ANDREA’S POV
My vision blurred as I moved. I was desperate to leave what was officially the worst Hunting Festival in history and nurse my broken heart in peace.
Then I felt a hand grip my wrist, halting me. The point of contact sent electricity sizzling up and down my arm, and I didn’t need to turn to know who it was.
Alpha Kade pulled me to him, turning him to face me.
“Where are you going?” he hissed, almost furiously. The skank that had been on his arm was nowhere to be seen.
I bit my lip, unable to meet his fiery gaze. The nirvana of finding my mate had faded, and all I could think of was the huge gap between us and the gossip about Kade. We would never work.
'Andrea, our mate wants us!' Emrae jumped excitedly. 'I can feel his wolf. He's so damn hot and powerful!'
Powerful? Beck had made it painfully clear—an Omega like me wasn’t enough. And this man? This towering, ice-eyed Alpha who reeked of power and dominance? He would laugh in my face if I dared suggest fate had bound us together.
“If you’re done staring, I’d like to be alone,” I said as I tried to push him away. But the moment my hand touched his firm chest, a jolt of electricity passed through my spine to my core, throbbing uncontrollably.
“You don’t get to dismiss me,” he said, low and dangerous.
I had no way to retreat.
I kept my head low. I knew just with one more glance, I wouldn't be able to control myself any longer from pouncing on him.
“Tell me your name,” he demanded with an irresistible authority in his voice.
My heart trembled. I knew why he wanted my name. He needed that to complete the rejection.
I exhaled shakily, “Andrea.”
I braced myself for the rejection. It was good it was happening now, so I could kill two birds with one stone and nurse my twice broken heart in one night.
But it never came.
Instead, Kade smirked, tilting his head to the side as he watched me. Like I was a puzzle he intended to solve.
And then I smelled her—a lingering trace of perfume, sweet and cloying, clinging to his skin. My stomach twisted. Of course. He’d been with someone else before. Some real superior she-wolf, no doubt.
I stiffened, my pride flaring. I'd never repeat the same mistake! The same stupid shit that I had suffered from Beck! I needed to snuff out all illusions right at the very beginning.
I balled my fists, "You should just reject me now and get it over with."
His gaze darkened. "Excuse me?"
"You heard me." I forced steel into my voice, even as my wolf whined in protest. "Do it. Reject the bond. Save us both the trouble."
A low growl rumbled in his chest, and suddenly, he was right there, crowding me against the greenhouse glass. His heat seared through me, his scent wrapping around my senses like a claim.
"You don’t command me, little Omega." His voice was velvet and venom. "I decide what happens here."
I should have shoved him away. Should have run. But my body betrayed me, leaning into his touch like a flower starving for sunlight.
His fingers traced my jaw, rough and possessive. "You think I’d let you go so easily?"
I opened my mouth to argue—but then his lips came crashing down on mine, and my world exploded.
The kiss was unlike anything I’d ever experienced—passionate and hungry and fueled with a fire that burned throughout my entire body. My legs wobbled under the intensity of it, and Kade wrapped his arms around me, molding our bodies together as our lips collided in a frenzy.
The mating bond shone brightly between us, like a live, tangible thing I could hold on to. I felt my wolf call out to Kade’s and he answered with a deafening roar that blotted out everything else.
I don’t know how or when we moved, but the next thing I knew, Kade was kicking the door of a private cabin shut behind us.
Stumbling blindly backward, he kissed me with a primal ferocity that made molten desire pool in my belly. I stopped when I felt my knees hit the bed.
We broke the kiss then, and Kade leaned his forehead against mine, panting harshly. I could feel his heart thundering almost as fiercely as mine.
MINE.
The word echoed between us, unspoken but undeniable.
I hated him for this. Hated how easily he unraveled me. Hated the way my body arched into his, desperate for more.
But most of all?
I hated that I wanted it.
