Chapter 2

Asher DravenHart

I pushed from my desk, stepping around the warrior who backed away on instinct.

“I’ll handle it.”

I strode into the corridor without wasting another second. Rowan followed a step behind. Silent, solid, like his presence could keep my wolf leashed by his sheer force of will.

The lower floor grew warmer as we descended the stairs, the air was thick with the scent of my pack and the faint spice of campfire smoke twirling out from the roaring fireplace. Wolves move through the halls in smallish groups, their eyes lowered, heads dipping as soon as they saw me. The subtle hush of rank settling like freshly fallen snow.

Small whispers floated above the tension.

"Alpha..."

"Sir."

Alpha... It was a title that never let me forget what I had on my shoulders.

As we neared the entry room, a scent hit me first. Wool. Something sweet, like vanilla. And something else. Not unpleasant, just... wrong. Out of place, like a summer flower blooming in the dead of winter.

I stepped through the doorway.

Two warriors stood near the fireplace, flanking a woman.

She wore a winter coat and small boots dusted in snow. Her ahri was pulled into a messy braid, strands floating around her cheeks. Her face was flushed from the drastic tempature change, extreme cold to bearable warm. Her eyes darted from face to face, lips parted like he was trying to show she wasn't terrified.

As my boots hit the hardwood, she turned. The moment he eyes met mine...

My wolf slammed forward.

It wasn't a slow rise, nor a cautious curiosity.

A violent surge that stole the air from my lungs and made every muscle in my body go rigid.

Something snapped around my ribs, a chain and I could see it. It traveled forward, in between the two men and wrapped around her.

The room sharpened. Every scent, every heartbeat, every flicker of the firelight. My vision narrowed until the only thing I could see was her.

Hazel eyes, flecked with small bits of gold. Both wide with confusion.

My throat vibrated with a sound that I didn't choose to make.

A growl. Low, possessive, primal.

"MINE."

Silence crashed down over the room.

The woman blinked, completley thorwn. "I'm sorry... What did you say?"

Rowan's voice slid into my ear, instantly and sharp as a knife.

"Asher... what did you just do?"

I still couldn't move, couldn't breathe right. My wolf pressed agains the inside of my skin, purring like thunder. It was like he was starving for this moment his whole life.

"MATE," He whispered, savage and reverent all at once, "I've found you..."

"Nero... Calm down, boy." I ordered silently, "Not here... Rowan, She is the one."

"Are you sure?"

Nero's answer was a single word followed by a pulse of possesive heat, a rumble that vibrated through my chest.

"MINE."

I could do nothing but nod. I forced my fingers to unclench, forced air into my lungs. The bond tugged, insisting that I close the distance, to take what was offered like it had always been mine.

The woman's brows knitted together, her gaze flicking over me like she was trying to make sense of the way that the air changed.

"Do I..." she said slowly, forcing steadiness into her voice, "know you?"

I wanted to cross the room.

I wanted to pull her into my arms, wrap them around her, bury my face in her neck, and breathe her in until my lungs forgot what emptiness felt like.

Instead, I clenched my fists so hard my nails created small half moons on my palm.

Because she wasn't wolf. She was human.

And my pack could smell it.

The Moon Goddess just tied my fate to someone who didn't belong in our world.

"What..." I forced my voice through the growl still lingering in my chest, "is your name?"

She hesitated, just for a heartbeat, then lifted her chin, refusing to be intimidated.

"Savannah," she said. "Savannah Whitlock."

The bond tightened like a vow and Nero went perfectly still inside.

"Luna..." he purred, deep with satisfaction.

Behind me, the house didn't stay silent for long. The whispers started like a draft under a door. It was soft at first, then it slipped into every corner, every stairwell, every shadowed hallway.

"You've got to be kidding me..."

"Really? A human?"

"This isn't right..."

"No... No that can't be. The Moon Goddess wouldn't."

"It's blasphemy."

The last word hissed like a curse.

I felt Rowan tense beside me, felt him read the room just like he always did. Cataloging who was shocked, who was scared, and who was already turning this into a threat they could use against me.

But my gaze didn't break from Savannah.

I didn't give them the satisfaction of seeing the doubt on my face.

Becasue the real problem wasn't their outrage.

It was the way that she looked at me. Like she could feel that chain too... and she didn't know whether to run or reach for it.

And me?

I'd faced down rogues and rival Alphas without breaking a sweat.

But the Moon Goddess hadn't given me a reward.

She had given me a test.

And if I failed...

My heart wouldn't be the only thing breaking.

It would break my pack.