PROLOGUE

The pack house breathed at night.

Stone walls sighed with old magic, floors creaked under silent paws, and moonlight sliced through tall windows like silver knives. I shouldn’t have left my room. Kaden’s gentle kiss goodnight still burned on my forehead—safe, responsible, everything I was supposed to hold onto.

But the ache wouldn’t let me stay still.

I padded barefoot down the shadowed corridor, nightgown whispering against my legs. The air carried pine and distant rain. I told myself I needed water.

I lied.

He was there.

Darius stood at the far end of the hall, back to me, staring out at the forest like it held secrets he needed to crush. Moonlight edged his frame, but I didn’t let my gaze linger. I felt him first—his presence pulling at something deep and dangerous inside me.

He didn’t turn, but his shoulders tensed. My scent must have reached him. A low growl rolled from his chest—quiet, involuntary, vibrating through the stone and into my bare feet.

“You shouldn’t be here,” he said, voice rough and flat. No warmth. No welcome.

I should have turned around.

Instead I took another step. “I couldn’t sleep.”

He finally faced me. His eyes met mine—storm-dark, unreadable. The air between us thickened, turned heavy and charged. His scent flooded the space—pine woods, sharp citrus, edged with something perilous that made my pulse stutter and heat coil low without permission.

“You can't roam around half naked at night here, you're my brother's wife,” he said, the words clipped, almost accusing. “Go back to your room.”

The reminder stung like salt in a cut. I lifted my chin, forcing the mask to hold. “I know.”

He took one step closer. Then another.

I didn’t retreat.

His breath came a fraction faster. He stopped just short of touching distance, close enough that his heat pushed against the thin fabric of my nightgown. His jaw clenched hard enough to flex. His hand twitched at his side—like he was fighting not to lift it.

Silence stretched.

Thick. Suffocating.

Then—slowly, as if against his will—his fingers rose. Knuckles grazed my cheek, so light it might have been imagination. The contact jolted through me like lightning. I sucked in a breath, and he froze, hand hovering, trembling just enough to betray him.

I leaned in.

A fraction. Enough.

His growl deepened, raw and torn. His hand slid to the back of my neck—fingers tangling in my hair, tilting my face up. His mouth hovered so close I could feel the heat of his exhale, taste pine and citrus on the air. My lips parted on instinct. Waiting. Aching.

One heartbeat.

One impossible inch.

Footsteps.

Heavy. Measured. From the stairwell.

Kaden’s scent drifted down—burnt cigars, amber, that something dark. Searching. Innocent.

Darius went stone-still.

His hand dropped like it had been burned. He stepped back hard, face slamming into cold indifference. The storm in his eyes vanished behind a wall of ice.

“Leave,” he snarled—low, vicious, final. “Now.”

I stumbled backward, chest heaving, skin still alive where his fingers had been. Humiliation crashed over me, hot and sharp, mixing with the want I couldn’t kill.

I fled down the corridor, bare feet silent on stone, heart slamming against my ribs so loud I was sure Kaden would hear it.

Behind me, Darius didn’t move.

He stayed rooted in the moonlight, fists clenched at his sides, staring at the empty space I’d left.

And in that silence, I understood:

whatever this was, it had already started to ruin me...