CHAPTER 1

"What the hell is silver-infused?" Samuel spat, shoving the empty glass back toward the bartender. "I said the strongest you have. Not this watered-down piss."

The bartender, a burly guy with a scar running through his eyebrow, didn't blink. He just poured another amber double. "Take it easy, kid. That stuff'll stop a heart if you aren't careful."

"Good. That's the point." Samuel downed the liquid. It burned. A searing, jagged heat scraped down his throat, hitting his stomach like a lead weight.

His phone vibrated in his pocket. Thrum. Thrum. Probably another text from Marcus. Or worse, from his 'loving' fiancé, Elena. The image of them—Elena’s legs wrapped around his step-brother’s waist in their own bed—flashed behind his eyes. He squeezed his lids shut, but the visual was scorched into his retinas.

"Fucking traitors," he hissed.

The bar was a dive. The Lunar Eclipse smelled of stale sweat, spilled tequila, and the heavy, metallic tang of wolf musk. It was a place for the desperate. For people like him, who were about to be sold off to the highest bidder by a family that viewed him as nothing more than a bargaining chip. His father’s words echoed: 'You’re wolfless, Samuel. At least an old Alpha will find a use for you.'

A sudden chill swept through the room. The air grew heavy, thick enough to choke on. The chatter died down. The jukebox skipped a beat.

In the corner booth, a man sat alone. His presence felt like a physical weight, a gravitational pull that sucked the oxygen out of the room. He didn't look up, but his shadow seemed to stretch across the floorboards.

Samuel’s skin prickled. A low, vibrating hum started at the base of his spine.

"Hey," Samuel called out to the bartender, his voice cracking. "Who’s the guy in the suit?"

The bartender didn't look. He just started polishing a glass with a dirty rag, his movements stiff. "Drink your whiskey and leave, kid. You don't want to be here when the sun goes down."

Samuel didn't leave. He couldn't move. The man in the corner stood up.

He was tall, shoulders broad enough to block out the dim light behind him. Every step he took sounded like a death knell on the floorboards. He stopped inches away. The scent hit Samuel first—cedarwood, rain, and something ancient. Something terrifying.

"You," the man said. His voice wasn't a sound; it was a vibration that rattled Samuel’s teeth.

"Get lost," Samuel snapped, though his knees shook.

The stranger’s hand shot out, fingers gripping Samuel’s chin. His touch was electric, a searing jolt that sent sparks dancing across Samuel’s vision. Silver eyes bored into his. Not grey. Silver. Like molten metal.

"You smell of it," the man growled. His pupils dilated until the silver was nearly gone. "The scent. How is a human carrying that scent?"

"I don't know what you're talking about! Let go!"

The man didn't let go. He leaned in, his nose brushing against the pulse point on Samuel’s neck. A low, guttural growl vibrated against Samuel’s skin. Adrian—the Alpha King, though Samuel didn't know it yet—was losing his grip. The Heat was a violent tide, a biological command that overrode every shred of his legendary restraint.

"VIP. Now," Adrian commanded.

He didn't wait for an answer. He hauled Samuel toward the back of the bar, dragging him into the shadows of a velvet-lined booth. He slammed the door shut, the click of the lock sounding like a gunshot.

"What the f**k are you doing?" Samuel screamed, swinging a fist.

Adrian caught it mid-air. He pinned Samuel against the wall, the velvet rough against his back. "Shut up," Adrian hissed. "Just... shut the f**k up and breathe."

Adrian’s face was inches away. His breath was hot, smelling of expensive bourbon and raw power. He looked tortured. Muscles in his neck corded like iron cables.

He didn't use words anymore. He ripped Samuel’s shirt, the buttons scattering like hail. His mouth crashed onto Samuel’s, not a kiss but a claim. It was messy. Brute force. Teeth clashed, the metallic tang of blood blooming on Samuel’s tongue.

Samuel should have fought. He should have screamed. But his body was betraying him. That low hum in his spine had turned into a roaring fire. His skin felt too tight.

