpha?”

Before I could respond, his hand reached forward, and I instinctively flinched, closing my eyes tightly, bracing for some kind of strike. I half expected him to punch me, to prove that all my suspicions were true. But instead, I heard a sigh, followed by the gentle motion of his hand smoothing down my hair.

Before I could process what had just happened, the sound of the door creaked open. My eyes shot open, and in walked a man who seemed to have stepped out of some kind of mythological book.

He was tall, broad-shouldered, and every bit as imposing as the rumors had described. His features were striking enough that I almost forgot to breathe.

If anyone could have been mistaken for a Greek god, it was him. His aura was captivating. This was no ordinary man; this was the Alpha of the Bloodfang Pack—Lucian Draven himself. And I was about to meet him.

Lucian’s piercing blue eyes flicked from me to Aaron’s hand, still resting on my hair. The change in his expression was instant—his eyes narrowed, and his jaw clenched in a silent display of irritation.

Aaron, sensing the shift, quickly removed his hand, his voice a little too quick to explain himself. “She was panicking,” he blurted out. “I was just trying to calm her down.”

Lucian didn’t respond right away, instead taking slow steps into the room. Each step he took seemed to pull the air from the room, his presence overwhelming.

His gaze returned to me, and the intensity in his eyes was almost too much to bear, that I had to fight the urge to look away.

“Leave us,” Lucian growled, his voice low and commanding.

Aaron, who had been standing in the corner, gave a quick nod and walked toward the cream-colored sofa I hadn’t even noticed until now. He grabbed his jacket and moved toward the door. As he passed Lucian, he paused for a moment, casting a concerned glance my way. “Go easy on her please, she’s still my patient.”

Lucian’s growl rumbled in response, the sound deep and threatening. “You’re asking for it, Aaron.”

Aaron merely chuckled, as if the threat didn’t faze him. He gave me a nod and then left, quietly closing the door behind him, leaving me alone with the Alpha.

Lucian closed the distance between us, his hands still buried in his pockets as he moved closer. Reaching the tiny stool beside my bed, he pulled it out and sat down, his eyes never leaving mine.

His gaze was intense, but there was something about the way he observed me that made me feel exposed, as if he could see right through me.

“How did you fall down the cliff?”

Nervously, I glanced up at him. I couldn’t understand why he wasn’t furious or acting hostile. I was a rogue, and I had entered his territory uninvited. Shouldn’t he be angry? Shouldn’t he be punishing me?

“I didn’t mean to come into your territory uninvited,” I mumbled. I felt the need to explain, to show that my presence here wasn’t deliberate.

Lucian’s jaw clenched at my words, and his gaze darkened, a flicker of irritation crossing his features. “That wasn’t the answer to my question,” he growled.

I swallowed hard, realizing that my attempt to dodge his question had failed. I bit my inner cheek, trying to ordinate my thought. I needed to be careful with my words.

“I was being chased by some rogues.” I kept my answer simple, avoiding any unnecessary details. There was no need to mention Darius, not when I had no idea what his connection to the Ashen Pack was.

If Lucian had any kind of alliance with the Ashen Pack, it could be a dangerous mistake to paint Darius in a bad light. The last thing I wanted was to anger Lucian, or have him send me back to Darius. It was better not to mention Darius at all. Keeping my mouth shut on that matter seemed like the safest course of action.

“Why were you being chased by rogues while in a pack’s territory?” Lucian pressed. His eyes narrowed with suspicion as he leaned forward slightly, the intensity of his gaze pinning me in place. “Are the Ashen Pack that open to rogues?”

His suspicion was growing, and I needed to tread carefully. I swallowed hard, trying to steady my voice. “I don’t…” I paused, clearing my throat as I quickly scrambled for the right words to say, knowing that one wrong move could seal my fate. “I was out in the middle of the night for some fresh air, and the next thing I knew, I was being chased down by rogues.”

Lucian’s hand, resting on his crossed leg, began to drum a slow rhythm against his knee. The silence that followed was suffocating as his gaze shifted to the drip infusion beside my bed. He seemed to be lost in thought, but I knew he was analyzing every word I had just said. “You don’t have their scent anymore,” he finally pointed out.

Of course, I didn’t carry their scent anymore. How could I? I became a member of the pack from being a rogue because I was Darius’s mate. My connection to the pack had been severed the moment Darius rejected me. I wasn’t just an outsider now—I was a rogue again. “I was rejected by my mate,” I said softly, my fingers gripping the thin blanket covering me. “So, by extension, I’m no longer a member of the pack.”

There. I said it.

Being rejected by a mate was humiliating enough, but having to admit it out loud to Lucian Draven, of all people, felt like an additional humiliation. My chest tightened as I waited for his response, unsure if he would see me as a pitiful rogue or a threat to his pack.

“What were you before you met your mate in the Ashen Pack?” Lucian asked. The way he growled out the word mate made me wonder if it annoyed him somehow.

Was it the concept of mates in general, or did something about my situation irk him?

My hand gripped the duvet tightly as I forced myself to think back to my life before the Ashen Pack. “I used to be a rogue,” I mumbled, though it wasn’t entirely the truth. Before the Ashen Pack, I had been Rowan’s mate. Being rejected by not one, but three mates wasn’t exactly something I was proud of. It was a mark of shame that followed me like a shadow, and it wasn’t something I wanted to explain to Lucian Draven.

Lucian nodded as he stood to his feet, smoothing out the front of his shirt. His expression remained unreadable, though the clench in his jaw was still apparent. “Do not concern yourself with anything other than getting better,” he ordered. His gaze shifted to the jar sitting on the small table beside my bed, and he gestured toward it. “And always wear that.”

My brows knit together in confusion. “What is that?” I asked hesitantly, unsure if I really wanted to know.

“The pack’s scent,” he replied. “It’s a mixture that masks your rogue scent and replaces it with ours.” His gaze briefly flicked to the jar before returning to me. “I didn’t even know something like that existed until Aaron used it on you a month ago.”

My heart stopped. “A month ago?” I whispered. I had been unconscious for a month.

“Don’t forget to wear it daily,” Lucian repeated. “We don’t want anyone finding out that you’re not a member of this pack.”

Something about all of this doesn’t feel right. Why was he going out of his way to help me? Men who acted this nice always had an ulterior motive, and I couldn’t shake the feeling that Lucian was no different. My lips parted before I could stop myself. “Why are you being so nice to me?”

His expression remained unreadable, not a single emotion betraying his thoughts. Instead of answering, he tilted his head slightly, “I have a question for you…”

“Aria,” I filled in softly, realizing he didn’t know my name. “My name is Aria.”

His gaze remained locked on me for a moment, as though committing the name to memory. “I have a question for you, Aria,” he said, continuing as though I hadn’t spoken. The fact that he ignored my question entirely only heightened my suspicions.

I nodded slowly, bracing myself. Whatever he was about to ask, I could sense it was something important. “While Aaron was treating the wound on your upper thigh,” he began, “he noticed a mark.”

My body stiffened.

“A star, to be precise. A unique one. Where did you get it?”

“I don’t know. I’ve always had it, ever since I was a little girl.” It wasn’t a lie. The star-shaped mark had been there for as long as I could remember, but I never thought much of it.

Lucian nodded, his blue eyes seeming to linger on me a second longer than necessary before he stepped back.“Get some rest,” he said finally, his voice quiet but commanding.

Without another word, he turned and strode to the door, pulling it open and he stepped out.

I exhaled shakily. Why did he care about the mark?