KAIA'S POV
"Beautiful night for a midnight walk."
The voice comes from behind me, deep and rich and completely unexpected. I spin around, my heart hammering against my ribs so hard I'm sure he can hear it.
It's him. It's really him.
The face from my fantasy in the bedroom. The face that ruined everything just an hour ago. Standing here in my sacred place like he belongs.
But seeing him in person is nothing like the fantasy. This is raw power made flesh, an Alpha in his prime, and every instinct I have is screaming at me to either submit or run.
He's bigger than I imagined. Taller. The moonlight catches the sharp angles of his face, highlighting the predatory grace in the way he moves. Even standing still, there's something about him that makes the air around us thrum with electricity.
This is what a true Alpha looks like. This is the enemy.
"I..." My voice comes out as a croak. I clear my throat and try again, taking an instinctive step backward. "I didn't know anyone else came here."
He doesn't move closer, but somehow his presence fills the entire space between us. Those dark eyes are fixed on me with an intensity that makes me feel like prey.
"You were singing," he says, and his voice is warm honey mixed with danger. "You have a beautiful voice."
I shake my head quickly, looking down at my bare feet. The submissive gesture comes automatically, drilled into me by years of being told to never challenge an Alpha's authority. "No. I just... I just sing sometimes. For myself."
"Pity," he says, and I can hear the smile in his voice. "The river seemed to enjoy it. So did I."
My skin starts to flush, heat crawling up my neck like fingers. The same heat I felt in my bedroom. The same heat that led to my humiliation.
No. Not now. Not with him.
"What's your name?" he asks when I don't respond.
I bite my lips in irritation. At him. At myself. At this entire impossible situation.
I hate how I'm feeling right now. My body is responding to him like he's some kind of drug, and I can't make it stop. My pulse is racing. My breath is coming too fast.
And worse, so much worse, there's this pulling sensation low in my belly that makes me want to step closer instead of running away.
I'm not supposed to be attracted to him.
He's a Duskmore. The enemy. The family of the man who destroyed my family.
But here I am, standing in my nightgown by the river, and all I can think about is how his voice sounds exactly like it did in my fantasy. How his presence makes the air around me thrum with electricity.
"Kaia," I finally manage to say. "My name is Kaia."
"Kaia," he repeats, and the way he says my name makes something flutter in my chest. "I'm—"
"I know who you are," I interrupt, my voice sharper than I intended. "Everyone knows who you are, Alpha Ronan."
Something flickers across his face at my tone. His eyes narrow slightly, and I can see the exact moment his Alpha instincts kick in. The air around us grows heavier, charged with his power.
He takes a step forward, and I immediately take two steps back.
"Do they now?" he says, his voice dropping to a lower register that makes my knees weak. "And what do they say about me, Kaia?"
The way he keeps using my name is doing things to me I don't want to acknowledge. Making me feel seen in a way that terrifies me.
I need to leave. Now.
"I should go," I say abruptly, turning away from him.
It's rude. Incredibly rude to turn your back on an Alpha without being dismissed. My grandmother would have had my hide for such disrespect. But I can't stay here another second.
Not when my body is betraying me this badly.
Not when every breath brings his scent to me, and it's making my head spin.
"Kaia."
The command in his voice stops me dead in my tracks. My feet freeze to the ground like they're rooted there.
Shit.
I hear his footsteps behind me. Slow. Deliberate. Like a predator stalking prey.
He's coming closer.
Every instinct I have is screaming at me to run, but I can't move. The Alpha command in his voice has locked my muscles in place.
"Don't," I whisper, but I don't know if I'm talking to him or to myself.
"Don't what?" he asks, and his voice is right behind me now.
I can feel the heat radiating from his body. Can smell that masculine scent that's making my knees weak.
"Don't come any closer," I breathe.
I hear him take a deep breath through his nose, and I know he's scenting me.
Oh god. Can he smell my arousal? Can he tell what I was doing before I came here?
The thought makes fresh heat flood my cheeks.
"Turn around," he says softly.
It's not a request. It's an order, given in that Alpha voice that makes every wolf instinct in me want to obey.
I turn slowly, keeping my eyes fixed on the ground.
"Look at me."
"No."
"Look at me, Kaia."
Against my better judgment, I raise my eyes to meet his.
The impact hits me like a physical blow.