ANDREA’S POVThe sight of her was haunting.Even now, hours after our failed raid, sitting at the edge of my bed with the moonlight spilling across my hands, I could still see Natasha’s body—battered, bruised, bones jutting from angles they shouldn't, skin torn in places no one should ever bear pain.Her pain wasn’t mine, but I felt it anyway. Like it had burrowed beneath my skin and made a home in my chest.Bringing her back had felt like dragging a corpse out of a grave, praying it might breathe again.After her few whispered words earlier, she had fallen silent, her wide, sunken eyes darting between us like we were the enemy, cringing every time someone tried to touch her.Seeing anyone like this would have been bad.But seeing Natasha, formidable, grandiose Natasha, who’d only ever known a life of opulence and respect, be reduced to such awful conditions…I shuddered every time I thought about it.Last I’d seen her, she was getting set up in the guest room, attached to different I
NATASHA’S POVThe light was blinding.After so long in the dark, even the flickering beam from a flashlight was enough to send daggers through my skull.I flinched instinctively, vision swimming, and tried to lift my arms to shield my face—only to remember, too late, that my limbs barely obeyed me anymore.“Natasha?!”That voice—Andrea’s—splintered something in me. Not because it was familiar. Because it wasn’t supposed to be here. None of this was supposed to be real.I opened my mouth, but only a rasp came out. The last time I’d spoken, it was to beg for my life. Or maybe I’d been screaming. I couldn’t remember anymore.I tried to focus, but everything hurt. My skin felt stretched too thin. My throat was cracked and raw. My joints creaked like old wood, and my muscles trembled just from the act of pushing myself up.The floor beneath me felt colder than anything I’d ever known. The chill seeped through my skin, gripped my bones.“Help her up,” Kade barked. The voice was sharper than
NATASHA’S POVI thought my life was over when my cushy world as an Alpha’s daughter—and fiancé—was tipped on its axis when my dad gave me away to his ‘friend’ for protection.Then I thought I’d hit rock bottom when the ‘friend’ shoved me into lingerie made of cheap net and plastic diamonds and forced me to dance and fuck under the name Vixen.And then, when Kade had me dragged out of that strip club, kicking and screaming, I thought there was absolutely no fucking way things could ever get worse.Little did I know that that night was only the beginning of my misery.The dungeon I was thrown into after my so-called arrest was little more than a holding pen—a pit of damp stone and silence. No windows. No voices. Just the mocking echo of my own thoughts.Kade had said I could be pardoned if I persuaded my father to cooperate, but I never even saw him.Days passed, and I didn’t see my father. Didn’t see Kade. At some point, I would have even been happy to see fucking Andrea.But no one ca
ANDREA’S POVThe dining room looked like a war room.Maps and reports covered every inch of the table, the TV was muted but still playing the news on loop, and the weight of the stress was so heavy that every one of us looked like we hadn’t slept in days.The scent of cheese and tomato sauce hung thick in the air, but despite how delicious Fabio’s lasagna looked, no one seemed to be able to stomach food.“I still say we push for a public statement,” Gina said, arms crossed over her chest. “Control the narrative before the mayor does any more damage.”“No.” That came from Kade, low and firm. His secretary, David, and the head of his sentinels, Richard, stood quietly behind him, observing, waiting for orders.“We don’t have proof. Not yet. If we speak now, it’ll only draw more attention to the factory and its staff. We can’t counter shit if we don’t have concrete evidence.”“Then we sow discord,” Fabio said, fingers tapping restlessly against his coffee mug. “Just enough to discredit th
BELLA’S POVIt felt like everything was falling apart.From the moment Nico came into my room, informing me that I had to exit the factory with the rest of the staff, to when I stepped out into the bright chaos of flashing lights and rising voices.Packed like sardines with the staff, snippets of what was going on filtered into my ears all around me.‘The kidnappings…’‘Alpha’s behind it? No fucking way!’‘I heard they found evidence. Files, or some bullshit.’‘What’s going to happen?’‘No fucking clue.’Now, I hugged my knees to myself, curling up on an unfamiliar single bed in an unfamiliar room. The walls were a cheerful collage of bright colors and cartoon characters that contrasted with the dread sitting heavy in my stomach.I could hear the chaos downstairs, muffled by the walls and the floor between us.Alpha Andrea’s home had been turned into a base of operations of sorts. She and Alpha Kade, along with her friend, Julia, Gina, Fabio, Nico, and two members of Kade’s pack whose
ANDREA’S POVThe air felt too thick. I couldn’t breathe. My legs locked in place, as if moving might somehow make the nightmare more real.That file—the file of all the fucking missing people—was in my office.How the fuck had it gotten there?Behind me, I heard Kade’s breath catch—a sharp, bitten-off inhale that told me exactly how bad this looked. Worse than bad. Catastrophic.Not just for me—but for everything I’d built in New York.Red Water Pack's relation with all the other packs. My factory. The shaky, fragile threads of trust we’d spun with the human world.Gone. All of it. With a file folder and four vials of goddess-knows-what.“I want the lab results expedited,” Blackstone was saying, addressing his aides like some smug CEO of justice. “Chain of custody needs to be airtight. I want analysis within 48 hours.”“Mayor Blackstone—” I tried, stepping forward.“No.” His voice cracked across the room like a whip. “You don’t speak right now unless it’s to admit how deep this goes.”