Chapter 3

Aidan's POV

The moment her palm touched my muzzle, something inside me answered before I understood why.

Her hand drove the flames out of my fur. I felt some invisible force move down my spine, touching every place the fire had reached.

No one had been able to touch me without getting burned since I was a child. And during a Blood Moon, it was even worse. My beast went wild, and I couldn’t control him.

"You can touch me?" I stared at her hand, then at her. "Who are you?"

She didn't answer.

A veil hid most of her face, pale fabric torn along one edge, dirt and blood staining what must have been an expensive dress hours ago. Only her eyes were visible. Gray.

Her gaze moved over my face, my shoulders, my chest — lower — then snapped back up so fast I almost laughed.

“See something you like?”

“I wasn’t staring.” She looked away too quickly, a blush creeping into her cheeks.

I almost smiled.

Then her legs gave out.

I caught her before she hit the ground. She fell against me, freezing and soaked through, her whole body trembling in my arms.

Nothing happened. No flames, no scream. I hadn't felt another person's touch in years without someone getting hurt, and my whole arm wanted to shake with it.

"What the hell are you doing out here dressed like this?"

Silence.

“Stay with me,” I said, lifting her into my arms.

I started toward the tree line, where a small hunting cabin waited, stocked for exactly this kind of night.

I kicked the door open and carried her to the bed, laying her on the furs.

“I’m going to get the fire going.”

"Isn't your own fire enough?" Hoarse, half-delirious, and still sharp enough to needle me.

Who are you, that you’d smart off to a monster instead of begging?

I got the fire going in the hearth, grabbed two blankets off the shelf, and laid them over her.

“Take off the dress.”

“No.”

“It’s wet.”

“I noticed.”

“You’ll never get warm wearing it.”

“Fine. I’ll do it myself.” I reached for her, mostly to see what she’d do, and she dodged, quicker than I expected.

“I can do it myself.”

She struggled out of the dress beneath the blankets, then held it out to me.

The moment I took it, her scent hit me. My whole body locked up, every muscle going rigid. I knew attraction. I knew lust. I didn’t know whatever this was, reaching inside my ribs and pulling, or why it made my beast go so quiet.

During a Blood Moon, my wolf wanted destruction.

Now he only wanted her. And he wanted her badly enough that my hands curled into fists at my sides just to keep from reaching for her again.

“You’re red.”

I quickly leaned over her and pressed the back of my hand to her forehead.

Burning.

“You have a fever.”

"I don't feel sick."

“You’re burning.”

She shivered—not the rough shaking from the cold, but something smaller, different—and her scent hit me again, stronger, sweet enough that I could taste it at the back of my throat.

She curled up in agony, and my body immediately went into rut mode.

“Open your eyes, sweetheart.”

Her eyes slowly opened.

“Everything hurts,” she whispered, trying to sit up.

I reached out to steady her, but the moment she looked at me, something changed.

Her gaze dropped to my bare chest and stayed there.

Then she wet her lips.

My body reacted before my mind caught up. That scent. Her flushed skin. The way she was looking at me.

No.

“Are you in heat?”

“Yes.”

How the hell had she ended up out here alone, in the middle of winter, dressed like that? Whoever was responsible was going to regret it when I found them.

But that could wait. Right now, I needed to take care of her.

“Come here,” I murmured.

She hesitated.

“Get on,” I said, glancing down at my arousal.

“No, I can’t,” she cried, shaking her head. “I belong to another Alpha.”

Something inside me snapped.

Another Alpha.

So that was what I’d been feeling. Something was standing between us. Some bond I couldn’t see, but my wolf clearly hated.

“Then where is he?” I demanded.

Her eyes filled with tears.

“He said I was ugly. He didn’t want me anymore.” Her hand flew to her veil. “And if you see me... you won’t want me either.”

My anger disappeared.

“Silly girl,” I murmured, brushing my thumb along her cheek through the veil. “You’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.”

“No. I don’t believe you.” She shook her head, tears filling her eyes. “You’ll turn away too. The moment you see my face.”

Her body trembled, already exhausted from being in heat for too long.

“She’s going to die like this,” my wolf growled. “She needs a knot, and fast.”

I gently brushed her hair aside. She bit her lip, her hungry gaze dropping to my swollen groin.

“Baby... relax. I swear, you’ll forget his name the moment I’m inside you.” I ran my hand gently over the damp skin of her neck. “You’re with me now. Let me take care of you.”

She lifted her head and nodded.

“This... this would be my first time,” she admitted.

I went completely still.

Moon Goddess, what did I do to deserve a gift like her?

“Never?”

She shook her head, embarrassment burning through her. But she couldn’t hold back anymore. Her hands moved frantically over me, and whatever control I had left was gone.

My wolf spoke next, a voice I’d nearly forgotten after years of silence. Ancient. Low. Utterly certain.

“Make her ours. Now!”

For once, my wolf and I wanted exactly the same thing.

I leaned closer and whispered against her veil, right where her lips should have been.

“I’ll be very gentle. I promise.”

She lifted her face toward mine.

I slowly lifted the bottom edge of her veil, just enough to uncover her lips — nothing more, exactly as I'd promised.

