{4.} A Scentless Omega in Heat.🥵

MOONLESS’ POV.

The guards shoved me through a doorway without warning, and I hit the polished wooden floor hard enough to knock the breath from my lungs. I stayed there for a moment, my palms stinging against the floor as I struggled to breathe through the heat.

Five hours.

That was how long my heat started and it had only grown worse with every passing minute. My skin felt feverish, my legs barely supported me and every breath came out shakier than the last.

I had spent those hours praying it would pass, but the people in this place clearly had other plans for me.

I slowly pushed myself onto my knees and looked around.

A fireplace crackled quietly in the corner, casting an amber glow across the room. Black silk sheets covered a large bed, and everything about the place looked painfully comfortable compared to the cold concrete rooms I had spent the past three days in.

My stomach twisted as I understood why they had brought me here.

The bathroom door opened.

The familiar alpha’s strong scent reached me before I even turned around. My lungs pulled it in instinctively, and my entire body locked up.

My hands trembled against the floor as I turned my head.

The Masked Man stood beside the bathroom doorway, shirtless with only a pair of briefs covering his lower body. The iron mask was still fixed over his face, hiding everything except his eyes which were still not easy to spot their colors.

A dark tattoo stretched across his chest, disappearing beneath the waistband of his briefs.

He started walking toward me.

I immediately pushed myself backward until my back struck the wall.

“Please.” My voice cracked. “Please, don’t do this.”

“Shh.”

A gloved hand reached toward my face and brushed my hair away from my forehead.

The gentleness of the gesture frightened me more than violence would have.

“I know you’re frightened,” he murmured. “That’s alright. I would be too if I were in your place.”

His fingers slipped beneath my chin, forcing me to look at him.

“But you’ve already given me so much these past few days. Let’s not waste it now, hm?”

My stomach turned.

Three days.

Three days of needles piercing my skin. Three days of scientists examining my body, taking my blood, injecting me with substances I didn’t understand, and calling me an experiment.

Now they had brought me here because my body had entered heat.

“Three days,” the Masked Man murmured, tugging at the collar of my shirt. “I waited three days for your body to be ready for this. Most don’t get that courtesy. You should be grateful.”

Grateful.

The word struck something deep inside me.

‘You should be grateful I even let you stay.’

Dad’s voice.

For one dizzying moment, the room blurred around me and I squeezed my eyes shut.

No.

I couldn’t let those memories take over.

“You’ll thank me eventually.” His fingers moved to my jaw, his thumb brushing over my lower lip. “By morning, you’ll already be carrying exactly what I need from you. My pups.”

‘My pups.’

The words echoed inside my head, leaving me cold despite the heat consuming me.

“You heard me right,” his murmured voice boomed beneath the mask.

“Please…” My voice broke. “I can’t.”

“You can.” He leaned closer. “I’ll be gentle.”

Tears slipped down my cheeks.

I wanted to fight.

I wanted to scream.

I wanted someone to break through that door and save me.

But my body had become a prison of its own. The heat had been tormenting me for hours, and now every instinct inside me screamed for an Alpha while my mind screamed for escape.

I hated the weakness.

I hated the helplessness.

Most of all, I hated that they knew exactly how to use my own body against me.

The Masked Man guided me toward the bed.

I resisted as much as I could, but my strength had already been drained by days of experiments. I couldn’t overpower him, and there were guards waiting outside.

There was nowhere left to go.

My clothes were slowly pulled from my body as tears continued sliding down my cheeks. I turned my face toward the wall and prayed silently to the Moon Goddess.

Please.

Just this once.

Save me.

A fist suddenly slammed against the door.

“Alpha!”

The Masked Man froze.

“Fire in the main laboratory!” a guard shouted from outside. “It’s spreading fast!”

For one terrible second, I thought he would ignore them.

Then he pulled away, grabbing a robe from the chair and hurried toward the door.

“Watch him,” he ordered after opening it. “I want him exactly where I left him when I return.” His footsteps disappeared down the hallway.

One guard remained outside.

I stayed still, barely breathing. Then I looked toward the door.

My heart began pounding.

This was my chance.

I rolled off the bed and grabbed my shirt from the floor. My hands shook so badly that I struggled to pull it over myself.

“Hey.”

The guard stepped inside.

“Get back on the—”

My fingers closed around the syringe lying on the nightstand.

Before he could finish, I drove the needle into his neck with everything I had left. His body jerked violently. A strangled sound escaped him before he collapsed beside the bed.

My hands trembled as I stared at him.

I had never hurt anyone before. But I couldn’t bring myself to regret it. Not when going back to that bed meant losing whatever remained of me.

Muffled voices rushed through the hallway.

“The fire is escalating faster than expected!”

Another voice shouted, “The boss ordered us to move the new experiment out of the building. Now!”

My heart slammed against my ribs.

Now or never.

I ran.

The corridor was already filled with smoke. Staff members rushed past me in the opposite direction, carrying equipment and shouting orders as alarms blared throughout the facility.

A lab coat lay abandoned near one of the doors.

I snatched it up and wrapped it around myself, holding it tightly against my chest as I ran.

My legs were weak, but I forced them forward.

I saw a small opening near the rear of the facility.

I headed straight for it.

The moment I broke through the opening, cold night air struck my overheated skin.

I almost collapsed from relief.

The full moon hung above the trees, illuminating the narrow path ahead.

I didn’t know where I was going. I didn’t know how far I had to go. I only knew that every step carried me farther away from that place.

The lights of the facility disappeared behind the trees.

My lungs burned, my feet ached, and the heat inside me continued to build until even the cold night air couldn’t soothe it.

Still, I refused to stop.

Then my legs suddenly buckled and I crashed onto the forest floor, clutching the lab coat around myself as another wave of heat tore through my body.

I pressed my forehead against the cold ground, desperate for relief.

Boots crashed through the brush.

My blood ran cold.

Deep voices followed.

“I see him!”

“Over there! He’s on the ground!”

I forced myself up and ran but I crashed back down.

The guards emerged between the trees.

After everything I’d endured, they had found me again.

I tried to crawl away.

Then a howl tore through the forest—It was deep, feral, and powerful enough to make the ground beneath me seem to tremble.

The guards stopped.

My heart pounded.

The trees suddenly exploded apart as a massive silver wolf charged through the darkness, its jaws clamping around the nearest guard’s arm before throwing him aside as though he weighed nothing.

One guard raised his weapon, but the silver wolf was already upon him, knocking him aside with terrifying speed. Another turned to run, but the wolf caught him before he could get far.

I watched through half-lidded eyes as the enormous creature tore through the men chasing me before finally stopping and turning toward me.

Those feral eyes locked onto mine, and recognition slowly settled in.

Everyone in Crownfang knew that silver wolf.

Alpha King Brayden.

The wolf walked toward me before its body began to shift, bones cracking as silver fur disappeared beneath human skin.

His chest rose and fell heavily as he knelt in front of me. “You’re safe now.”

The words should have comforted me, but his scent reached me before I could respond. It was warm, powerful, and unlike anything I had ever smelled, flooding my senses and making the heat inside me surge all over again.

Alpha Brayden slowly reached toward my face, his fingers brushing my cheek.

I shuddered.

For five hours, I had fought my body’s instincts. Now, with the Alpha King kneeling before me, my strength finally began to slip away.

My fingers curled into his shirt.

He froze.

I stared into his eyes, breathing heavily as neither of us moved. Then, unable to resist the pull any longer, I leaned forward and pressed my lips against his.