One Night, One Promise

POV: Olivia

The welcome feast dragged past midnight.

I wiped tables, stacked plates, and kept my head down. Every time I glanced up by mistake, he was watching me from the high table. My chest burned. I looked away fast, shoving another cup into a tub already full.

If I could just reach the servants’ stairs without crossing the hall, I’d vanish into the quiet. Sleep might not come, but at least I’d escape the clawing ache in my chest.

The elders rose to toast again. Laughter spiked. All eyes turned toward the dais.

I slipped.

Down the side corridor. Past the pantry. Past the armoury door with the warped hinge. Into the narrow passage leading to the yard. My breath fogged in the cooler air. Pine and wet stone seeped through the cracks in the door.

A hand slammed against the wall beside my head.

I froze.

He was already there—blocking the exit. Coat unbuttoned, tie gone, night carving hard edges into him. His heat swallowed the chill.

“Running from me?” His voice was low, almost a secret.

“I’m going home,” I said. “My shift’s done.”

His mouth tipped, not kindly. “You’ve been avoiding me since I walked in.”

“I’ve been working.”

“Olivia.” He said my name like it belonged to him. “Look at me.”

I lifted my chin. The bond snapped taut the instant our eyes met. My stomach dropped. My hands wanted to shake—I shoved them into my apron.

“I don’t have a wolf,” I whispered. “Whatever this is—”

“Really?” he cut in. “The Goddess doesn’t ask permission. She decides.”

“It doesn’t make sense.”

“It doesn’t have to.”

The words scraped raw in my throat. “Then reject me now. Get it over with. I’m a latent—no wolf, no power—and you need a strong Luna.”

His jaw tightened, storm-dark eyes locked on mine. “Don’t ever say that again.”

Then he kissed me.

Not careful. Hungry. Shattering. A kiss that set every bone alight. I rose on my toes, clutching his lapel to keep from falling. His hand cupped the back of my neck, holding me like something lost too long.

“Not here,” he growled against my mouth, breath hot. “Come with me.”

I nodded, because no had already burned away.

---

The guest room smelled of cedar and dust. He shut the door, turned the latch.

I should have been afraid. I wasn’t. The bond burned hotter than fear.

He didn’t rush. He stood there, chest rising hard, eyes storm-dark, as if fighting himself.

I stepped into him. Clothes became a blur.

The kiss turned fire. His mouth claimed mine, desperate and unrelenting. His hands dragged down my waist, over my hips, gripping like he couldn’t decide whether to hold me together or tear me apart.

“Is this your first time?” he rasped.

Heat scorched my cheeks. “Yes.”

“Should I stop?”

“No.” The word tore free before I could think.

Something raw flickered in his eyes. He kissed me harder, rougher, like my answer had set his wolf ablaze.

“Then remember this,” he growled, teeth grazing my lip. “Your first. You're only. Mine.”

The word branded me.

His hand slid under my skirt, calloused fingers against bare skin no one had ever touched. Sparks ripped through me, my body arching with a gasp.

“Alpha—” I stammered, then corrected myself. “Luther.”

He froze, forehead pressed to mine, chest heaving. “Say it again.”

“Luther…”

His groan was guttural, his control breaking. His mouth crashed back onto mine, devouring. He pushed me onto the bed, heat pressing into every inch of me.

I heard his wolf—Recce’s growl rumbling through him, primal and demanding: Take her. Claim her. Bite.

His lips trailed down my throat, teeth grazing the place where a mark should go. My pulse thundered beneath them. He lingered there, trembling with restraint.

“You’re mine,” he rasped, voice torn between hunger and vow. “Every inch of you. No one else will ever touch you. Do you understand?”

“Yes,” I gasped. “Yours.”

He kissed me like his life depended on it. One hand claimed my breast, drawing a moan from my throat; the other slipped between my thighs, finding slick heat I hadn’t realised was already there.

I gasped, arching. He growled in satisfaction, pulled his hand back dripping with my slick, and licked his fingers clean, eyes wild. “You taste divine, Liv.”

Before I could breathe, he pushed my legs apart and went down on me, feasting like a starving man. His tongue drove me higher, faster, until I clutched the sheets and cried out his name.

When I was shaking, undone, he rose over me. His length pressed at my entrance, heavy and hot.

“This will hurt a little,” he whispered against my ear. “If it’s too much, I’ll stop.”

I nodded, breathless.

He thrust deep. Pain lanced through me—sharp, shocking—but the bond’s fire swallowed it, melting into belonging.

I cried out, trembling.

His breath tore ragged above me, sweat dampening his brow as if holding back was killing him. “Mine,” he snarled, grinding deeper, hands clutching me like he couldn’t bear distance.

The rhythm built—harder, faster. His wolf urged him on. My nails raked his back as pleasure ripped through me, body breaking open under the bond.

“Luther!” I screamed as I shattered.

He followed with a growl that shook the room, burying himself deep, my name ripped from his throat like it cost him blood.

---

POV: Luther

Her body trembled beneath me, voice hoarse from screaming my name.

Recce purred, satisfied. Good. Claimed. Ours forever.

Not marked, I reminded him, jaw aching. My teeth had grazed her throat—so close to sinking in, so close to sealing her.

Then mark. Bite. Seal her.

I nearly did. I nearly lost.

But if I marked her now, they wouldn’t come for me. They’d come for her. The elders. The allied Alphas. My father. Wolves who would see a latent Luna as a weakness.

So I kissed her instead, holding her through the aftermath, breathing her in like a drowning man.

She curled into me, small and certain, fitting against my chest like she’d always been mine.

“Tomorrow,” she whispered, soft with hope. “They’ll see I’m yours.”

Her trust cut like a blade.

I shut my eyes. “Just tonight,” I murmured against her hair, praying she didn’t hear the lie.