03

RONAN

I don't do blind dates.

I don't do surprises.

I don't do sitting in overpriced restaurants pretending I'm some normal man with normal intentions.

But tonight I had no choice. The man who had brought this offer to me was one of my business associates; who I had worked with for many years.

I couldn't turn down his offer.

So I put on my mask covering the ruin of half my face, the part the fire took from me, the part she stole.

My mate. The woman who  had destroyed everything I was and left me carved into this monster still lingered at the back of my mind.

She had managed to escape my clutches but my vengeful heart still searched for her.

I had longed for the day I would finally find her. The day I would tear her into pieces. I felt it in my bones that the day I was hoping for  was closer than I realized.

I paused my thoughts, focusing on the task at hand—my  so—called  date.

The minute I arrived at the restaurant, I savored the feeling of festivity that was loud in this part of town. Where I lived, Christmas wasn't just forgotten. It was erased, like it had never existed in the first place.

I walked into a golden-lit restaurant and my eyes landed on the woman sitting on the table I had reserved.

She wasn't Adam's daughter; Mia. She was a total stranger, a person who looked soft but also radiated a fierce aura.

I noticed how she tried to look put together despite the fear bleeding through her posture. Her hair fell over a bandaged forehead and her scent seemed to captivate my wolf which was quite weird.

As I observed her I felt something inside my chest actually move. Something I hadn't felt in years.

Dammit.

I should have turned around after I saw she wasn't my date. Instead, I went to her drawn like a wolf tracking heat in winter.

Her head lifted. Her eyes snapped to mine and  something electric charged through us.

"Are you... my date?" she whispered.

No.

Not even close.

"Yes," I said anyway. "I am."

I sat before she could doubt it. She looked scared but not of me. Not the way most people were. Her fear was older. Deeper. Directed at ghosts I hadn't met yet.

"I'm Ronan," I said. "Ronan Huxley."

She blinked, startled. The Huxleys were old blood. Respectable blood. A good lie to hide the real truth.

"I'm Kess," she murmured. "Just... Kess."

No last name.

Smart girl.

Her scent hit me again and I felt compelled to touch her. My jaw clenched at that thought.

I needed to control myself .

"Have you checked the menu?" I asked, trying to distract myself from the burning  desire inside me.

She shook her head and I proceeded to hand her the menu sitting at the corner of the table. She didn't spend much time debating on what to eat and her choice of food amused me.

She went for the cheapest on the menu unlike most girls I had known who would have asked for a whole buffet.

After the waiter walked away with our orders, the part I hated finally started. Talking. Pretending to care about it. I'd never been good at conversations, and I didn't bother trying—least of all with women. I liked them better when they're quiet or warming my bed. Anything other than that, count me out.

"So," she said after a moment, "do you... always wear a mask?"

"Only when I don't want people staring." My reply was forced.

She nodded. She didn't ask what happened and I was pleased.

"What do you do?" she asked softly.

"Business," I said. "The kind you don't ask about if you want to keep sleeping at night."

A shiver slid through her not fear, but awareness.

Interest.

I hadn't planned to keep entertaining her. But she kept saying soft, honest things that made it impossible not to respond. She even made me laugh, which was very rare. No woman has ever gotten a chuckle out of me but Kessa had  managed to do the impossible ten minutes into the date.

"My father doesn't think I'm strong enough," she whispered at one point, eyes lowering. "He never has."

"What father?" I asked evenly.

"Alpha James Winslow."

It took everything in me not to laugh.The goddess had a sick sense of humor.

James Winslow. My sworn enemy.

The man who cost me pack members, their land and blood. The man I intended to bury one day's daughter was sitting in front of me with eyes that held storms she refused to speak about.

She didn't know I was her father's sworn enemy. She didn't know she was giving me secrets she should have guarded with her life and I didn't stop her.

After dinner, she reached for her coat and honestly I didn't want to let her go, not yet.

"How about something better than restaurant wine?" I murmured. "I have a rare vintage at my estate. A Christmas Eve special. You might appreciate it."

She hesitated but she nodded anyway.

The drive back was silent, but the inside of my head was anything but. That scent kept crawling into my lungs, refusing to let me think straight. It wasn't just beautiful. It felt like a memory...like something I had experienced before.

I tried to figure out why it felt that way. I'd been with enough women to know their perfumes, their heat, their skin. But not one of them matched this. Not one came close.

Only one scent had ever felt like a trap.

Only one had ever felt like a spell.

My mate's.

Kessa couldn't be my mate or could she?

I looked at her realizing that she had  similar eyes as my mate. Even her hair color and pale skin was the same.

How come I was just noticing.

Anger shot in my blood, as that realization dawned on me but I hid it.

My  gaze fell on the road ahead, resting on my  estate which rose from the snow like a fortress carved from stone. Kess's breath hitched when the gates opened and my guards bowed as if greeting a king.

"That's... your place?" she whispered.

I nodded, still trying to understand how she had striking features to the woman who destroyed me years ago.

She stepped out of the car slowly, like she wasn't sure she belonged here. I watched her take it all in the pines heavy with snow, the torches burning against the night, the massive doors carved with wolves.

I led her inside. The doors shut behind us with a heavy thud and she  turned to me.

"This is magnificent,"

I didn't utter a word. I smiled knowing fully well she wouldn't see this place as magnificent once she found out who I really was.

I loosened the mask slowly, ready to unleash the rage I had harbored on the drive.

"Kess," I said. "I wasn't honest with you earlier."

She stiffened.

I stepped closer, letting her see the darkness I didn't hide.

"My name isn't just Ronan Huxley."

She swallowed hard.

"I am Alpha Ronan Asa," I said quietly. "Your father's enemy."

At that moment I saw her expression change as she realized exactly where she was.

Exactly who she'd trusted.

Exactly what she'd walked into.

"You should've trusted your instincts and turned down my offer," I said, almost gently. "You should've ran,"

But she didn't move.

And I wasn't sure I could let her go even if she tried.