Chapter 1

Warning: Explicit scenes, adult content

Moonveil – Arithon Pack Lands | Alpha’s Office (11:30 PM)

Arlo’s POV

Rivena moaned beneath me, arching her back against my desk as my hand slid under her silk blouse. Her body was already slick with heat, pulsing with need and gods, she knew exactly how to offer herself to an Alpha.

My wolf growled low in my chest as I pressed her hips tighter against mine.

She wasn’t my mate. She’d never be. But she was convenient, beautiful, responsive, and completely aware this was nothing more than release.

My mouth found her neck, the place where her pulse throbbed just beneath skin. I didn’t bite, no marks. No claims. Just heat and friction. Her scent was laced with arousal, but it did nothing to tame the restlessness churning inside me.

Her fingers tangled in my hair as I grazed her breast, my thumb circling a hardened peak. She whimpered, grinding up against me. I could feel the need radiating from her, her wolf practically panting.

“You always play this rough?” she whispered, breathless.

“You like it.”

“I do.” Her lips curled into a smirk. “Because I was made for you, Alpha.”

“No,” I growled against her skin. “You were made to kneel.”

Her laugh was husky. “Then why haven’t you made me yours?”

I slid my hand between her thighs, beneath the black lace of her panties. She was soaking. I pushed two fingers inside her and felt her tighten around them, clenching with a desperate need.

“Because I don’t take mates who beg for attention,” I muttered. “I fuck them until they forget who they are.”

She cried out, trembling under my touch.

My wolf stirred, pacing beneath my skin, but it wasn’t for her. Kael never fully rose for Rivena. He watched, uninterested, distant. Waiting for something else.

She’s not her, Kael growled. She’s just flesh.

I shoved the thought aside and curled my fingers deeper.

Her moans grew louder. She clawed at my back, dragging me closer, her legs wrapping tightly around me. My other hand cupped her breast as I sucked on the skin just beneath her collarbone.

The desk creaked beneath her writhing body. Papers scattered to the floor, but neither of us cared.

“I want you inside me, Arlo,” she gasped.

I didn’t answer. My fingers kept pumping, harder, deeper, until her cries turned breathless and ragged. Her back arched as her climax hit, shaking through her like a storm.

And still, I felt nothing.

Just release.

Just... emptiness.

I pulled back slightly, licking her arousal from my fingers as she collapsed against the desk, panting.

“Alpha Arithon,” she purred. “If I told you I knew something about the Lunaris line... would you finally mark me?”

That caught my attention.

My jaw flexed. “You know someone at Lunaris?”

She pouted. “I didn’t say that.”

I narrowed my eyes. “Then why the hell are you here, wasting my time?”

She leaned up on her elbows, naked need still glowing in her eyes. “Because you let me.”

I stepped away from her and reached for my shirt.

Rivena sat up, crossing her legs slowly. “Don’t you ever get tired of pretending you’re not lonely, Arlo?”

I looked at her, expression flat. “I don’t do relationships. You know that.”

“Yeah.” Her voice was softer now. “But you also haven’t taken a mate. Even your wolf hasn’t marked me. What are you waiting for?”

I didn’t answer.

Because I didn’t know.

Kael had rejected every potential mate I’d bedded. He never rose for them, never responded. They were warm bodies, but not hers. Not the one fate had tied to me.

The one I hadn’t found.

Yet.

My phone buzzed on the desk. I reached for it, already buttoning my shirt.

“Don’t,” Rivena muttered, annoyed. “Just ignore it.”

“It’s Briar.”

“Oh, so your Beta gets priority over your—what? Mistress? Plaything?”

I didn’t dignify that with an answer. I pressed accept.

“What is it?” I said.

Briar’s voice was way too chipper. “Evening, Alpha. You sound... busy.”

“What do you want?”

“I just met someone. Says he knows how to get you in with the Lunaris CEO.”

My jaw tightened.

“Tonight. Club Den. Supernatural floor.”

I was already grabbing my jacket. “Meet me outside headquarters in ten.”

I hung up.

Rivena narrowed her eyes as she watched me buckle my belt. “You’re leaving?”

I didn’t look at her. “You know where the door is.”

“Arlo,” she said, standing fully now, her bare body glowing in the moonlight filtering through my office windows. “When are you going to stop pretending this is just sex?”

I finally turned to her. “It’s not even that anymore.”

Her lips trembled slightly, but she covered it with a smirk. “And here I was hoping I’d be the one to tame the great Alpha Arithon.”

I leaned in, brushing her hair off her shoulder, not lovingly, just deliberately. “You were never going to tame me, Rivena. You’re just convenient.”

“Then what are you chasing?” she asked.

I paused, glancing toward the window. The moon was almost full.

“My wolf wants something real,” I said quietly. “And you’re not it.”