Chapter Two

Aria’s POV

I seem to have suddenly forgotten how to breathe. All I can focus on are those dark eyes gazing intently into mine, the feral snarl of his lips and the damn scent that tingles my senses, threatening to pull me under.

I try to swallow, try to say something, but my tongue has decided to remain glued to the roof of my mouth. His words wash through me, but all I can do is shake my head.

A gasp escapes my lips when he brings one hand above my head, when his other hand moves down, a finger grazing my chin. I feel the sudden pull, the jolt of electricity coursing through me where his skin meets.

He juts my chin up, and a plea almost falls from my lips.

But what will I be begging for? For him to let me go? For him to take a tiny step closer, to bridge the space between us?

It all ends as soon as it began. One minute, all I can feel is his presence, and the next, I hear the door close quietly. I release a breath, my heart still thudding hard against my chest, as if trying to claw its way out.

Something has changed.

I can feel it.

I wait a minute before pulling out of the room. It is hard to get my legs to work, seeing as they feel like jelly underneath me. Still, I continue moving, remaining glued to the wall.

My legs come to a halt at the landing of the stairs, but no one is focused on me. Instead, everyone has their eyes on Darius, the man who was just with me a minute ago.

“Alpha Darius…” someone from the crowd whispers, their tone trailing.

Alpha…

Shit! Shit! Shit! Way to go, Aria! Now, I’ve lost my element of surprise.

He doesn’t say a word, yet I can feel every bit of emotion coursing through him. He turns for a split second, his eyes meeting mine, before returning his gaze to the room.

Confusion washes through me, but hidden in the middle is something else.

I can’t place my hands on it.

My instincts yell at me to reach for my blade, but my body refuses to move. It feels like his voice has imprisoned every thought that makes sense.

“Darius,” the girl from earlier says, surprise etched in her tone. She comes up behind him with the guy she was arguing with. They seem good now, but even he keeps his eyes to the floor.

“Isla,” I can hear the building anger in his tone. “Can you please tell me what the hell is going on here?”

“I… It is… don’t get mad, okay?”

“I am waiting, Isla.”

“So, I was thinking…I mean, it is the last night before the end of the summer break, and I …I thought it would be nice to throw a party, and you know? Give everyone one last moment before we go back to classes.”

He brings his bottom lip between his teeth, and my eyes follow every moment. I feel a wave of heat searing through me. It starts from my stomach, covering every inch of my body until my legs can’t hold me up anymore.

I swallow my whimper, my hand clutching the bannister for support.

“In the pack house.” His tone is still level. Measured. But for some reason, I feel his anger inside me instead, like a fire burning on a hot night. I feel a sheen of sweat on my forehead, and I lift a hand to wipe it off.

Isla’s lips fall open and then shut again.

“Get out, everyone.”

That is all it takes for the crowd to disperse. It happens in a minute, the different scents pushing out through the door until it is just Darius, his friend and Isla in the living room.

The air seems to breathe with him as he takes a slow step in her direction. “Start talking.”

“I didn’t think you were going to be back tonight,” she wails, wringing her hands together. “I swear, I was going to have it all cleaned up before you returned. You told me you were going to be gone for a week, and I just thought…”

Isla stops suddenly. “Why are you back? Did something happen?”

No one answers her.

“Luca?” Isla turns to Darius’ friend. “Where is Nyra? Did anything happen to her?”

“My mate is fine,” Luca replies, sighing. “But the veil isn’t. Your brother felt it rip just as we got in. While we were away, he said something just kept nudging at him to return to the pack, so we had to cut our trip short.”

“And I walk in to meet a fucking party going on in the pack house and a torn veil.” He moves to the side of the room, grabbing a half-empty bottle and a red cup from the stack of clean ones.

“I’m sorry,” Isla sighs. “It’s just that… I was alone and…”

“What if something had gotten stolen, Isla, or destroyed? The things in this house are centuries old, don’t you know that?”

Her gaze drops to the ground. I don’t know if Darius can tell I am still in the room, or if he is just choosing to ignore me. But his eyes never meet mine again.

My fingers reach for the handle of my blade again, but suddenly, a hand covers my wrist, pulling me away from the stairs through a doorway, and the other presses hard against my lips.

The smell of steel and wolfsbane hits before she whispers. “You had him in your reach and you let him go.”

Anna.

“What are you doing here?” I whisper, easily making out her features in the dark, further accentuated by the hunter's badge she always has on, as if flaunting it in my face.  “I told you I could handle it.”

“Well, I obviously didn’t think you could,” she shoots back, taking her hands off me.

“I would have if you had just given me one more second.”

She rolls her eyes. “Let’s go.”

“Anna…”

“You obviously cannot find anything out tonight. Let’s go.”

“I did find out something,” I whisper, hating how I always feel like nothing next to her. “We tore through a veil. They know we are here.”