Her breath caught, warm against my knuckles. I gave her every chance to stop me, waiting one endless second with my hand still hovering there, close enough to feel the heat coming off her skin.

She didn't.

So I closed the distance and kissed her.

Her lips parted on a soft, startled sound the instant mine touched hers, and something in me came completely undone. I kissed her slowly at first — careful, as she might still bolt — until her fingers curled into my chest and pulled me closer instead. I hauled her the rest of the way against me, the last of my restraint gone, my whole body pressing into hers until there was nowhere left for either of us to go.

***

Seraphina's POV

Something was wrong in the forest. I stepped through the last line of trees and stopped dead.

The chains were broken. For one horrible second, I thought he'd escaped. Then I saw the footprints leading away from the clearing toward the old hunting cabin at the edge of the trees.

I followed them. The closer I got, the more wrong everything felt.

I pushed the door open and saw him.

Aidan was asleep. In human form. Calm. For years, I'd watched the Blood Moon tear him apart until nothing human was left in him by dawn. Now he lay there as if the beast had never existed at all.

He wasn't alone.

A woman was curled against his chest, her ruined dress discarded on the floorboards near the dying fire, his arm locked around her waist, her hand resting flat against his bare skin.

I waited for the flames.

They didn't come.

That wasn't possible. Nobody could touch Aidan—not during a Blood Moon, not at any other time in his life.

I learned that at seventeen, when I was foolish enough to reach for him once. The fire had jumped before my fingers even landed. I still remembered the smell of my own burning flesh, the healer working over my hand for hours.

Aidan never knew. I made sure of that.

And this stranger's hand lay there like it belonged, skin perfect, not even a mark.

Who are you?

As if she'd heard me, the woman shifted, and Aidan pulled her closer without even waking.

Something in my chest quietly cracked, like old ice just before it breaks.

I'd imagined his arms around me more times than I wanted to admit. I'd spent years searching through books so old their pages crumbled under my fingers, speaking to witch after witch, looking for anything that could save him from this curse.

I'd waited. I'd prayed.

A stranger had done it in one night.

My vision blurred. I stepped back, and my heel caught a loose stone outside the doorway. The sound cracked through the cabin.

Aidan's eyes snapped open.

He didn't look toward the danger first. He looked down at her — made sure she was still sleeping — before his head turned toward the door.

I bolted, pressing myself behind a rock outside just as he rose. Footsteps followed, close.

"Who's there?"

Thank the Goddess I'd worn the masking scent. I'd come to check on him every full moon for years, and he still had no idea. Tonight it saved me from being caught, too.

Then a branch snapped in the trees, and he turned toward it instead. A man came running out of the dark, in a dark coat, with a sword at his hip.

“Bran, what are you doing here? I thought the pack’s Beta had no business out here.”

“The eastern barrier is down,” Bran said, his chest heaving. “Rogues broke through before dawn. Your father, our Alpha King, wants you at the border. Now.”

Aidan’s gaze flicked to the cabin. Bran followed it, saw the broken chains scattered across the clearing behind them, and his expression changed completely.

“What happened here?”

“How many rogues?” Aidan asked instead.

“A few dozen have already crossed. We need your fire to stop them.”

Aidan swore, but he didn't move. He looked back at the cabin.

Bran caught it. "Who's in there?"

"Someone you don't speak about." Aidan's voice left no room to argue.

Bran’s expression changed. “Does your father know?”

“No. And he won’t.”

Aidan glanced toward the cabin.

“Take her to Oakwdale. Find her somewhere safe. Stay with her until I come back.”

Bran hesitated. “I can’t stay with her. I need to be near the King. He’ll notice if I’m gone too long.”

“Then don’t stay.”

“I could leave someone with her.”

“No.” Aidan’s answer was immediate. “No one else needs to know about her.”

Bran nodded. “Then what do I tell her when she wakes?”

Aidan’s gaze slid toward the cabin. “Tell her I’ll come back for her. She’s my life now.”

He looked at the cabin one last time before shifting into his massive wolf, skipping his lycan form entirely, and disappearing into the trees.

I finally stepped out from my hiding place.

Bran turned toward me.

"So the day has finally come," I said.

His expression softened. He glanced toward the cabin, then back at me. "I'm sorry, Seraphina."

"I'm not."

Bran frowned. "What are you going to do?"

I smiled.

"No, dear Bran." I nodded toward the cabin. "The question is... what are we going to do with her?"

His face hardened. "Seraphina—"

"Think about the Lycan crown, Bran. We both know what happens to it if Aidan chooses the wrong woman."

Bran's jaw tightened. "You don't even know who she is."

"No. But I know what I saw." I glanced toward the cabin. "She was in his bed. She had her hand on his bare skin, and she wasn't burned."

Bran said nothing.

"And if she's the woman he was with tonight, we have a bigger problem."

"What problem?"

I looked at him. "An heir."

His expression changed. "You don't know she'll get pregnant."

"Don't be an idiot, Bran. Everyone knows Lycans are extremely fertile." I lowered my voice. "If she can survive his touch, she can carry his child. And if she does, she becomes a threat we need to deal with. Quickly."

Bran went very still. “And if she’s already carrying his child, Seraphina? What exactly are you asking me to do?”