Chapter 5

Anna's POV

'I have to get out of here,' my mind was in full panic as the screams all around got louder and Ava got more excited within me.

After a few staggered steps back, I turned and made my way through the crowd, even pushing some people along the way. It was too clustered to just waltz through, seriously lessening the needed speed to escape as quick as possible.

Everywhere I turned, people whispered his name like it was scripture.

Mattias.

The Alpha of Black Rock.

The legend.

The untouchable.

I didn’t care.

I didn’t care if the Moon Goddess herself had risen from the ground and slapped a glowing sign over my head. I had to leave. Now.

And to make matters worse, Ava only grew more agitated.

'Tch. Please, calm down, Ava,' I tried my best to pacify her whilst I searched for the nearest exit.

Ava growled softly in protest, her voice whimpering through the bond that had begun to shimmer like a freshly struck match.

“Mate,” she whispered again, her voice breathy… Almost dreamlike.

“No,” I hissed. “We’re not doing this. Not again.”

With a howl so intimate, Ava let out a soft hum in the recesses of my mind. I could literally feel her tail wagging with passion. It was as though she had been waiting for this moment since forever.

She was truly happy.

But I wasn't, so I shook my head to clear whatever she was trying to feed my mind.

Another turn. Another hallway. Almost there.

I could see the servants' corridor ahead. The same one Yvonne and I had mapped out. The same one that led to the stables, and beyond that, the forest, freedom.

Just a few more steps and I would be finally free... For a few moments at least. It was worthy a try.

The thick crowd at the entryway was my only advantage. And maybe I moved fast and didn’t look back, no one would notice me at all.

But then everything stopped.

The buzz. The whispering. The very air around me froze.

Because I felt him. Even before I turned. Even before I saw him.

I felt him.

At that very moment, I forgot how to breathe for a few seconds.

That same damn scent, spice and cold mint, wrapped around me like a net, cutting through everything else. It tangled in my lungs, seizing my throat, dragging Ava out of me like a siren’s call.

I turned.

And there he was.

Mattias.

Alpha of the Black Rock Pack.

He was standing just a few feet away, towering above the rest like a statue carved from the moonlight itself.

He was staring right at me, as though I was a radiant beam of light and the rest of the crowd were mere shadows.

I froze like prey. My limbs refused to listen.

He took a step forward.

I took one back.

“No,” I whispered, but it was already too late.

He had seen me.

Not just seen me, felt me. The same way I felt him.

The mate bond snapped into place like a thread pulling taut between us, and Ava howled in triumph, her joy echoing so loudly in my chest, I nearly staggered.

He knew.

He knew.

I turned and bolted.

I didn't care that people stared. I didn’t care that a girl I pushed nearly fell on her sequined heels. I didn’t care that my wolf was wailing in my head like a child being pulled from her mother.

I had to run. This wasn’t the plan.

He wasn’t supposed to be here. He wasn't supposed to be him.

Not my second-chance mate. Not this impossibly strong, untouchable man. Not someone tied to Gunner by blood.

I tore through the corridor, skirts gathered in my fists, shoes thudding against the tiled floor.

Just a little further.

A little more—

A shadow cut me off.

My entire body slammed into something solid.

Someone.

I gasped, stumbling backward, already knowing who it was before I even looked up.

His scent surrounded me again, much stronger this time, sharper, like he had wrapped the air itself around him.

“You’re fast,” he said coolly, tilting his head. “But not fast enough.”

I blinked up at him, breathless.

Mattias.

He was even more terrifying up close.

Cold. Regal. Untouchable.

The kind of man that bent people to their knees without saying a word.

My voice trembled, “Move.”

His eyes didn't shift. They didn’t soften or blink. They simply burned into mine with an intensity that made my skin crawl.

“I said move,” I repeated, firmer this time.

His lip twitched, “No.”

“I’m not going to be your Luna,” I snapped, stepping to the side.

He stepped with me.

“Get out of my way,” I spat, panic clawing at my throat.

He said nothing.

I clenched my fists, fury replacing the panic now, “I didn’t ask for this! I didn’t want a second chance! Do you think I want another mate?! Do you think I want to feel this again?!”

His jaw clenched slightly, but his eyes never wavered. He didn’t flinch. He didn’t yell.

He just looked down at me and said in that deep, disarming voice—

“You’re mine.”

I inhaled sharply.

The words echoed like a thunderclap inside my mind, inside Ava’s, inside every piece of me that had ever been hurt.

“No,” I choked out, shaking my head. “You don’t get to say that. You don’t know me.”

“I don’t need to,” he said.

“I won’t be claimed like some prize,” I growled.

He took a slow step forward, and I instinctively took one back.

“Don’t touch me,” I warned.

He paused, “I wasn’t going to.”

“Then stop looking at me like that!”

“Like what?”

“Like I belong to you,” I whispered.

His gaze darkened, but he didn’t argue.

“You’re not ready,” he said, almost to himself. “You’re scared.”

“No shit!” I hissed.

Another breath. Another desperate look behind me.

The hallway was empty now. Everyone else was still inside, celebrating the coronation. No one was coming. No one would help me.

I had to make a break for it.

I spun around, one step, two steps—

A hand closed around my wrist.

Firm. Warm. Unmovable.

I gasped and turned, eyes wide.

Mattias stood behind me, no emotion on his face, just that same impenetrable calm.

“You’re not going anywhere,” he said.