Chapter 1

 Midnight Eyes

The first thing I notice is the aroma of costly colognes combining with supernatural pheromones so intense they make my stomach clench with sickness and want at once. Gold chandeliers fill the marble lobby, pouring light on sparkling dresses and fitted tuxedos. Every supernatural elite of Los Angeles is here tonight, and I have never felt so insignificant. 

 “Miss Quinn, your invitation?” The vampire at the registration counter looks at me with dull scorn. Her fangs are half visible, lips painted a bruised purple that makes her skin gleam like moonlight ice. 

 I fake a grin and hand over the black satin card embroidered with silver runes. My fingers shake. I twist them into a fist as she returns it, ignoring her smirk as if she can smell my anxiety. Maybe she can. These critters live on weakness. 

 “Welcome to the Moonshadow Annual Supernatural Gala,” she purrs, already turning to the next visitor. “Try not to get eaten alive.” 

 Her words reverberate ominously as I enter into the huge ballroom. 

 Hundreds of visitors whirl beneath crystal chandeliers, their laughing like dark music. Vampires sip scarlet drinks, witches in gemstone-laced garments mumble incantations over flickering orbs, shifters of every type wander with predatory elegance. The space is filled with danger veiled in luxury. 

 I adjust my black velvet dress, its plunging neckline displaying olive skin and the shape of my breasts. I loathe this dress. I detest how vulnerable I feel. But tonight, I need every edge. I force my chin up and weave through the crowd, seeking for Serena. 

 My closest friend waves from near the bar, her platinum blonde hair braided into an extravagant updo that reveals the crescent moon tattoo snaking down her neck. Serena is a witch, her aura so intense that vampires reflexively stand aside as she passes. 

 “Elara, over here!” she calls, her green eyes alight with eagerness. 

 I reach her, attempting to keep my voice calm. “This is insane. There are at least five coven chiefs here and half the Night Court vampires.” 

 She shrugs, unaffected. “That’s the point. The Moonshadow Gala is where bargains are done, allies formed, and enemies seduced.” She arches her brow. “Relax. You’re merely here to hunt new clients.” 

 I peek around nervously. “I shouldn’t have come.” 

 She breathes, her countenance softening. “I know tonight is hard for you. But hiding forever won’t erase the past.” 

 “Some pasts are safer erased.” 

 Before she can react, a quiet spreads across the gathering. An energy shift washes across the ballroom, thick with primeval authority. My heart plummets into my gut. 

 No. Not tonight. Of all nights, why tonight? 

 The visitors split like the sea, revealing him. 

 Lucian Blackthorne marches into the ballroom, escorted by two tall security wolves in elegant black suits. His ebony hair is fashioned in a tidy undercut, jaw darkened with a dark beard that highlights his sculpted cheekbones. He wears a fitted black suit with no tie, the top buttons unfastened to offer a glimpse of muscular chest etched with swirling silver runes. 

 But it’s his eyes that paralyse me – silver-grey with flecks of stormy blue, shining softly as his gaze sweeps the room with aloof indifference. The Alpha of Moonshadow Territory. Billionaire. Kingmaker. The guy whose touch once devastated every bit of me. 

 “Elara?” Serena murmurs forcefully, grasping my arm. 

 I can’t move. My lungs refuse to fill, my skin prickling with cold perspiration. Five years since I ran. Five years ago I woke up alone in a blood-stained hotel suite, his perfume still sticking to my skin like a curse. 

 His gaze continues past witches, vampires, shifter dignitaries… till it collides with mine. 

 The world stops. 

 For a single second, I see nothing but him. I feel nothing except the electric current flashing across the ballroom, drawing me towards him, destroying five years of self-protection with a single look. 

 His eyes enlarge almost imperceptibly. Shock flickers over his face before his visage hardens into cold, unforgiving control. His lips curl into a grin that sends chills down my spine. 

 “Elara…” Serena’s voice sounds like it’s underwater. “We need to leave. Now.” 

 But I’m frozen on the marble floor as Lucian advances towards me, visitors shifting aside like shadows beneath moonlight. Each step he takes is purposeful, forceful, predatory. My pulse pounds so fiercely I hear blood flowing in my ears. 

 I can’t breathe. I can’t think. 

 I believed I was safe. I believed he’d forgotten me. How dumb. How naïve. 

 His aroma reaches me first, smoky sandalwood and black pine, laced with something utterly masculine that awakens every forbidden yearning I’ve struggled to hide. My thighs clench involuntarily. Shame warms my chest. 

 He pauses two feet away, looming above me. I tilt my head back, hating how little I feel beneath his stare. His eyes glide over my face with careful slowness before landing on my open lips. 

 “Elara Quinn,” he says, voice low and raw as gravel. “Of all the places to find you again.” 

 My knees threaten to give up. I force words past my dry tongue. “Lucian. I… I didn’t know you’d be here.” 

 He chuckles gently, a sound devoid of humor. “Didn’t you?” His glance moves to Serena, discarding her swiftly, before returning to me. “Leave us.” 

 “Excuse me?” Serena snaps, her aura flashing green. “She’s not going anywhere with you.” 

 Lucian’s eyes flare with silver light. His energy swells, blanketing us in stifling dominion. Even the vampires around tense and avert their eyes. 

 “Now.” 

 Serena swallows hard, shooting me a helpless gaze before moving away, her fingers clutching mine momentarily in mute warning. I hold to that contact like an anchor while Lucian closes the space between us. 

 He leans down, his lips touching my ear. The world narrows to his breath, heated and fragrant with costly whiskey. 

 “You’ve been a very bad girl, Elara,” he murmurs, his voice so low only I can hear. “Running from your Alpha. Hiding secrets from me. Did you honestly believe I wouldn’t find you?” 

 My eyesight blurs with terror and wrath. “I don’t belong to you.” 

 He chuckles again, pulling back to examine my face with predatory enjoyment. “We’ll see about that.” 

 His fingertips brush a stray hair off my cheek, lingering just long enough to make me shudder. Sparks explode along my flesh, betraying and eager. Tears pierce my eyes at the treachery of my own body. 

 “Don’t touch me,” I rasp. 

 His smile disappears. For a heartbeat, agony rushes over his eyes so rapidly I wonder whether I dreamed it. Then his expression hardens into granite resolve. 

 “We have unfinished business, little wolf.” His voice sinks to a grim promise. “And I don’t like unfinished things.” 

 I swallow hard, my heart screaming. “Please, Lucian. Just let me go.” 

 “Not tonight,” he whispers. “Not ever.” 

 He steps back and elevates his chin slightly, addressing his soldiers without losing eye contact. “Take her to the penthouse. I’ll join you shortly.” 

 My mouth opens in terror. “Lucian, no ” 

 But his guards grab my arms like iron vices. Panic surges through me as they begin to lead me away. I twist and struggle, tears scorching hot lines down my cheeks. Guests stare with horrified eyes, no one daring to interrupt. 

 “Lucian!” I scream, my voice breaking. “Don’t do this ” 

 But he merely stares, eyes blank, as I’m pulled from the ballroom, my shoes grinding on marble. The last thing I see is his glittering stare, shadowed with secrets and wanting I have no power left to fight. 

 And for the first time in five years, a truth sears through me with terrible certainty: 

 He’s going to ruin me all over again. 

 I gaze back at him through tears as the elevator doors close between us, his eyes gleaming with possessive want, and I understand with a sickening, horrifying certainty - I have stepped back into a cage I may never escape.