Chapter 4 Two Years Later…

Ronan

I sat at the end of the conference table in our downtown headquarters. The elders of my pack droned on, their voices grating as screens lit up with maps of territory and statistical reports on profits. My phone vibrated and I ignored it while I leaned back and tapped my fingers on the polished wood. 

Two years had turned me into something harder, something colder, my wolf though remained forever pacing in my chest, never able to sit still. I hadn’t taken a Luna, hadn’t touched one, though the pack wouldn’t leave me alone about it. Sienna’s smell still haunted me, unrelenting, scorched to my bones.

“We need a Luna, Ronan,” Elder Marcus said, voice stern, with a tablet in his hands. “The stability of the pack relies upon it. You’re unmated, distracted. Choose someone.”  Silence fell over the room, as all eyes on me. I snarled, my wolflike voice growling out the sound from deep in my throat, and pressed forward, my eyes boring into his. 

“I pick nobody,” I said, each word weighted. 

“You are not my mate’s business. Concentrate on the borders, not my bed.” Marcus winced, his lips tightening, and nodded. Observing from the corner was Liam, his eyes keen, but he did not speak. He knew better than to push. I rose, bringing the meeting to a close, and stormed to my office, the glass door slamming shut. 

My desk was a mess — reports, contracts, a half full whiskey bottle from last night. I tuned it out, gazing at the city, it’s heartbeat of light beneath me. The restlessness burned in me, my wolf clawing free, asking for something I wouldn’t call by name. I’d been attempting to throw her out of my mind by losing myself in pack business, midnight runs through the outskirts of the city, brawls in the training yard that left younger wolves bruised and limping. But she was there in every silence and I could feel her moans in my head, I could see her hazel eyes searing into my being.

My phone chirped, awakening me. It was Jace, his words were sharp across the comm. “Alpha, we found her. Sienna Hart. Alive. She is living alone, in a small home on the fringe of human space, an hour or so away.”  I felt my blood boil to the point of eruption. She ran from me. Hid from me. All this time. My wolf rose up, the claws burning to burst through. 

“You’re sure?” I growled as I clenched the phone, and my knuckles whitened. 

“Positive,” Jace said. “Saw her myself. She is in a rural pocket, no pack, no protection.” I hung up the phone, out of breath, and grabbed my keys. 

“Don’t move,” I snapped at Liam, who had stepped into the doorway. “I’m handling this.”

The drive was a blur, my sport car slashing through the city, then onto snaking rural roads. The night was thick with a sliver of moon, my wolf pacing, eager, and pissed. She had hidden from me, had built a whole life without me, as if that night had meant nothing. 

My grip tightened on the wheel, the leather creaking. I hadn’t known what I’d do when I saw her — drag her back, start quizzing her, something worse — but turning back was not an option. My wolf had no regard for reason, only for her, only for the scent that had never left me.

The house was a small ranch style house, built between pines. I parked off a way, and crept up in my boots along the dirt. The air smelt like wildflowers, rain, but sweeter this time, mixed with something different, something my wolf could not identify. It lifted him, drew out his hunger, and I struggled to keep him on the leash. 

I pounded on the door a sound so loud in the still night it hurt my ears. My heart thudded, a combination of rage and something gentler, something buried in me. There was an unlocking sound on the door, and there she stood.  

Sienna. Her hazel eyes opened wide, her lips parting on a whispered, “Ronan.” She had longer hair, which she had pulled back in a messy bun, her frame was more feminine, she was curvy in a way that made my wolf growl. She was in an old faded sweatshirt and a pair of jeans, her feet bare, and for a moment, I thought she was back to that night —shaking under me, moaning my name. I felt the sting of anger rise, and the memory drowned under the flames of my rage. She’d run. Hid. Left me to burn.

I burst in, the door swinging closed behind me. She retreated, her eyes wide, but I didn't halt, my hands laying flat on her shoulders, against the wall. Panting, her smell intoxicated me, my wolf howled and I fought to keep him at bay. I came down upon her, my lips wicking her neck as I drew in her blood, her pulse fluttering beneath my exhale. 

“ You really thought you could hide away from me for this long?” I growled, my voice down, raw, each word weighted with the anger that had simmered for two years.