CHAPTER 3: The Wolf's Den

CHAPTER 3: The Wolf's Den

~ Kim ~

My feet moved before my brain could talk me out of it.

I walked toward the cabin, drawn by curiosity and something else I couldn't name.

Why had Richard chosen this exact spot?

Was it coincidence?

The cabin was beautiful up close. It looked like a sanctuary. A hideaway.

I glanced back toward the trees where Galina had disappeared. Richard was still in the city somewhere—I'd left him gasping for air at the café. There was no one here.

Which meant I could satisfy my curiosity without getting caught.

I approached the front door and placed my palm against the wood. Then, with barely a thought, I let a trickle of my power flow through me.

The collar warmed against my throat in warning, but the amount was so minimal it wouldn't trigger an alert.

I pushed a tiny surge of energy into the lock mechanism. It clicked open.

I slipped inside and closed the door softly behind me.

The interior was just as beautiful as the exterior—an open floor plan with a kitchen on one side, a living area with a massive stone fireplace on the other. Wooden beams crossed the high ceiling. Everything was clean and neat, almost obsessively so.

I wandered through the space, running my fingers over the furniture. A leather couch. A handmade coffee table. Bookshelves lined with everything from pack law to classic literature.

Then I saw the stairs leading to a loft bedroom.

I shouldn't go up there. I was already trespassing. Already invading Richard's privacy in a way that would probably get me in serious trouble if he found out.

But I climbed the stairs anyway.

The master bedroom was spacious and simply furnished—a large bed with dark sheets, a dresser, a chair by the window. But what caught my attention was the fur.

Fresh fur everywhere. On the bed, scattered on the floor, clinging to the chair.

Wolf fur.

I bent down and picked up a clump of it, bringing it to my nose. The scent hit me immediately—pine and earth and something wild. Something that made my omega wolf stir restlessly despite the collar's suppression.

It was the same scent I'd caught at the café. Richard's scent.

‘Ours,’ Rachel breathed, and this time she sounded almost reverent. ‘That scent. I know that scent. It is very familiar, nostalgic, can’t pinpoint where’

“Everyone knows what Richard smells like, Rachel. We met him yesterday.”

‘No,’ she insisted, restless beneath my skin. ‘This is different smelling his fur’

My heart lurched.

I turned to leave, to get out before he sees me here.

But he was standing in the doorway.

Completely naked.

"What are you doing here, Kimberly?" His voice was low, dangerous. An Alpha's growl that made every hair on my body stand on end. His eyes were blazing gold — the sign of a wolf barely in control.

I lost my breath at the sight of him. Not because of his anger — though his dominance was rolling off him in waves — but because of his body.

I'd never seen a naked man in my entire twenty-eight years. I'd been too focused on controlling my curse, too isolated, too afraid of the consequences.

But Richard Fell was... breathtaking.

His chest was broad and sculpted, his stomach ridged with muscle. And lower... I jerked my eyes away, heat flooding my face.

"I'm sorry I intruded," I stammered, forcing myself to meet his golden eyes instead of looking anywhere else. "I thought... I mean, if I'm going to be bonded to you in less than twenty-four hours, I should at least see what your cabin looks like."

His jaw clenched. I could see the muscles in his shoulders tensing, see the way his hands flexed at his sides like he was restraining himself from shifting completely.

"You had no right," he growled, taking a step toward me.

I took a step back instinctively. Not out of fear—though maybe I should have been afraid—but out of self-preservation. Because despite his anger, despite the situation, despite everything...

I wanted him.

God help me, my omega wolf wanted her Alpha.

He kept advancing, and I kept retreating until my legs hit the bed frame. I stumbled, landing on the mattress with a soft gasp.

Before I could stand, Richard was on me, using his Alpha speed to pin me to the bed. His hands caught my wrists, holding them above my head. His body covered mine, all heat and muscle and barely restrained power.

"What are you doing here?" he demanded again, his face inches from mine. Those golden eyes were blazing, wild, more wolf than man.

I should have been terrified. Should have used my power to throw him off, collar be damned.

‘Don't you dare push him off,’ Rachel warned, practically vibrating. ‘Don't you DARE.’ 

Instead, I smiled.

"Getting even," I said breathlessly. "You touched my breast last night. Now I've seen you naked. See? Even."

Something flickered in his expression — surprise, maybe, or confusion. Then awareness seemed to dawn. He looked down at himself, at the way his naked body was pressed against my clothed one, at the very obvious erection pressing against my thigh.

He scrambled off me like I'd burned him, grabbing a towel from a nearby hook and wrapping it around his waist with jerky movements.

"Get out," he said, his voice rough.

I stood slowly, smoothing down my dress with hands that trembled slightly. My heart was racing, my skin tingling everywhere he'd touched me. The collar was warm against my throat—whether from the tiny power I'd used to break in or from my body's response to an Alpha, I couldn't tell.

"This doesn't change anything," I said, lifting my chin. "You were a dick to me at the café. You're a dick now. And in a day, I have to bond with you anyway."

The look on his face was thunderous.

But I didn't wait for his response. I walked past him, down the stairs, and out of the cabin with as much dignity as I could muster.

Only when I was safely in the trees did I let myself run.

I didn't stop running until I found Galina waiting by her car at the edge of the woods. She took one look at my flushed face and disheveled hair and raised her eyebrows.

But she didn't ask questions.

Thank God.

Because I had no idea how I would explain what had just happened.