Chapter 7

Chapter 7 - Lucien

“What the hell are you doing out here alone?”

Vaughn’s voice cracked through the cold night air the moment he stepped onto the balcony.

The force of his anger startled me.

For a heartbeat, I simply stared at him.

This was supposed to be our first meeting in this lifetime, yet there was no surprise in his eyes. No confusion. No instinctive pull that should have struck a werewolf the moment he faced his mate.

Only fear.

Fear wrapped carefully in anger.

The silver lanterns along the balcony cast shifting light across his face. His black hair stirred in the wind, and those familiar golden eyes searched me from head to toe as if confirming I was unharmed.

I tightened my grip around the hidden silver key concealed within my palm.

“Why?” I asked quietly. “Why would I be in danger?”

For a second, something flickered across his expression.

Because I died here before.

The answer never came.

“Because…” He stopped abruptly, jaw tightening. “Because a gathering is being held tonight. Anyone could trespass onto the grounds and—”

He cut himself off.

My pulse quickened.

And what, Vaughn?

What did you almost say?

I took a step closer. “And?”

His gaze dropped briefly to my hand resting against the balcony railing, as though he sensed I was hiding something.

Then he inhaled sharply and looked away.

“I don’t know,” he said at last, his voice rough. “I just want my guests safe.”

A lie.

I had spent ten years as his mate. I knew the difference between Vaughn’s coldness and his fear. Tonight, fear was winning.

He turned abruptly, clearly intending to leave before he revealed more.

“Vaughn.”

His name escaped my lips before I could stop it.

He froze.

The wind rushed between us, carrying the scent of pine and moonlight.

Slowly, his shoulders stiffened.

But he still did not turn around.

I realized then that he was waiting.

Waiting for me to say something that had already been spoken once before in another life.

My chest tightened painfully.

“It’s nice meeting you, Alpha Nightfang,” I said softly, forcing every word through the ache in my throat. “I hope the night goes well.”

The formal distance in my voice struck him harder than any accusation.

I saw it in the way his hand clenched at his side.

This time, I left first.

I walked past him without looking back, my gown whispering across the stone floor. Every instinct begged me to stop, to touch him, to ask if he remembered.

But I kept walking.

Because I had already learned what loving Vaughn Nightfang cost me.

Behind me, he remained perfectly still.

I could feel his gaze burning into my back.

Feel the mate bond straining like a thread pulled too tight.

Yet he did not call my name.

He did not follow.

By the time I reached the corridor, my heart was pounding so violently I thought it might betray me.

I pressed myself against the cold wall and closed my eyes.

Why was he avoiding me?

Why had he looked at me as though seeing a ghost?

And why did his fear feel so familiar?

Slowly, I looked down at my hand.

The silver key still rested against my palm, its crescent engraving glinting beneath the lantern light.

The reason they hunted you.

The forbidden Alpha’s words echoed through me.

I slipped the key into the hidden pocket sewn inside my gown just as footsteps approached from the staircase below.

Elara appeared, slightly breathless.

“There you are! Mother has been looking everywhere for you.” She paused, studying my face. “Why do you look so pale?”

“I’m fine.”

Her gaze drifted toward the balcony behind me. “Was someone there?”

For one dangerous moment, I saw another Elara—the woman who had betrayed me in the forest.

I forced the memory down.

“No one important.”

She linked her arm through mine. “Come on. The Midnight Dance is about to begin.”

My blood ran cold.

The Midnight Dance.

In my previous life, that dance had changed everything. Vaughn had taken my hand before the entire hall, and the mate bond had awakened beneath the Blood Moon.

If history repeated itself tonight—

No.

I stopped walking.

“Elara, I don’t want to dance.”

She stared at me as if I had gone mad. “You love the Midnight Dance.”

Loved.

I was in the past.

A strange unease flickered across her face, but before she could question me further, a howl echoed from somewhere deep within the Nightfang territory.

The sound was distant.

Lonely.

Wrong.

It carried a sorrow that seemed to seep straight into my bones.

I looked around sharply.

No one else reacted.

The music continued. Laughter drifted through the hall. Wolves moved gracefully across the polished floor as though nothing had happened.

It seemed I was the only one who had heard it.

A chill crawled up my spine.

Then the orchestra struck the opening notes of the Midnight Dance.

Couples began taking each other’s hands as the dance officially started. Elara clung to my arm, excited by the spectacle, while I stood frozen among the glittering crowd.

My eyes drifted across the hall.

Lantern light shimmered over crystal chandeliers, silver goblets, and jeweled gowns. Wolves laughed, Alphas bowed, and the scent of celebration filled the air.

But through the shifting crowd, I saw him.

At the far end of the ballroom stood a man impossibly still amidst the movement around him.

Tall.

Dark.

Dressed perfectly for the gathering.

His black coat was embroidered with silver thread, and the crimson lantern light carved sharp shadows across his face. He looked nothing like the man in the forest—he seemed more refined, more dangerous—and yet I knew it was him.

Lucien.

My breath caught.

Those crimson eyes streaked with molten gold were fixed on me and me alone.

The noise of the ballroom faded.

The dancers blurred.

For one terrifying heartbeat, it felt as though the entire world had narrowed to the distance between us.

He should not have been here.

And before I realized it, my feet were already moving.

I crossed the ballroom slowly, weaving through the dancers and shimmering lantern light, unable to tear my eyes away from the place where I had seen him standing. Every instinct inside me screamed to stop, to turn back before fate tightened its grip around my throat once again.

But another voice—quieter, older, and far more dangerous—whispered that I needed answers.

There was a hidden thread binding Lucien and me together, a secret buried beneath blood, memory, and moonlight. I had felt it the moment our eyes met in the forest, and I felt it now with even greater force.

Tonight was not an accident.

Tonight was a summons.