Chapter 3: It's You

"It's you," Alpha Rowan said slowly, his head bobbing from left to right. "I... This... No way." 

Now that it was just the two of them in a rather small place, Adriana was able to take in all of him, not just his face. Every muscle of his body looked to be chiseled out of marble, visible through his jeans and white shirt. 

Adriana kept looking at him with horror, thinking that the stench of her body must be so strong that maybe he thought that staying in the guesthouse—even if a skunk had peed in there—was better than staying here. 

"I'm sorry Alpha Rowan," Adriana said, standing and heading towards her bed. There was really nowhere she could go to get away from him. 

"You haven't noticed anything strange about me?" he said after a few seconds of observing her, his eyes traveling up and down her body. 

"I'm not sure what you mean," Adriana replied. Other than the fact he smelled divine, he looked like a normal person. Well, not normal. He was the most handsome man she had ever seen, but that couldn't be counted as strange. 

"Adriana. That's your name, right?" Goddess, her name coming out of his mouth... This was ridiculous. She had to get away from him. If Rhonda came upstairs and saw him talking to her, the beating that already awaited her would be twice as brutal. 

"Yes..." she said. 

"And you're just the maid here? Are you sure about that?"

"Yes, what else would I be?" Adriana said. Crap. If she answered anyone from the Turnbull family like that, she would have been immediately slapped. 

"This is your room?" Alpha Rowan finally diverted his eyes away from Adriana, glancing around her. He seemed disturbed by the shabbiness of the place. 

Outside, a storm seemed to be settling in. The sudden wind was so strong that it began to rattle the window, making it hiss. It also seemed to have gone darker, and it was still too early for nightfall. 

"Alpha Rowan, I really shouldn't be talking to you. Can I go?" Adriana said, concluding that the only way she could get away from him was if she left the room.  

"Why shouldn't you be talking to me? Why don't they let you talk at all?" 

"Please," Adriana said. 

"Alpha Rowan! Is everything all right?" Rhonda yelled from downstairs. 

Adriana's eyes widened in fear, and Alpha Rowan frowned at her. 

"This is wrong. On so many levels," Alpha Rowan said, shaking his head. 

"Yes, please. I won't disturb you anymore," Adriana said, taking a few steps forward, intending to step around Alpha Rowan to get out of the room.

"You're afraid of her, aren't you?" Alpha Rowan moved to the side, blocking her exit. "Why are you so afraid of your employers?"

"I'm not afraid," Adriana said, meaning it. By now, she had suffered so much violence on behalf of the Turnbulls that she didn't really fear the pain, solitude, or their demeaning words. She had trained herself to endure all this.

But she didn't want to have to suffer needlessly. All the wounds they inflicted on her became a setback to her primary goal, which was to escape. "I'd just rather not cross them." 

Alpha Rowan stared at her as if taking in her answer. 

"Adriana, I'm going to ask you something, and I need you to answer truthfully. Can you do that?" he said, taking a step closer to her. Adriana couldn't move, so transfixed was she with his voice and his scent.

With him. 

She nodded automatically. 

"Do you know what fated mates are?" he said in a soft voice. His gray eyes bore into hers, making Adriana feel weak in the knees.

"I... Yes. I know the concept of it." 

"And you really don't feel anything odd towards me?" He took another step closer to her. His proximity was now completely inappropriate. 

"I... well, your perfume is really strong. It smells like vanilla and pines, and-" 

Rowan interrupted her. “Stop pretending. Don’t tell me you didn’t realize it.” 

“I… I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Adriana backed away, eyes widened. 

No no no, she thought. 

Was he really implying that she was his fated match? 

"Rowan? Dude, where are you?" a male voice said from down the hallway. "Rowan!" 

Alpha Rowan's expression was one of sheer shock, and he quickly turned and closed the door behind him. Adriana let out a long sigh of relief when she heard his footsteps heading away from the room, carrying his beautiful scent away from her. 

The wind outside, which seemed to have subsided a bit a few seconds ago, picked up speed. It was so strong that it was making the tree's branches near the window bang against the house. The electricity flickered, and the power went out. 

If Alpha Rowan was really her fated match... That would be a cruel joke from the Moon Goddess. Why would She pair Adriana, a lowly no one, with someone like him? Of course, the man would be terrified if that was the case. As the realization sank into her, she made a decision.

She'd have to leave tonight. If Rhonda found out about this, she'd kill her. Adriana had no doubts in her mind that Rhonda was capable of murder, and no one would question her. 

This was what she had been training for, and even if she was a bit weak from spending the past few days in the basement, she was ready. Adriana sat back down on the mattress and tried to calm herself, thinking of green pastures. She inhaled and exhaled, taking deep breaths. 

She didn't even notice that just as quickly as it had come, the wind subsided. 

∞∞∞

ROWAN

This couldn't be happening to him. 

When Rowan had entered the Turnbull's home, he had already caught a whiff of a beautiful scent, but he had thought nothing of it. Then, when that girl came downstairs, the smell had intensified so much that it caught him completely off guard.

The maid.

The maid was his fated match. 

Not that there was anything wrong with being a maid, but he was the damn pack Alpha. It was enough that he had become Alpha so young, but this? Things were already tense with the alliance, especially with rumors of strange attacks that had been happening more frequently of late.

That had been the whole reason for organizing this Moon Goddess Ball with everyone; to strengthen their pact and possibly, find their mate in a foreign pack. There was no stronger bond than that. But if his mate was a maid...

As he followed Lucien outside, he tried not to think of the girl. Adriana. She looked so sad and disheveled as if she couldn't care less about her appearance. 

Maybe she did care, but the Turnbulls clearly treated her horribly. They wouldn't go so far as to not let her comb her hair, could they?

Even so, the girl was beautiful. Back in the room, he had gotten lost in her green eyes for a second, right before his beta, Lucien, arrived. He didn't know if that dress she was wearing was meant to make her look ridiculous, but it had achieved the contrary effect. 

It hugged her curves in all the right places, baring her impossibly long and toned legs, and the fabric barely covered her full bosom. And her waist... it was so tiny that he was sure he could wrap his hands around her and his fingers would touch. 

"Rowan? Are you okay, man? Did you hear anything I said?" Lucien said, sticking his head out from beneath the porch and looking up at the sky. He had been placed in a small guest house, one that didn't stink, and Rowan had joined him there to watch the strange weather. Lucien's arrival had been the perfect excuse to quickly get out of the house. 

Now he was regretting the fact that his bedroom was next to the closet in which that girl slept. 

"No, sorry. I was just thinking about something," Rowan replied after a while. 

"Look, the wind is stopping." Lucien pointed at the sky. 

He really couldn't care less about the freakish weather. Right now he needed to figure out what to do with that girl. There was no way he was going to let fate decide for him.

Maybe the Moon Goddess was wrong. He needed a real Luna, one that could help him lead. Silver Light pack was by far the strongest one in the alliance, and it was up to him to get them to work together.  

"What I was saying is that I hope we find our fated mates tonight. I really don't want to have to come here every year. Something about this place is off."

"What do you mean?" Rowan said absentmindedly, still thinking about his more pressing issue. 

"I don't know. I just have a bad feeling. Like it gives me goosebumps." Lucien leaned back on the column and cocked his head to one side, looking intently at Rowan. "Don't you feel it?"

"No, not really." 

"Are you sure you're okay? You look like you're having a waking nightmare," his best friend said, nudging him on the shoulder.

"Maybe I am," Rowan answered truthfully, trying to decide what the hell he was going to do.