Chapter 1

The guard's hand hovered over his scanner, and I knew—one wrong move, and I was dead.

"Raise your head."

I obeyed, pulse hammering against my ribs. The night air did nothing to hide the tremor in my fingers, but the scent-masking pill I'd swallowed an hour ago had better hold. It had to.

Metal glided over the mask covering my face then I heard a soft beep pierced the silence.

The guard smiled. "Have a lovely evening, Miss Cassandra Raventhorn."

My stepsister's name. My stolen ticket to freedom.

I was Amaris Raventhorn, the unmated omega desperate enough to crash an Alpha's party wearing someone else's identity because the Alpha himself had made it crystal clear that no omegas were allowed.

Cassandra had everything I'd ever wanted, and she wore it like a crown while treating me like the dirt beneath her designer heels. She knew my darkest secret, the truth about the night my mother died and she'd wrapped that knowledge around my throat like a noose.

But tonight, the noose was gone.

Tonight, I would steal a taste of her perfect life, even if only for a few stolen hours.

The music hit me first as I got in, a wall of sound that vibrated through my bones. I saw wolves in designer gowns and tailored suits moving like they owned the world. Who was I kidding, they fucking did.

I couldn't believe I was finally inside and one of them.

For now, my wolf whispered, restless beneath my skin.

I felt dread in my gut. One slip was all it takes. One moment where someone saw past the mask. One whiff of my true scent breaking through the chemical haze.

Game over.

I forced my shoulders back and moved toward the refreshment table like I belonged here. Like I hadn't spent the last week scrubbing floors in the Raventhorn manor just to afford the pill burning through my system.

Crystal glasses lined the table in neat rows filled with different colours of wine from amber liquid, to ruby red, even midnight blue. I'd never seen so many choices in one place. Heck I have never been allowed to choose.

The server's eyes widened when I met his gaze. "Get me everything."

"I...everything, miss?"

I lifted my chin higher, channeling every ounce of Cassandra's entitled arrogance. "One of each."

Within seconds, the table before me bloomed with glasses. I lifted the first, inhaling the unfamiliar sweetness before taking a careful sip. It burned and tingled. My first rebellion.

I took another glass. Then another.

Laughter bubbled up from somewhere deep in my chest, wild, and uncontained. Was this what freedom felt like? Light-headed and dangerous and impossibly, beautifully reckless?

Then I felt it heavy eyes on me.

I looked up slowly, and the world stopped.

Across the room, a man stood utterly still, a drink forgotten in his hand. His mask was dark and his eyes help me captive, I still remember it like it was yesterday.

Then the pull, oh god, the pull.

It slammed into my chest, stealing the air from my lungs as my wolf surged forward, wild and frantic, whispering a truth I'd waited my entire life to hear.

Mate.

The word echoed through every cell in my body, as he moved toward me—no, he stalked, cutting through the crowd like a predator who'd just spotted his prey. My fingers tightened around my glass as I forced myself to take another sip, pretending I didn't notice him closing the distance between us.

Pretending my heart wasn't trying to claw its way out of my chest.

"You're going to regret that." He said as he got to me.

I glanced at him over the rim of my glass, pulse racing. "Regret what? Living?"

His lips curved into something that wasn't quite a smile. "Ordering the entire table."

"I'm making up for lost time." I set the glass down with more force than necessary. "Besides, they're free."

"Nothing here is free." He leaned closer, and heat radiated from him in waves. "Everything in this place costs something."

The bond between us hummed, electric and insistent. I looked at him, refusing to look away. "And what's the price for sitting this close to you?"

"Careful." His voice dropped lower. "You might not like the answer."

Walk away, my instincts screamed. Run. Instead, I let my leg graze his beneath the table. His muscles flexed as tension rippled through him.

The air between us electrified.

"I'm trying to figure out who you are," he murmured, studying me like I was a puzzle he needed to solve.

"Does it matter?"

"It does tonight."

Something in his tone sent shivers down my spine even as heat pooled low in my belly. I tilted my head. "And who are you supposed to be? Besides overly confident?"

He leaned in until his breath moved across my ear. "Someone who knows you don't belong here."

I froze for a second before forcing a smile, channeling every ounce of bravery I didn't feel. "Neither do secrets, yet here we are."

His eyes darkened as his pupils dilated. "I like women who are dangerous."

"Funny. I was thinking the same about you." I laughed.

"Come with me." Before I could even react, he guided me through the crowd before I could second-guess myself, his hand stayed on my waist even as we slipped into a quiet corridor where the music faded to a distant echo.

The pull between us intensified and boy was it unbearable.

I didn't remember who moved first. One moment we were standing there, breathing hard, the next, he was in front of me, his size swallowing all the space between us.

His gloved fingers brushed my wrist and lightning shot up my arm.

"You feel it too right," he breathed against my neck.

I tried to speak but for some reason, the words refused to come out, so I nodded instead.

He opened the nearest door, and pulled me in.

The room was dark except for moonlight spilling through tall windows, painting silver streaks across the floor. For a heartbeat, we simply stood there, the bond thrumming hot and demanding between us.

Then he kissed me, and it felt like falling and flying at once.

I held his cloak as the world narrowed to the heat of his mouth, the way my body moved with his without hesitation or thought like we'd been made for this moment.

Before I knew it, clothes fell to the ground and I felt the bed pressed against my back. I looked up at him even as I went inside me.

He moved slowly and I gasped as pleasure and pain crashed through every nerve. Then he thrust harder, faster, his control unraveling with each movement. The bond sang between us, pulling tighter, sealing something I didn't fully understand.

When he collapsed against me, I ran my fingers through his hair, feeling more whole than I'd ever felt in my life.

Then his mask slipped and fell to the floor with a soft, unforgiving thud.

"Y-you." My voice cracked. "You're the Alpha." I gasped as I saw his face.

He went rigid above me.

"I'm your mate," I whispered, desperate. "I felt it. You felt it too...we..."

"I don't know how I didn't realize your scent sooner." His nostrils flared as he pulled away. "Just so you know, an omega would weaken my position. This..." He gestured between us "—was just a fleeting moment."

The words cut deeper than any blade.

"You're rejecting me?" I cried.

His jaw tightened. "Yes. I will not take an omega as my mate."

And just like that, my world shattered.