He's studying my face with an intensity that makes me feel naked. Like he can see straight through all my defenses to the confusion and want I'm trying so hard to hide.
His pupils are dilated, dark as the night sky. And there's something in his expression that makes my stomach flip.
Raw hunger. Possessive intent. The look of an Alpha who's found something he wants.
He reaches out, his hand moving toward my face, and I flinch away so violently I nearly fall backward.
"Don't touch me," I gasp, my voice shaking with something between fear and fury.
He stops immediately, his hand falling to his side. Something flickers across his face - confusion, maybe hurt - but it's gone so quickly I might have imagined it.
"I won't hurt you," he says quietly, his voice gentler now.
But it's not about pain. It's never been just about pain.
My heart hammers against my ribs, the vow echoing in my mind like a sacred drumbeat. I promised myself—promised Kelly—I wouldn't let anyone touch what was meant for my true mate. That I'd protect this part of me, this untouched part, until the moon goddess herself deemed someone worthy.
And yet, with him this close, with the way his voice wraps around me like velvet and his scent makes my knees weak, it’s harder to remember why I made that promise. Harder, but not impossible.
I take a step back, folding my arms around myself like armor.
"You already have," I snap before I can stop myself.
The words hang between us like a challenge.
He goes very still. "What do you mean?"
I want to tell him everything. About my parents. About the vow I made by this very tree. About how his family destroyed mine and how I've spent three years planning my revenge.
But I can't. Not yet.
"Nothing," I say instead, wrapping my arms around myself. "I just... I don't like to be touched."
It's not entirely a lie. After seeing what males can do when they want something, I've been afraid of any physical contact. But with him, it's different. More complicated.
With him, I'm afraid I might like it too much.
He studies me for a long moment, and I can see him mentally cataloging everything about my reaction. The way I flinched. The way I'm holding myself. The fear in my voice.
"I see," he says finally. "I apologize. I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable."
The genuine regret in his voice catches me off guard. I was expecting arrogance, entitlement, the kind of Alpha dominance that takes what it wants regardless of consent.
This... this is not what I expected.
"It's fine," I mumble, though it's not. Nothing about this is fine.
"May I ask why you're out here so late?" he asks, his tone carefully neutral now. "It's not safe for a young she-wolf to be alone at night."
"I could ask you the same thing," I counter, some of my natural defiance creeping back into my voice.
He smiles, and it transforms his entire face. "Touché. I couldn't sleep. I often come here to think."
"So do I," I admit before I can stop myself.
"Do you? How often?"
I hesitate. There's something about the way he asks that makes me want to answer honestly. But I can't let my guard down. Not with him.
"Sometimes," I say vaguely.
"What do you think about when you come here?"
The question hits closer to home than he could possibly know. I think about my parents. About justice. About revenge. About the vow I made and the price I'm willing to pay to fulfill it.
"Things," I say evasively.
He chuckles softly. "You're not very trusting, are you?"
"Should I be? With you?"
The question seems to surprise him. "Why wouldn't you be?"
I stare at him for a long moment, studying his face in the moonlight. He genuinely seems to have no idea why I might be wary of him. No idea what his family did to mine.
Which means he doesn't know who I am. He doesn't know that I'm the daughter of the wolves his father killed.
Suddenly, an idea begins to form in my mind. A dangerous, reckless idea that makes my pulse quicken for an entirely different reason.
He's attracted to me. That much is obvious from the way he looks at me, the way he moved closer, the way he seems reluctant to let me leave.
And he doesn't know who I am.
What if I could use that? What if I could get close to him, gain his trust, make him care about me?
What if I could destroy him from the inside?
The thought should horrify me. Using someone's feelings against them, manipulating them into caring about me just so I can hurt them more effectively.
But when I think about my parents, about the vow I made, about the justice that's been denied for so long... the idea doesn't horrify me at all.
It excites me.
"Maybe you're right," I say finally, my voice softer now. "Maybe I should be more trusting."
Something shifts in his expression. Hope, maybe. Or interest.
"Would you like to walk with me?" he asks. "Just for a little while. I promise I won't try to touch you again."
I pretend to consider it, though my mind is already racing ahead to the possibilities.
"All right," I say. "But just for a few minutes. And we stay by the river."
He nods eagerly, and I have to hide my smile.
Perfect.
This might be easier than I thought.