Chapter 2

Elena's POV

"No! Stop this! Please!" I tried, but it was useless.

Without hesitation, the guards grabbed me by the arms and tossed me out of the packhouse like yesterday's trash, and I hit the ground hard.

The agony of my severed mate bond, combined with the unbearable torment of my worsening heat, drowned out everything else.

"We… Can't stay here…" my wolf warned me, struggling to speak through the pain and dizziness. "If we stay… A male could find us."

I immediately understood what she meant. The scent of a she-wolf in heat was irresistible to most unmated males. Goddess knows what would happen if one stumbled upon me drenched and needy on the ground.

Despite the crushing pain, I pushed myself to my feet and ran into the forest. I had to find a place to hide before I attracted unwanted attention.

I wasn't thinking straight. I couldn't. My body was burning, my bond was shattered, and every instinct I had was firing at once, pulling me in different directions. I just ran. That was my first mistake.

I smelled them before I heard them. Alcohol and smoke and something feral underneath it, the kind of scent that made every hair on the back of my neck stand up. I stumbled to a stop. Through the trees, I could make out the glow of a fire and the shapes of bodies moving around it. Too many bodies.

Rogues.

My blood went cold. A she-wolf alone in the forest, rejected, in full heat, with no pack behind her. I might as well have walked in wearing a target.

I need to go back. I need to go back right now.

But before I could scramble up to my feet, half a dozen pairs of glowing eyes locked on me.

"My, my... what do we have here?" One of the rogues stepped forward.

"A lass!" another one chanted excitedly.

I tried to back away, but it was useless. In the blink of an eye, they were cornering me. There was nowhere to run to.

"What is this sweet smell?" one of the rogues wondered around me, his nostrils flaring as he scented the air.

"It's coming from her," another one pointed out, his tone puzzled before realization burned in his eyes. He knew.

They all knew.

The way their expressions shifted made my stomach drop. It wasn't just hunger. It was the look of wolves who had nothing to lose and no one to answer to. My heat was already making my thoughts blur at the edges, but fear cut straight through it, sharp and ice cold. There were six of them. I was one omega who could barely stand.

Their expressions shifted from confusion to thrill as they inched closer. Lust glowed in their eyes. I didn't need to be a mind reader to see what had just crossed their minds.

"Stay back!" I warned them, trying my best to sound imposing. "I... I work for Alpha Ryan Walter. I will complain directly to him about this. You're trespassing on his territory," I threatened, hoping it would be enough to scare them off.

I realized I had failed when the one who looked like their leader let out an amused huff. "What do you say, brothers? Should we let her go… or have some fun with her?"

No answer came, but one wasn't needed. They had made up their minds long before I said anything. It was obvious they had no intention of letting me leave. But what were wolves if they didn't play with their food?

This was my only chance to flee.

While they were distracted laughing as they fantasized about what they would do to me, I drove my knee into the crotch of the closest rogue. He squealed, clutching his balls as he fell to the ground. I didn't waste the opportunity. I bolted away without a second thought.

"Catch her!" the leader yelled.

As tightly as I'd held onto hope I could outrun them, that soon proved to be untrue. In a matter of seconds, one of them was on me, wrapping his fist around my wrist.

"Ah!" I screamed in pain.

I tried to push through it, to crawl away from him. It was useless. The rest of his friends soon swarmed me, pinning me down and leaving me completely helpless.

This is it, I thought. This is how it ends. Rejected, alone, and at the mercy of wolves who don't have any.

Why was this happening? Was the Moon Goddess trying to show me that everyone had been right all along? That I was nothing but a mistake?

Just when I thought this suffering might end me tonight, a savage roar cut through the night, making the ground shake. The atmosphere changed, becoming charged with a power so dire it forced everyone to their knees. Then a giant shadow descended over us.

From behind the trees jumped a monstrously large wolf with midnight-dark fur and vivid scarlet eyes. His aura was more powerful than any Alpha I'd ever met, but instead of terrifying me, his presence brought a shocking wave of comfort. When his gaze fell on me, a violent, undeniable pull snapped between us.

"Mate…" my wolf murmured faintly.

I couldn't process it. My mind was already in pieces, the heat tearing through me, the pain of Ryan's rejection still raw in my chest. And now this. A second chance mate. Here. Now. Of all the moments in my life for the Moon Goddess to answer me, she chose this one.

I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. I didn't have time to do either.

My breath hitched. A second chance mate. It wasn't a myth.

Reluctantly, the beast tore his gaze away from me and bared his fangs at the rogues. Terrified, they scrambled away from me. With purposeful steps, the giant wolf marched to stand between us. Then he shifted.

As the shift ended, a dangerously handsome man stood where the beast had been. Moonlight caught the hard lines of his jaw and bare chest, accentuating his muscles. While I watched him in awe, he glared at the rogues like they were nothing but insects.

"Party's over," his voice was low, husky, but it carried a lethal edge. "Get the hell out of my sight before I rip you apart."

The rogues didn't need to be told twice. They turned and ran with their tails tucked between their legs. Once they were gone, the man turned around and moved toward me so fast I would have missed it if I'd blinked. He knelt down, his eyes inspecting my injured knee before his soothing gaze returned to mine.

"Can you walk, little wolf?" he asked tenderly.

I opened my mouth to answer. Nothing came out. Up close, the pull between us was overwhelming, hitting me all at once from every direction. Gratitude, disbelief, the desperate relief of still being alive, and underneath all of it, the heat roaring back to life with a ferocity that made my hands shake. He was my mate. He had just saved me. And my traitorous body did not care about the order of those two facts at all.

Before I could answer, he scooped me up into his muscular arms. The moment he touched me, a jolt of liquid fire shot straight to my core. I gasped, my skin burning where he held me. Unaware of the effect he had on me, he carried me a few yards to the riverbank, gently lowering me onto the soft grass.

As he leaned over me to clean my leg, his cedarwood and pine scent filled my nose at once. That was the last drop that sent me over the edge, completely breaking whatever sanity I had left. My heat took total control.

I grabbed his shirt, pulling him closer. The stranger stiffened immediately. His jaw clenched as he stared down at me, his eyes flicking back to that dangerous scarlet shade.

"Stop," he warned, but there was no anger in his voice. Only restraint. "You're in heat. You'll regret this tomorrow."

Maybe he was right. Maybe this would be a mistake. But as my most primal instincts took over, all I cared about was satisfying my heat. I wrapped my legs tightly around his waist and pulled him closer again. This time, he didn't fight back.

"I won't," I gasped, my lips brushing his, trembling. "Please… take me. Make it stop…"

His breath hitched. Those eyes darkened, and then he crushed his lips to mine.