Chapter 4

Arlo’s POV

Alpha’s packhouse Quarters, Moonveil

I jolted awake, lungs gasping, sweat slicking my chest.

The moonlight through my window cast shadows like claws across the ceiling. My fists were clenched, and my pulse thundered.

“Not again,” I muttered, dragging my hands down my face.

The dream, the same one that had haunted me for twenty-two years that clung to me like blood.

I was eight. Careless. Naive.

My parents were fighting again, loud and bitter while we were supposed to be having a picnic in the park.

I kicked my ball too far.

It rolled into the road.

I followed, chasing it like it was the only thing I could control.

I heard the tires scream before I even saw the car.

Too fast. Too close.

The driver swerved to miss me.

The car flipped. Metal crunched. Silence fell.

And I remember her—so small—wailing beside the wreckage as they pulled her parents’ bodies from the mangled steel.

I never told anyone.

My fault. My silence. My shame.

Kael, my wolf, stirred in the back of my mind. He didn’t growl. Didn’t speak. He just… watched. The dream always silenced him too.

I pushed myself into the bathroom, splashed cold water on my face, but it did nothing. The guilt clung like a second skin.

If I could find her… the girl from that day… maybe I could ask for her forgiveness.

But how do you ask someone to forgive the moment that shattered their life?

.

.

The Next Morning

Alpha’s Office, Moonveil

I barely noticed the stack of contract proposals on my desk. Lunaris Lineage’s logo glared up at me from every file like it knew what I was hiding. What I wanted.

Who I wanted.

Bells.

Kael stirred the second I thought her name. A low growl of possessiveness rumbled beneath my ribs.

She had embedded herself in my head like a scent I couldn’t shake. She’d danced for me once and I couldn’t stop seeing her every time I closed my eyes.

That damn stripper had embedded herself into my bloodstream.

One dance. One look and I couldn’t stop thinking about her. Not just the curves or the lips or the sway of her hips but the way her eyes had locked with mine like they knew something about me I didn’t even understand.

Her scent had been impossible. Earthy. Wild and saucy … a note of Omega but not just any Omega, Something darker. Richer.

My phone buzzed. Rivena.

I sighed and pressed answer.

“What is it?” I said.

“Well, good morning to you too, Alpha,” came her honeyed voice.

“What do you want, Rivena?”

She huffed. “Do I always need a reason to call you?”

“Yes.”

“I was thinking maybe we could hang out tonight.”

“I’m busy.”

“No, you’re not. You work all day. But you’re off tonight.”

“That doesn’t mean I’m spending it with you.”

“You’ve changed,” she snapped. “Since her.”

I stiffened. “There is no her.”

“Then stop acting like I don’t exist,” Rivena hissed.

“You were convenient. Don’t confuse that with meaning.”

“I’m not just your mistress—”

“Yes, you are,” I cut in. “And you’re not even that anymore.” I hung up.

Kael stirred, growling low. "She’s not her. She never was."

A knock came at the door, and Briar walked in without waiting for a response, of course.

“You look like hell,” he said, sipping a coffee like he hadn’t just insulted his Alpha.

I didn’t respond. He flopped into the chair across from me and took a long sip. “Let me guess. Rivena called?”

“Not your business.”

“Let me rephrase. Did Rivena call and remind you why you don’t do relationships?”

I leaned back, pressing my fingers to my temples. “What do you want, Briar?”

He just smiled sheepishly at me.

“Get to the point,” I muttered, running a hand down my jaw.

“You planning on going to The Den tonight?”

I raised an eyebrow. “That why you’re here?”

He shrugged. “You keep telling me you're over her. Thought I’d see if you were ready to prove it.”

“I told you, I’m not chasing her.”

“But you’re thinking about her.”

“I didn’t say I wasn’t haunted by her.”

Kael huffed, restless.

“You’re getting worse,” Briar said, cocking his head. “You haven’t fed your wolf in weeks. Haven’t let him run. Haven’t taken a mate in...what, months?”

“Do you have a point, or do you just enjoy being annoying? Maybe I don’t want one.”

“Or maybe you’re scared because the only one you do want is a girl who doesn’t kneel, doesn’t beg, and won’t give you her name.”

My jaw clenched.

“Touché,” Briar added smugly.

“You done?”

“Almost,” he said. “Because while you’ve been moody and brooding over mystery girl, I’ve been busy falling for a stripper.”

I blinked. “Excuse me?”

He winced. “Her name’s Ivy. Stage name Honey.”

I couldn’t hold in the smirk. “You’re into a stripper named Honey?”

“She’s not just a stripper.”

“That’s exactly what I said about Bells.”

“Then maybe we’re both royally fucked.”

I snorted. “She’s human, right?”

“I think so,” he said, unsure. “She doesn’t know what we are. I don’t think she even suspects.”

“That’s dangerous.”

“She’s not dangerous,” Briar said. “She’s peace and very funny. For ten minutes, when she danced for me, I didn’t think about bloodlines, duties, or pack politics. I just… breathed.”

I stared at him for a beat. “So you’re going back.”

He nodded. “Yeah. I need to see her again.”

We sat in quiet understanding.

Two wolves.

Two obsessions.

I stared down at the Lunaris contracts on my desk.

He groaned. “Don’t make it weird.”

“I didn’t know the mighty Beta Briar could fall for a human.”

“She doesn’t know about our world. I don’t think she even suspects what I am. That’s what makes it... simple.”

“Or dangerous.”

“Or... exactly what I need,” he said softly.

We sat in silence for a second, both of us thinking about the women who’d wormed their way into our lives.

He broke the quiet first. “So. You in?”

I didn’t answer but Kael growled. "We were going.”