Chapter 3: The scent he couldn't forget

Damian’s POV

My eyes opened to the cold morning air.

For a few seconds, I couldn't move. The sharp pain in my ribs brought the night back in flashes.

The ambush. The silver blade. The poison.

And the woman.

I pushed myself up against the trunk of the pine tree, gritting my teeth against the fire burning in my side. The wound had stopped bleeding, but the poison was still fighting my blood. It was why my body felt like lead.

Then I looked at the moss beside me.

Empty.

She was gone.

I looked around the small clearing, but my black shirt was nowhere to be found.

She had taken it.

A dry, quiet laugh tore from my chest. Out of everything she could have done, the girl had run off with my clothes.

I leaned my head back against the bark, her face flashing in my mind.

She wasn't like any woman I had ever met. She hadn't looked at me with greed. She hadn't tried to use my name. She had looked completely broken, running from her own demons, yet she hadn't backed away from a bleeding beast.

I could still feel the heat of her small hands on my skin. I could still hear her whisper asking me to touch her.

Forget it, I told myself, shoving the memory away.

The poison had messed with my head, nothing more. We were two strangers who collided in the dark during my weakest hour. It was over.

I forced myself onto my feet. The ground tilted under me, but I caught the tree before I hit the dirt.

Inside my chest, my wolf let out a low, restless growl. He was pacing, clawing at my ribs like he wanted to break out. He had never acted this wild before.

“Calm down,” I warned him under my breath.

He didn't listen.

Instead, the wind shifted, and her scent hit my nose.

Pine. Rain. Sweet skin.

My whole body locked up.

The moment that smell filled my lungs, my wolf pushed hard against my mind with a single command:

Find her.

“No,” I growled to myself. “We have enemies to kill.”

I turned my back on her trail and walked toward the border.

Whoever planned that ambush knew my route and had access to rare wolfsbane poison. They hadn't just wanted to fight; they had wanted me dead. I had a pack to protect, traitors to hunt, and blood to spill.

The sound of heavy engines broke the quiet woods.

Three black SUVs tore through the trees and skidded to a halt.

My Beta, Marcus, jumped out first, six armed guards right behind him. His eyes went wide when he saw the blood on my chest.

“Alpha!” Marcus rushed over. “You’re alive.”

“Barely,” I said, my voice cold. “Where were you?”

“The eastern border was attacked at the same time to draw us away,” Marcus answered, looking around the ground. “They set a trap.”

He stopped talking, his nose twitching as he caught the unfamiliar scent in the air. His eyes landed on my bare chest.

“Alpha... who was here with you?”

“Nobody,” I snapped, walking past him toward the truck. “Get me back to the compound. Now.”

Marcus knew better than to push. He held the door open, and I climbed into the back.

As the truck sped away from the forest, my wolf snarled violently, thrashing against my chest because we were putting miles between us and that clearing.

I ignored him. I had lived for centuries. Women had chased my title, my wealth, and my bed for generations. None of them had ever mattered.

This human girl was no different.

By afternoon, my pack doctors had cleaned the wound and drained the dark poison from my side. The pain was dull now, but my strength was still slow to return.

By evening, I had finished a brutal council meeting. We had two surviving assassins locked in our dungeons, and Marcus was tearing our borders apart to find who paid them.

Exhausted, I walked back to my private quarters.

A woman was standing outside my door.

Elena. Her father was an influential pack elder, and my council had been pushing her into my path for months. She was beautiful, pure-blooded, and carried herself like a future Luna.

Usually, I would have ignored her or let her talk.

Tonight, she smiled and took a step toward me.

The heavy, sweet smell of her rose perfume hit the air and my stomach twisted with pure disgust.

I backed up a step, my upper lip curling.

Elena froze, looking confused. “Damian? Are you alright? I heard about the ambush”

“Get away from me,” I growled.

The sound was so rough, so full of warning, that she went pale.

“Damian, I only wanted to...”

“I said leave!”

Elena gasped, turned, and hurried down the hall in tears.

I stood alone in the dark corridor, staring at the floor. My skin was burning. My wolf was practically pacing against my throat, snarling at the very idea of another woman stepping near me.

I walked into my room and stopped by the large window overlooking the mountain ridges.

This wasn't the poison.

I had never reacted to another woman with disgust before in my entire life.

My wolf only wanted one scent.

Her scent.

I closed my eyes and forced the beast down with all my power.

She was a human girl. A stranger whose face I would probably never see again. I had an empire to run and enemies to execute. I wouldn't waste my time chasing a ghost across human borders.

I turned away from the window, determined to forget the feel of her skin.

That reckless night was finished.

Across the border, a key turned inside the lock of Aurora's bedroom door.