Chapter 2

RAFE

Luca was burning up, I could feel it even before I reached him, his scent was thick in the air, and more potent than anything I'd ever experienced. It wasn’t just sweat or heat. It was need it felt raw and overwhelming need and it was coming from him.

One second, I was fighting the urge to rip off any form of clothing I had left and drag him into my arms, and then the next, I was battling every instinct I had not to claim him right there on the grass.

Fuck, what was happening to us?

"Luca," I whispered, kneeling beside him, but he didn’t look up. His face was pressed to the dirt, and his entire was body trembling.

I touched his shoulder and flinched, he was burning.

I knew what this was, well at least I’d heard whispers about it from the older wolves, about the Omega Heat. The stories were mostly jokes or horror tales told during late-night runs to scare young wolves off, I never paid them much attention, until now.

Because Luca was going through it and I was the reason why.

The memory of last night hit me like a punch to the gut, the way I had lost control, how my wolf surged to the surface during the rogue attack, and how I’d bitten Luca. I told myself it was to protect him, to scare the rogue off, but deep down, I knew better.

My wolf knew what he was doing, he marked him....I marked him.

I hadn’t just protected Luca, I had started a bond, a fucking mate bond.

My chest tightened as Luca let out a soft moan, his hips were twitching against the earth and I cursed under my breath and forced myself to breathe through my mouth. His scent was doing something to me, It was like being drugged, and my body was responding without my consent.

I leaned closer to him, "I need you to breathe, okay? In through your nose, out through your mouth."

He nodded weakly, but when I tried to pull away, his fingers curled around my wrist.

"Don’t go."

His sounded voice cracked, needy and vulnerable, that was all it took for my resolve to waver, I laid down beside him, keeping a sliver of space between our bodies. We were close, but not touching, because If I touched him again, I know I wouldn’t stop.

"I’m not going anywhere," I said.

He rolled halfway toward me, his eyes glassy, like he held tears in them, "Why do I feel like this? Why does it hurt?"

I could lie, and tell him it was just a side effect of the shift, but he deserved the truth.

"I'm sorry, it's because of me, I bit you last night, I promise I didn't mean to... not like that. But I dunno my wolf recognized something in you and now.....now we’re bonded."

His eyes widened, "Wait, what?"

"Not fully...just partially, the bite triggered the bond, but we're not fully bonded, and now your body is stuck, it wants to finish what we started."

Luca looked like I had punched him. Then, as if broken from the inside, he pushed up and scrambled to his feet, backing away.

"You bit me? Rafe, you knew what that would do!"

I stood up slowly, hands raised. "I didn’t mean to! I didn’t even know what I was doing, the rogue was coming for you, and I just....I lost control."

His breathing hitched. "So what does this mean? That I'm yours now? Is that it? You know damn well bonding between male wolves is forbidden"

I swallowed hard, well the bond said yes, but I couldn’t tell him that.

"It means we're connected, but we don’t have to do anything about it, we can fight it."

He let out a bitter laugh, "You think I can fight this? You touched me and I nearly begged you to... to..."

His voice broke off, then he turned away, but not before I saw the tears brimming in his eyes.

"I can't do this," he whispered.

I took a step toward him, but he flinched, so I stopped.

"You don’t have to, we’ll figure it out, okay? No one has to know, we’ll keep it between us, we’ll stay away from each other until the bond fades."

But even as I said it, I knew it was a lie, the bond didn’t fade, not really. Not unless it was broken and to do that...

Luca looked over his shoulder, with an unreadable expression, "Do you think they’ll find out? About me?"

He didn’t say it out loud, but I knew what he meant, about being an Omega.

I hesitated, then shook my head. "Not if we’re careful, but your scent... it’s different now, it's stronger and we’ll need to mask it."

"How?"

"I’ll get you some scent blockers, just... don’t shift again not until we figure this out."

His shoulders sagged with relief, then tensed again almost in unison, and both turned at the sound of twigs snapping behind us.

Voices, multiple voices!

Pack members.

Luca's eyes locked with mine, and they were wide with fear.

"Act normal," I hissed, "And let me do the talking."

He gave a shaky nod.

A second later, Alpha Cain's son Caleb, stepped through the brush, flanked by two others, his eyes landed on Luca, narrowing almost immediately.

"What the hell are you two doing out here alone?"

Luca stiffened beside me and I met his gaze, but my heart was hammering, I put up a stern look and responded.

"We were training and lost track of time."

He didn't look convinced, his nostrils flared slightly. Then his gaze landed on Luca, and he smiled.

"You smell different, Luca, did something... change?"

Luca went pale and I stepped in front of him before I even realized I had moved.

"Back off."

Caleb raised a brow, "Relax, Rafe, I'm just making conversation."

But we both knew it wasn’t just that.

Caleb lingered a second longer, his gaze flicking between me and Luca like he was piecing something together, and it was too sharp for comfort, then he smirked.

“I’ll be sure to mention this little training session to my father and you know how much he hates secrets.”

Then they disappeared into the trees, their footsteps crunching under the leaves, but the tension didn’t leave with them.

Luca stood frozen, his breathing was shallow and I reached for him, but he flinched again.

My hand dropped, this bond was already costing us more than I expected, and as the last of their footsteps faded, a low growl built at the base of my throat.

Because I knew something now, they were watc

hing him and if I didn’t act fast, I was going to lose him.