Chapter 3

Maddox’s POV:

Whenever I thought back to the night I first saw her, I questioned whether it was a coincidence…or some twisted trick of fate.

None of it should have happened. Hell, none of it was supposed to happen. She was a human, for fuck’s sake.

And yet…it did. And now I was trapped in that moment, with no idea how to crawl out of it.

It was the night of the Full Moon—the night when rogue wolves lose all control and their hunger turns to madness, and the desire to kill overpowers every instinct.

The Council of Claw & Crescent, formed centuries ago to oversee werewolf affairs and maintain law and order in the werewolf community, had come up with a solution to prevent rogues from doing any damage to humans.

Every month, a different pack was assigned to patrol the boundary forest—the dense stretch of wild that divided the human world from ours. That night, it was the Midnight Howlers Pack on duty to keep rogue activities under watch.

No accidents had ever been reported. Of course, no human was foolish enough to stroll into the forest at night. We were merely there to make sure rogues do not cross the forest or invade the human territory.

Just like every other patrol night, I was wandering in the forest with nothing more than a cold breeze whistling through my fur and my father’s murder swirling through my mind. As it had been for the past 15 years.

The air was eerily silent. With one paw in front of the other, I continued my patrol when all of a sudden, I sensed an unusual shift in the air. My paw halted midair when I heard the distant sound of dry leaves crunching under footsteps.

My whole body went rigid. Her scent hit me before I saw her. Sweet flowers and a kind soul. That’s what she smelled like.

The kind of scent that was too soft for the forest, too pure for a world like mine, and far too dangerous for someone like me to want. Something deep inside me told me to run away and never look back.

Maybe I should’ve listened to that voice while I still had the chance. But what did I do instead? I chased it like it was my only survival.

Because beneath those floral notes, she smelled like sin wrapped in silk. She smelled like dark temptation that I had no idea how to resist.

It didn’t make sense. No one sane would wander this deep in the forest, and that too at night. With curiosity taking hold of me, I turned around. Lifting my nose in the air, I inhaled more of her scent and started following it through the forest.

And then I saw her.

Standing alone in the clearing. With her back to me, I could only see long, auburn hair dancing in the wind like fire against the moonlight. She was in a running gear. Well, at least that explained how she must have lost her way into the forest.

Unaware of the threat lingering in the shadows, she seemed to enjoy the cool breeze. Her shoulders rose and fell as she took deep breaths.

I remained in the shadows and breathed her in. I was so lost in her that I didn’t even catch a rogue prowling toward her. It was his growl, low and dangerous, that snapped me out of my trance.

Out of the corner of my eye, I caught him, crouched, and ready to pounce on his prey.

My body immediately sprang into action. Letting out a loud growl, I lunged forward. My claws glinted in the moonlight just before they swiped across his face. My body crashed into him in mid-leap before both of us thudded to the ground.

Within a second, I was back on my feet and raised my claw in the air. The air zinged with a shrilling scream as I plunged my talons into his neck.

But it wasn’t his scream. It belonged to the girl watching us with eyes filled with horror.

According to the rules, I wasn’t to kill the rogue because there was no need to. The human was safe now. I only needed to hand rogue over to the council. That’s where my job ended.

But something dark and primal flared to life inside me. I was only seeing red. My mind was stuck on the moment he was about to attack her. Beyond that, I couldn’t think of anything else.

All rules and council be damned. How dare this bastard even think to cause her any harm?

My jaw clenched tightly, and I let out a low, guttural sound as I deepened my claw in his neck. I was just about to snap his carotid artery when her scream pierced through me like a sharp blade, “No…stop…”

My head whipped around, and that’s when I stilled. Standing in front of me was an ethereal beauty. Bathed in moonlight, she looked like a myth I wasn’t supposed to believe in and a beautiful lie I wanted to make my reality.

With big hazel eyes, she was staring right at me. A dark urge to prowl closer and study those eyes deeply unsettled me. Her flawless skin was glowing even more under the moonlight.

Her lips, full and plump, were now quivering with fear.

But she wasn’t afraid of the rogue who tried to attack her. She was afraid of ME. And something about that awakened a dark desire buried deep inside me. I wanted to taste it. Her lips or her fear? I didn’t know yet.

All of a sudden, the haze of darkness I was drawing into snapped when she started shaking her head violently, “Don’t kill him…please,” she pleaded in a raspy whisper.

Before I could think of it, I withdrew my claw and stepped away from the rogue whining in agony.

And then, something happened that took me with utter shock.

She moved. Not to sprint away from the danger as any sane human would do but toward the rogue who had just tried to kill her.

I was stunned and just watched her stumble toward him. She then kneeled beside him and, with her trembling hands, assessed his wounds. The worry for the rogue was written all over her face.

The urge to shift right there to go and soothe her awakened inside me. The fact that I wanted to assure her that he’d be fine, that I hadn’t killed him, disturbed me even more.

I stayed there and watched. She should have screamed at the danger. She should have fled from the smell of blood. But she reached into her bag and pulled out a water bottle.

As I watched her opening the cap with small trembling hands, something cold and ancient cracked inside me.

The rogue gobbled the water and stood up. Danger flickered in my mind, and before he could hurt her again, I lunged forward and growled angrily.

Quivering under my gaze, he jerked around and sprinted into the forest.

To my surprise, that earned me a scowl from the girl whose life I just saved a few minutes ago. Peculiar way of thanking your saviour, wasn’t it?

Rising to her feet, she simply turned around and retreated to the way she’d come from.

Against all logical reasoning, I lingered in the shadows and followed her.

When we reached the forest boundary and I made no attempt to stop there, my wolf, who had been silent all this while, finally spoke up, “Enough, Maddox! Let’s stop here.”

My eyebrows deepened in a confusing frown, but my lips curled up in a devilish smirk, “I don’t want to, Eryx.”

I could sense even he was curious about her, but he still protested, “She isn’t our mate, Maddox. Let’s not risk everything for this thing you like to call ‘curiosity.’”

She had now crossed the boundary. Boundary I wasn’t allowed to cross in my wolf form. Eryx was right, I was putting everything at risk because if caught by the Council, I could be banished from the werewolf community without a second chance or so much as a warning.

But did that stop me? Not at all.

Pushing Eryx to the back of my mind, I crossed the boundary and then followed her into the human residential area.

She didn’t live far from the forest. Outside the forest, there was a running track. That’s where she must have lost her way. And beyond that was the residential area.

I was careful to lurk only in the shadows and watched from distance as she disappeared into the building.

I instantly felt the loss. That scent. That face. That presence…all gone, just like that.

The urge to follow her all the way inside was too strong to resist. But taking hold of my crippling senses, I drew the line there.

Before I could fight whatever logic that remained, I turned around and wandered back into the forest.

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At that time, I had no idea how those auburn hair and hazel eyes were going to chase me to no end.

And when they did, I had no idea how to get rid of them.

All I knew was that I wanted more of her. And this restlessness wouldn’t subside until I had her.

And that’s when the game began—of obsession and fear. The game only one of us could survive. And knowing myself…I had no intention of losing.