chapter 5

Draven's Pov

The sun seeping into the private room jolted me awake from my slumber. I reached out instinctively, searching for the woman who had slept in my arms last night, but the space beside me was empty.

A strange panic gripped me as I sat up sharply. Without wasting another breath, I mindlinked my beta, ordering him to meet me in the room immediately. I cursed myself as I had completely forgotten to inform him of my whereabouts last night. I was sure he must have been searching for me after I had left him alone in the car and in the middle of the road.

I had been too lost in the haze of discovering she a stripper was my mate. That single truth had unsettled me so much that I forgot everything else.

It was almost laughable. Me, the Alpha who had sworn never to acknowledge another mate, yet I had found myself powerless to resist.

Ever since my mate’s death years ago, I had considered the bond nothing but a weakness. A chain. Something that tied me down, demanding I mark and claim someone when all it did was carve open wounds that never healed. I had no strength for that, especially not with Maya depending on me, not with enemies circling the Bloodmoon pack like vultures, not with the unanswered questions of my brothers’ fates, whether they still lived or had already been hunted down.

And worse she was human. That fact alone was enough to tear me in two. A human mate would need more protection. More sacrifice I wasn’t ready for yet. I wasn’t willing.

But last night… last night had shaken me.

When her lips met mine, I had wanted to give her what she asked for. I had intended to surrender to the bond, even if only for one night, to silence the wolf inside me who had been clawing and raging insatiable for her. I had told myself I would take her, then leave her, just enough to calm the storm.

But then she was a stripper. Who sells her body for money at a club where only the desperate and the disgraced lingered. Where those who had no dignity, no self-respect, came to lose themselves. When I first saw her there, I had judged her unworthy and tainted to be my Luna. Someone like her can't uphold power let alone delegate it when such a messy background. She's must be someone who spills lies and won't beat an eye to cheating. I can't have someone like her near Maya.

A sharp knock broke through my thoughts. The door creaked open, and my beta stepped inside, his scent brushing the air. He paused, eyes scanning me as if to piece together the mystery of my night.

“Alpha…” he called softly, uncertain, searching my face for answers.

I didn’t meet his gaze. My voice came low, a confession I had never thought I’d utter again.

“I found my mate.”

I was a hardened man. One who did everything with precision. One who never left loose ends. Yet here I was, the same man who had ordered my beta to stop in the middle of the road last night while I sat in silence, agitated and shaking like a fool. That wasn’t me. That wasn’t the Alpha I had built myself to be.

I knew exactly what was running through his mind, the questions clawing at him, so I gave my answer before he dared voice them.

“Blessed Moon Goddess…” he whispered, staring at me as if he couldn’t believe it himself. Second-chance mates were rare, so rare they were nearly a myth.

“Where is she? When are you introducing her to the pack?” he pressed, his tone brimming with anticipation. But the single glare I shot his way forced his eyes to the floor. He knew better.

Still, his nose worked the air, searching, catching the lingering scent of her cologne in the room. His words cut sharp when he finally spoke again.

“She’s a call girl?”

The accusation hung between us. He froze when my eyes snapped to his, but the damage was already done. Truthfully, it wasn’t far from what I had believed myself. The first time I had seen her at that club, surrounded by desperate men and women with no dignity—I had branded her unworthy. Nothing more than another body drowning in sin. And now here I was, in one of those rooms, my chest bare. Except nothing had happened because she collapsed right before we started the act.

“She’s human.” The words scraped out of me like a curse. “A human,” I repeated, bitterness seeping into my tone. As if her humanity was her crime. As if I hated her for being exactly what she was.

He shifted uncomfortably, then, perhaps sensing my mood, changed the subject. “The tutor didn’t show up for the interview. I was considering moving on to the next candidate. She’s still in university, doesn’t have the same qualifications as the others—but she’s promising.”

I didn’t stop him. If anything, I welcomed the distraction. Discussing her—my mate—was not something I had the strength for, not now. Maya’s tutor was a priority, and I needed someone for the job quickly.

He handed me the file, and I reached for it, my mind forcing itself back into Alpha mode. But the moment my eyes landed on the name, my breath stilled.

Blessed Moon Goddess.

It was her. The same woman who had slipped away from me last night. The same woman whose scent still clung to me, whose presence had torn me apart.

My beta noticed the way I lingered on her picture, the way my gaze refused to shift. Misinterpreting it, he cleared his throat nervously. “Alpha… if you do not like her, then I can—”

“Hire her,” I cut in sharply.