Blackwood’s Claimed Luna

The door to the office of the Nightfall Pack’s Alpha Heir stood before me like a challenge. I did not knock. Father always said hesitation was the first crack in competence. I was Aurelia Sinclair, daughter of the Crescent Ridge Pack’s greatest hunter and Alpha, trained since childhood to walk into danger without flinching. A closed door was nothing. My fingers wrapped around the brass handle. Cool metal. Solid. I pushed. The scene inside slammed into me like a physical blow. Lucian Blackwood had the woman bent over his desk. Her dress was bunched around her waist, expensive silk crumpled like discarded tissue. His hands gripped her hips, fingers digging into bare flesh hard enough to leave marks. The sharp crack of skin meeting skin echoed through the room. She moaned, a throaty, desperate sound. “Harder,” she gasped. “Please, Alpha.” My body froze. Brain struggling to process. This was the legendary playboy heir I’d been warned about, the man I was supposed to report to, the

The moans started at ten forty-five.I checked my watch, then returned to the spreadsheet on my screen. Threat assessment logs. Three months of anonymous communications, each one more pointed than the last.A feminine gasp echoed through the wall separating my office from Lucian’s.I gritted my teeth and turned up the volume on my computer, letting the hum of the Lo-fi music I was listening to drown out the sounds next door.This was my third day at Nightfall Pack headquarters, and the pattern had become depressingly predictable. Lucian arrived at nine, attended meetings until mid-morning, then entertained visitors of the female variety until lunch. The parade of women leaving his office was a rotating cast of beautiful, disheveled she-wolves, each one wearing the same dazed expression.Yesterday, a redhead in a pencil skirt had stumbled out at eleven-thirty, her blouse buttoned wrong, mascara smudged. She had not noticed me watching from my doorway.The day before, two blondes had em

Lucian was already on his phone before the echo of the explosion faded.“Zack. Northern border breach. Shadowmere wolves. Get every fighter we have to the perimeter now.” His voice was pure command, no trace of the lazy playboy who had been getting pleasured minutes ago. “Yes, full combat protocol. I’m heading out now.”He ended the call and looked at Margot. “Lockdown protocol. Get all non-combatants to the safe rooms. No one leaves the building until I give the all-clear.”“Yes, sir.” Margot’s voice shook, but she nodded.Another explosion rattled the windows. Closer this time.Lucian stripped off his shirt in one fluid motion, tossing the expensive fabric aside. His hands moved to his belt.“What are you doing?” I demanded.“Going to defend my pack.” He kicked off his shoes. “What does this look like?”“You’re the Alpha Heir. You should coordinate from here, let your fighters—”“My fighters need to see me on the field. Need to know I bleed with them.” His pants hit the floor. He st

His hands settled on my waist.Mine went to his shoulders, keeping space between us that felt simultaneously too much and not enough.The music pulsed through the floor, into my bones, matching the rapid beat of my heart. Around us, other couples moved in ways ranging from suggestive to explicit. This was not dancing. This was foreplay set to rhythm.Lucian pulled me closer.“Relax,” he murmured, his mouth near my ear. “You’re stiff as a board.”“I don’t dance like this.”“Like what?”“Like this means something.”“Maybe it does.” His hand slid lower on my back. “Would this be so terrible?”My wolf stirred.She had been quiet since I arrived at Nightfall, observing, assessing. Now she pressed against my consciousness with interest bordering on hunger.“Alpha,” she whispered. “Strong. Victorious. Ours.”No. Not ours.Lucian’s thumb traced circles on my lower back, the touch sending sparks up my spine. His scent wrapped around me, cedar and smoke and something uniquely him. Alpha pheromo

The next three weeks were a masterclass in avoidance. I arrived at headquarters early, before Lucian got to his office. I left late, after his car had pulled away from the building. When I needed to deliver reports or intelligence updates, I sent them through Margot or via encrypted email. The few times I saw him in the hallways, I turned and walked the other direction. Cowardly? Absolutely. Necessary? Without question. My wolf had been sulking since the night of the party. She pressed against my consciousness with longing and confusion, whimpering every time she caught his scent in the building. “Alpha,” she would whisper. “Need Alpha. Why run?” Because we had to. Because being near him was dangerous. Because one look from those amber eyes and my resolve would crumble. Because I could still feel his hands on my skin, his body inside mine, his teeth marking my shoulder. I threw myself into work with obsessive focus. Analyzed security protocols. Reviewed personnel files. Track