Chapter 4 – Room 318, Room 381

Selene’s POV

I woke up to a stranger’s breath on my skin… and I panicked.

One second I was tangled in sheets, my head pounding, body aching like I’d been hit by a freight train. The next, I realized I wasn’t alone. A man stood at the edge of the bed, barely clothed, eyes like glacial death locked onto me with terrifying calm.

I screamed like my lungs might burst.

But the man just stood there, unmoved. No reaction. No flinch. Just those soul-piercing eyes...icy and merciless...watching me like I was nothing more than a bug he hadn’t decided whether to crush or ignore.

“Who the hell are you?!” I shouted, panic punching my chest.

His expression didn’t change.

It was only then that I noticed...my naked body tangled in the sheets, the mess around the room, his towel flung over the window rail like a forgotten sock. Rhiannon’s dress lay crumpled at the foot of the bed. My panties and bra? On the floor. The bed? Looked like a pack of wolves had torn through it.

And this stranger...this man...just stood there like a storm dressed in human skin, eyes as sharp as broken glass.

“I should be the one asking who you are,” he said coolly, voice low and controlled.

My hands instinctively clutched the sheets tighter around me. The weight of his gaze made the air feel colder, heavier, like the whole room had been plunged into winter.

“No, I...I should be,” I stammered. “You’re naked. And in my bed. This is my room.”

He tilted his head slightly, like I’d just told the punchline of a bad joke.

“My name is Lucian,” he said...every syllable firm, deliberate. “Now tell me yours.”

Long, razor-like claws started to extend from his fingers as he cracked his knuckles, slow and deliberate. My stomach turned.

“S-Selene,” I managed, my voice breaking. “I...I swear, this is my room. I was drunk. I came in to sleep it off.”

“You’re lying.”

“I’m not!” I cried. “I can prove it. I have the keycard.”

He stared at me, no trust in his expression...just calculation. But after a second, he stepped back and gave a small nod.

I scrambled around the wrecked room, heart pounding. It took a moment, but I finally spotted the card. Crumpled. Dusty. Shoved in a corner like trash. I snatched it up and held it out like it was a winning lottery ticket.

He looked down at the card. His expression didn’t change. But the second the sunlight hit his face, I froze.

Gods.

He was stunning. Jaw carved like marble, chest sculpted like a weapon. But those eyes… They didn’t belong to a prince or a man. They belonged to a predator.

He glanced at the card again.

“Is this a joke?” he asked, voice suddenly full of ice.

“What?” I blinked.

“This is room 320.” He held the card up. “Yours says 381.”

My stomach dropped through the floor.

“No… no way.”

“See for yourself,” he said simply and tossed the card back at me. I fumbled it like a klutz, feeling the heat of embarrassment rise in my face. I finally caught it and read the damn thing.

3. 8. 1. 

My heart skipped a beat.

“This says 381.” I blinked hard. 

“Exactly,” he said flatly. “And this...” he gestured around the room, “...is 320. So, tell me again... who sent you?”

My hands trembled. “This can’t be real.”

“You going somewhere?” he asked coolly.

“I… I need to check the door. Maybe this is all a mistake.”

“You’re naked,” he pointed out.

I froze, looked down, and wanted to disappear. I yanked the blanket around me and bolted for the door. One look at it was all any sane person needed. 

It was 3. 1. 8. 

 “Oh no,” I whispered as reality slammed into me. I had wandered into the wrong room. I was the intruder here. In Fact if anything, I had downright taped him. 

I turned to leave but Lucian’s voice, flat and cold, stopped me in my tracks.

“Now confess. Who sent you? Isolde?Theron? My father?”

“What...? No! I don’t know any of those people!”

I turned to face him again, panic rising like bile. “I swear to the Moon, this isn’t a setup. It was my birthday. I just wanted to relax. I went drinking with my sister after my boyfriend… after I saw him with someone else. I felt sick and dizzy, and I came to sleep it off. I must have… I must have gone into the wrong room.”

Tears welled in my eyes again.

“I wouldn’t… I would never use my virginity to manipulate anyone,” I whispered, voice cracking. “This was a mistake.”

He stepped forward, grabbed my face...not hard, but not gentle either. I flinched, thinking he might lash out. But his fingers stilled, and his grip loosened. His thumb brushed my cheek.

I didn’t realize I was crying until I felt the tear slide down and land on his hand.

He stared at it like it burned him.

Then, without another word, he turned away.

“You should go,” he said, voice lower now. Almost soft. “Don’t forget your card.”

I nodded quickly, scrambled into my clothes, and ran for the door. My legs shook as I stepped into the hallway.

I was barely ten feet from his room when I heard my name shouted.

“Selene!”

I turned to see them.

Rhiannon.

Corwin.

Together.

Their voices were loud and accusing. My name came out of Rhiannon’s mouth like a curse.

“What the hell are you doing here?” she hissed, eyes cold, face twisted into something I didn’t recognize.

“I...”

“What are you doing in a hotel room?”

“Did you sleep with someone?” Corwin cut in sharply.

“She clearly did,” Rhiannon snapped. “Look at her hair. Her face. How could you do this to Corwin?! He loved you!”

“You were lucky to have him at all,” she continued. “He chose you...an omega with no wolf...and this is how you repay him?”

The scene exploded. Their voices echoed off the walls. People peeked out of rooms. A crowd started to form.

That’s when I saw him.

Room 381. The fat old nobleman who’d always stared too long, complimented too much.

He stepped out of the room meant for me.

And everything clicked.

The setup. The forced drinks. Rhiannon’s insistence. The way she rushed me through the crowd and handed me a keycard without letting me read it.

And then...on her wrist.

That Bracelet.

The one I saw on the girl Corwin was screwing.

The one she claimed to throw away.

It was right there. Smiling at me from her damn arm.

“It was you,” I whispered, numb.

“What did I ever do to you?” I asked, voice cracking, tears burning down my cheeks.

“You betrayed Corwin!” Rhiannon yelled to the crowd like she was some self-righteous Luna. “She’s crying because she got caught!”

I opened my mouth to speak...but I couldn’t.

I just stood there, breaking, drowning in betrayal and humiliation.

Corwin started to say something, but the hotel door slammed open behind me. Hard.

Lucian stepped out.

The whole hallway fell silent.