3

**Chapter 3: The First Betrayal**

The air in the bar turned thick, like right before a storm breaks.

Damien’s voice cracked across the room like a whip. “Elena, I said get away from him!”

I couldn’t move. My whole body was pinned under the stranger’s stare, those golden eyes burning straight through me. The way he said mine, like it was already decided, like the universe had signed the papers, sent heat racing over my skin even while my heart was still in pieces on the floor.

Jessica grabbed my wrist under the table. “Elena, who is this guy?”

I opened my mouth, but nothing came out.

The stranger finally turned his head, slow and lazy, like Damien was barely worth the effort. “Problem, pup?” His voice was calm, but something dangerous coiled underneath it. The whole bar went quieter; even the jukebox seemed to drop a notch.

Damien’s jaw flexed. His fists clenched at his sides. I’d seen that look before, on the lacrosse field when someone checked him too hard, right before he lost it. But tonight there was something else in his eyes. Fear. Real fear.

Lisa clung to his arm, red nails digging in, smirking like she’d already won. “Damien, baby, let’s just go. She’s embarrassing herself.”

That snapped me out of it.

I shoved up from the booth so fast the table screeched. My bare feet hit the sticky floor and I didn’t care. “Embarrassing myself?” My voice came out raw, shredded from crying. “You were sucking face with my best friend at our engagement party, you lying piece of—”

“Watch your mouth,” Damien snarled, stepping forward. The air around him shifted. It was subtle, like heat rising off pavement, but the tiny hairs on my arms stood up. “You don’t know what you saw.”

“I know exactly what I saw.” I laughed, and it sounded insane even to me. “I heard it too. ‘My real mate.’ Ring any bells?”

Lisa rolled her eyes. “You’re drunk and hysterical. Come on, Damien.”

He didn’t move. His gaze flicked between me and the stranger, and whatever he saw in those gold eyes made his throat bob.

The stranger took one step forward, putting himself between me and Damien without seeming to try. His leather jacket creaked softly. “Walk away, Damien,” he said, almost gentle. “Before you do something you can’t undo.”

Damien’s lips peeled back from his teeth, actually peeled, like an animal, and for a second I swore his eyes flashed amber. “You don’t get to come into my territory and—”

“Your territory?” The stranger laughed, low and dark. “Last I checked, this bar’s neutral ground. And she,” he tilted his head toward me without looking, “is done being yours.”

I felt it then. A pull. Like an invisible thread yanked tight between my ribs and his. My breath hitched. My skin prickled so hard it hurt.

Damien noticed. Of course he did. His face went white, then red. “No. No. That’s not—”

The stranger finally looked at me again, and the world narrowed to just his eyes. “Tell him, little wolf. Tell him what you feel.”

I should’ve told them all to go to hell. I should’ve run. Instead the words spilled out, small and shaking and true. “I feel something. Like I know you.”

Damien made a wounded sound, like I’d stabbed him.

Lisa’s smirk faltered. “This is ridiculous. Damien, let’s—”

“Shut up, Lisa,” he and I snapped at the same time.

The stranger’s lips curved, just barely. Approval. Pride. Possessiveness.

Then Damien lunged.

It happened so fast I barely saw it. One second he was three feet away, the next his hand was reaching for my arm, fingers shifting into something darker, claws, actual claws, poking through his skin.

The stranger moved like water. He caught Damien’s wrist midair and twisted. Bone cracked. Damien dropped to his knees with a choked scream that sounded half-human, half-beast.

The entire bar went dead silent.

Lisa shrieked and stumbled back into a table, spilling drinks everywhere.

The stranger didn’t even raise his voice. “I said walk away.”

Damien cradled his wrist, panting, eyes wide and wild. “You can’t claim her. She’s mine. I marked her first—”

“You never marked her,” the stranger cut in, voice like a blade. “You played pretend. There’s a difference.”

Marked? Claimed? My brain spun. I stared at my bare shoulder, my neck, no bite marks, no scars. What the hell were they talking about?

Damien looked up at me, tears and fury mixing on his face. “Elena, please. Come home. We’ll fix this.”

The word home made bile rise in my throat. “There is no home. There’s no us. We’re done.”

Lisa grabbed his good arm, trying to haul him up. “Come on, baby—”

He shook her off like she weighed nothing. “Get off me!”

For the first time, her mask slipped. Real panic flashed across her pretty face.

The stranger let go of Damien’s wrist and stepped back, opening a path to the door. “You heard her. Leave.”

Damien staggered to his feet. For one heartbeat I thought he’d try again. Instead he looked at me, really looked, and something inside him broke. “I didn’t mean for you to find out like this,” he whispered. “I was going to tell you after the wedding. I swear.”

After the wedding. After he’d locked me in forever.

I couldn’t even speak. My throat closed up with pure rage.

He turned and stumbled out, Lisa scrambling after him. The door slammed shut behind them.

The second they were gone, my knees buckled.

The stranger caught me before I hit the floor, one arm sliding around my waist like he’d done it a thousand times. Up close he smelled even better, pine and smoke and something dark that made me dizzy. His chest was warm, solid. Safe.

“Hey. Breathe, little wolf.” His voice rumbled against my cheek.

Jessica and Lori were both on their feet, staring like they’d seen ghosts.

Lori found her voice first. “Okay, somebody explain what the hell just happened before I call the cops. Or animal control.”

The bartender, a big guy with tattoos and a beard, cleared his throat from behind the bar. “Victor, take it outside. You know the rules. No shifting on neutral ground.”

Victor. His name was Victor.

He didn’t let go of me. “Not shifting,” he said calmly. “Just keeping what’s mine safe.”

The bartender lifted an eyebrow. “She doesn’t look claimed yet, son.”

Yet.

The word hit me like a slap. I shoved at Victor’s chest, hard, warm, didn’t budge an inch, and stepped back. My voice shook but I forced it out. “Nobody’s claiming anybody. I don’t even know you!”

He let me go, but his eyes never left mine. “You will.”

Cocky. Insane. Gorgeous. Terrifying.

I hugged myself, suddenly freezing even though the bar was warm. “What are you?”

A slow smile spread across his face, sharp and a little feral. “Something your ex should’ve warned you about a long time ago.”

He reached out, slow enough I could’ve moved, and brushed a tear from my cheek with his thumb. The second his skin touched mine, that electric pull snapped tight again, stronger this time. A soft gasp slipped out of me.

Victor’s pupils blew wide, gold swallowing the black. His voice dropped to a growl that vibrated in my bones.

“Tell me you don’t feel it, Elena.”

I couldn’t lie. Not with his skin on mine. Not with that thread between us humming like a live wire.

I felt it. God help me, I felt it.

And then the door burst open again.

Not Damien this time.

Three huge guys in black jackets stormed in, eyes glowing the same amber as Damien’s had. One of them locked on me and snarled, “The girl comes with us. Alpha’s orders.”

Victor turned, planting himself in front of me like a wall.

“Over my dead body,” he said, and the smile he gave them was all teeth.

The biggest one cracked his knuckles. “That can be arranged.”

My heart stopped.

Victor glanced back at me, just once, and the look he gave me was pure promise.

“Stay close, little wolf,” he murmured. “Things are about to get loud.”