Chapter 1

Chapter 1

The heat hit him like a betrayal.

One second Kai was standing at the edge of the clearing, trying to make himself small, and the next his knees nearly gave out. Heat flooded low in his belly, sharp and sudden, spreading through his veins like liquid fire. His skin flushed. His pulse stuttered. And between his legs, something warm and slick began to gather, slow and humiliating.

No.

Not here. Not tonight.

He clenched his thighs together hard enough to hurt and sucked in a shaky breath through his mouth, trying not to taste the air. The pack was everywhere—dozens of wolves in human form, laughing, drinking, waiting for the Alpha to finally name his mate. The air already reeked of anticipation and pheromones. If even one of them caught what was happening to him—

Kai turned on his heel and walked.

Not too fast. Not enough to draw eyes. Just a quiet step back into the deeper trees, heart slamming against his ribs like it wanted out. His hands were shaking. He could feel the slick starting to dampen the soft fabric between his legs, and the shame of it made his throat tight.

Three years of suppressants. Three years of careful distance, of never staying too long near the stronger wolves, of pretending he was just another low-ranking male who would never present. He had been so careful.

And still his body had chosen the worst possible night to stop lying.

A low growl rolled through the clearing behind him.

Kai froze.

The sound was deep. Controlled. The kind of growl that made the hair on the back of his neck stand up even before his brain caught up. He didn’t need to turn around to know who it belonged to.

Riven Blackthorn.

Alpha of the Blackthorn Pack. Six-foot-four of pure dominance and barely leashed violence. The man who was supposed to choose his Omega tonight in front of the entire pack. The man whose scent had always made Kai’s stomach twist with something he refused to name.

Kai forced himself to keep walking.

He made it maybe ten more steps before the wind shifted.

The change was immediate. The air thickened. A heavy, dark scent rolled over him—pine, smoke, and something hotter, something that sank straight into the base of his spine and made his hole clench around nothing. Kai’s breath left him in a soft, broken sound. His body reacted before he could stop it. More slick slipped out of him, warm and obvious, and the heat in his belly surged so hard his vision blurred.

Behind him, the clearing went quiet.

Then a single, rough voice cut through the silence.

“Who the fuck is that?”

Kai’s stomach dropped.

He didn’t turn. He couldn’t. His legs felt weak, and the only thing keeping him upright was pure panic. He heard footsteps—heavy, deliberate—coming through the trees. Every wolf in the clearing was watching now. He could feel their eyes like hands on his skin.

Riven’s voice came again, closer. Lower.

“Don’t move.”

Kai moved anyway.

He only made it three steps before a large hand closed around the back of his neck. Not hard enough to hurt. Just firm. Absolute. The heat of Riven’s palm sank into his skin like a brand, and Kai’s entire body shuddered. A soft, helpless sound escaped his throat before he could swallow it.

Riven turned him around like he weighed nothing.

The Alpha’s face was carved from stone, but his eyes—dark, sharp, already dilated—were locked on Kai with an intensity that made his knees threaten to buckle. Riven’s nostrils flared once. Twice. Then his expression changed. Something hungry and stunned flickered across his features, like he had just been punched in the gut.

“You,” Riven said, voice rough. “You’re the one.”

Kai tried to step back. Riven’s hand on his neck didn’t allow it.

“I’m not—” Kai’s voice cracked. He swallowed and tried again, quieter. “I’m not supposed to be. I never presented. I—”

“You’re presenting right now.” Riven’s thumb stroked once over the side of Kai’s throat, right over his pulse. The touch was almost gentle. The look in his eyes was not. “Your scent is all over the fucking air. Every wolf here can smell how wet you are.”

Heat flooded Kai’s face. He could feel more slick slipping out of him, soaking into his underwear, and the knowledge that Riven could smell it—that the entire pack could smell it—made his stomach twist with equal parts shame and something darker.

Riven leaned in. Not enough to kiss him. Just enough that his next words brushed against Kai’s mouth.

“You’ve been hiding this from me.”

“I wasn’t hiding it from you,” Kai whispered. “I was hiding it from everyone.”

Riven’s free hand came up and gripped Kai’s jaw, tilting his face up. The Alpha’s gaze dropped to his mouth, then lower, to the rapid rise and fall of his chest, then back up. When he spoke again, his voice had dropped into something close to a snarl.

“Not anymore.”

The words landed like a claim already made.

Behind them, someone in the clearing cleared their throat. An elder, maybe. Or the Omega Riven was supposed to choose tonight. Kai couldn’t look. He couldn’t look away from Riven either. The Alpha’s scent was wrapping around him like a living thing, heavy and possessive, and every breath Kai took only pulled more of it into his lungs.

Riven’s thumb brushed the corner of his mouth.

“You’re going into heat,” he said, almost to himself. “Full heat. And you thought you could just walk away.”

Kai’s voice came out small. “I still can.”

Riven’s eyes flashed.

“No,” he said. “You can’t.”

Then the Alpha’s hand left his neck, only to slide down and grip the back of his thigh, hauling him forward until their bodies pressed together. Kai felt the hard, unmistakable line of Riven’s cock against his lower belly and a broken little sound tore out of him before he could stop it.

Riven’s mouth brushed the shell of his ear.

“I’m going to take you back to that clearing,” he murmured, voice dark with promise. “And I’m going to claim what’s mine in front of every wolf who thought you were nothing. After that…” His fingers dug into the soft flesh of Kai’s thigh. “After that, you’re not leaving my den until this heat is over. Clear?”

Kai’s answer was a shaky exhale.

Riven didn’t wait for more.

He turned, still holding Kai against him, and started walking back toward the firelight and the watching pack—toward the public claim that would change everything.

And Kai, soft and slick and already half-lost to the heat, could do nothing but let himself be taken.