Marked but Unclaimed

I should have known something was wrong when Marcus didn't answer my texts that morning. I should have turned around right there on his doorstep. But I didn't. I had chocolate croissants in my hand and a key he gave me six months ago.

The apartment was too quiet.

I heard her laugh first. Sophie's laugh. My best friend's laugh, coming from his bedroom.

The white bakery box slipped from my hands when I saw them. Marcus and Sophie, tangled in his sheets, her red hair spilling across his pillow.

"Della—" Marcus jumped up. His face went white. "This isn't what it looks like."

Really? Because it looked like my boyfriend of three years was sleeping with my best friend.

"How long?" My voice sounded dead. Empty.

He looked at the floor. "Two months."

Two months. While I was baking his favorite croissants at five in the morning. While we were planning our anniversary trip. While I was stupid enough to think we had a future.

I didn't wait to hear more. I just left.

I sat in my car and cried until my eyes swelled shut. My wolf stirred in the back of my mind. She'd been quiet for five years, ever since I left my pack. But heartbreak always woke her up.

I couldn't go home. My empty apartment would just remind me that I'd built my whole human life on lies.

I needed noise. I needed lights. I needed to be someone else for a while.

Club Moonlight wasn't expecting me. I only danced on Fridays. But Rico saw my puffy eyes and let me in without questions.

"North Pack's here tonight," he said quietly. "VIP section."

My stomach dropped. I'd spent five years hiding from pack wolves. But the club was neutral territory. No pack owned it. That's why I chose it.

The dressing room was too bright. Pop music blasted from someone's phone. Cheap perfume burned my sensitive nose. Good. I wanted to feel anything except the image of Sophie's hair on Marcus's pillow.

I pulled out my red costume and my mask. Red leather that covered half my face. Behind it, I wasn't Della Hart who owned a bakery. I was just the dancer in the red mask. And she didn't care about cheating boyfriends.

"Three shots of vodka," I told Jake at the bar.

He raised his eyebrows. "You never drink before you dance."

"First time for everything."

The vodka burned going down. My wolf would burn it off in minutes anyway. One of the few good things about being a werewolf.

The stage lights blinded me. The music was too loud. I danced like I was angry. Like I could push all the hurt out through my body. Usually I loved dancing. Tonight I just felt stupid and used.

When I came backstage, Thomas was waiting. He looked nervous. Thomas was never nervous.

"I need to talk to you."

I pulled off my mask and wiped the sweat from my face. "What's wrong?"

"Someone wants to meet you." He was sweating now. "The owner. The club owner."

Everything inside me went cold. "What do you mean, owner? I thought no pack owned this club."

"No pack does. But he owns it. Shadow Moon Pack. He's an alpha, Della. And he asked for you specifically."

Shadow Moon. The biggest, most powerful pack in the west. The one I'd been running from for five years.

I should have grabbed my bag and run. But alphas don't really ask. They tell you what to do and make it sound polite. And I'd worked too hard on my human life to destroy it now.

"Where?" I asked.

"Private room in the back." Thomas touched my arm. "You don't have to go."

But I did. We both knew it.

The room was dark except for the city lights coming through the window. He stood with his back to me, perfectly still. Like a wolf watching prey.

When he turned around, I forgot how to breathe.

He wore a black mask. Expensive. Custom-made. But even with half his face covered, I could see he was beautiful. The dangerous kind of beautiful. Sharp jaw. Broad shoulders. A suit that probably cost more than my rent.

And his eyes. Silver. Bright. Looking right through me.

The power coming off him hit me like a wave. My knees went weak. My wolf surged forward for the first time in months, awake and responding to him before I could stop her.

No. I couldn't afford this. I'd left pack life behind.

"Dance with me," he said. His voice was deep. Smooth. It did something strange to my stomach.

"I don't dance with customers." I was proud my voice stayed steady.

"I'm not a customer." He stepped closer. That's when his scent hit me. Pine and smoke and thunderstorms. So strong it made my head spin. So good it made my wolf whimper with want. "I own this club. I've owned it for six months. And I've been watching you dance every Friday night."

My heart stopped. He'd been watching me. For six months.

"Tonight you looked angry," he said, moving even closer. "Like you wanted to burn the whole world down." His eyes flashed gold for just a second. Wolf eyes. "I thought you might want company."

I should run. I'd done it before. I could do it again.

But then he reached up and slowly took off his mask.

The face underneath stopped my breath. Sharp cheekbones. A scar through his left eyebrow. Lips that looked cruel and perfect. But it was his eyes that held me frozen. Silver turning to gold and back again.

"My name is Kade Thorne," he said. "Alpha of Shadow Moon Pack."

The room tilted. Shadow Moon. The pack I'd been hiding from. The pack my father—

"And you, little wolf," Kade continued, his voice dropping lower, "have been running from me for five years."

He knew. He'd always known what I was. Where I came from.

"What do you want?" I whispered.

He smiled. Slow and dangerous and full of promises I shouldn't want.

"I want to know why the daughter of the Northern Ridge Alpha is dancing in my club wearing a mask." He moved closer until I could feel the heat from his body. Until his scent wrapped around me like smoke. "I want to know why you left your pack. Why you're hiding. Why you looked so broken tonight."

His hand came up to my face. His fingers traced the edge of my mask. The touch sent electricity down my spine.

"But mostly," he said, his eyes burning into mine, "I want to know why my wolf has been going crazy for six months every time you step on that stage."

Oh no. Oh no, no, no.

I knew what that meant. Every wolf knew what that meant.

"Take off your mask, Della," Kade said softly. "Let me see you."

His wolf recognized mine. After five years of running, I'd walked right into the one thing I couldn't hide from.

My mate.