"God, please," Samuel wheezed, his fingers digging into Adrian’s shoulders, tearing at the expensive fabric of the Alpha's blazer.

Adrian groaned, a sound that started deep in his chest. He hiked Samuel’s legs up around his waist, the friction of denim against denim building a heat that felt like it would incinerate them both. He fumbled with Samuel’s belt, his movements frantic, lacking any of his usual cold precision.

He shoved Samuel’s trousers down, his hands rough, calloused, and demanding. When he entered, it wasn't a gentle slide. It was a conquest. Samuel let out a jagged, broken cry, his head slamming back against the padded wall.

"Fk," Adrian choked out, his forehead pressed against Samuel’s. "You’re... you're so tight. Why are you so fking tight?"

He started moving—deep, punishing thrusts that made the bench creak and groan. Samuel’s eyes rolled back. His fingers clawed at Adrian’s back, drawing red furrows through the white silk of his shirt. It was primal. There was no romance here, only the desperate, sweating reality of two bodies colliding in the dark.

Adrian flipped him over, shoving his face into the velvet. "Don't move," he commanded, his voice a gravelly rasp.

He moved to doggie style, his large hands gripping Samuel’s hips so hard that purple bruises began to blossom. The weight of him was immense, a crushing force that pinned Samuel down. With every lunge, Samuel felt his insides being rearranged. He was slick with sweat, his hair plastered to his forehead.

"Look at me," Adrian growled, grabbing Samuel’s hair and pulling his head back.

Samuel turned, his eyes glazed. In that moment of peak intensity, as Adrian’s seed flooded into him, a white-hot agony exploded in Samuel's chest. Something snapped. A cage he didn't know existed shattered.

His vision turned neon blue.

He didn't think. He acted. Samuel twisted his head and sank his teeth into the junction of Adrian’s neck and shoulder. He bit down hard, drawing blood, his jaw locking with a strength no human should possess.

Adrian let out a roar of mingled pain and ecstasy. A mark began to glow beneath Samuel’s teeth—a brilliant, pulsing blue sigil.

The Soul-Bond.

Adrian stared at him, his silver eyes wide, the Heat suddenly extinguished by the shock of the mark. "An Omega?" he whispered, his voice trembling. "You're... you're a wolf?"

But Samuel didn't hear him. The surge of power, the dormant gene finally waking, was too much. His world tilted. The neon blue faded into black. His grip on Adrian’s shoulders loosened, and he slumped forward, unconscious.

Samuel woke up to silence.

The air was different. No cheap tequila. No wolf musk. Just the scent of clean linen and expensive air conditioning. He opened his eyes, squinting against the sunlight streaming through floor-to-ceiling windows.

He was in a penthouse. A bed the size of a small apartment.

His body felt like it had been put through a meat grinder. His thighs ached, his hips were stiff, and his skin felt sensitive to the touch of the silk sheets. He sat up, a groan escaping his lips.

Memories came back in jagged shards. The bar. The man with the silver eyes. The... the things they did.

"Oh god," he whispered, his hand flying to his mouth.

He caught sight of himself in the mirrored wall opposite the bed. His neck was a mess of purple hickeys, but there, right on the side, was something else. A mark. It wasn't a bruise. It was a pattern, etched into his skin like a brand. It throbbed with a faint, ghostly blue light before fading back to a dull red.

Terror, cold and sharp, lanced through him.

He didn't know who that man was, but he knew what that mark meant. He wasn't wolfless. He was an Omega. And he had marked an Alpha—not just any Alpha, but someone who felt like a god.

"I have to get out of here," he panicked.

He scrambled out of bed, his legs nearly giving way. He found his clothes piled on a chair—his shirt was ruined, but he threw on his jacket and zipped it to the chin to hide the mark.

He didn't look back. He didn't leave a note.

He ran. Out of the hotel, straight to the airport. He used the last of his emergency savings to buy a one-way ticket to the human territories. Anywhere across the border. Anywhere where the scent of a wolf couldn't follow.

As the plane lifted off the tarmac, Samuel pressed his forehead against the cold window.