Damon's POV
The glass in my hand broke.
Blood dripped from my hand onto the balcony floor, but I didn't feel it. I couldn't feel anything except the rage burning through my chest like acid.
"Alpha!" Jake ran toward me, his face pale with worry. "What happened? Are you hurt?"
I stared at the broken pieces of my whiskey glass, trying to understand why I'd crushed it without thought. One second I was watching the boring ceremony below, the next second my hand was squeezing until the glass shattered.
"I'm fine," I lied, wiping blood on my shirt. "Just tired."
But I wasn't great. Something was wrong with me tonight. My skin felt too tight, like I wanted to crawl out of it. My wolf was pacing inside my chest, restless and angry for no reason I could name.
"Maybe you should go inside," Jake offered carefully. "Rest before tomorrow's meeting with the Cross family."
Elena Cross. The woman I was going to marry next month. Beautiful, smart, great for strengthening our pack's power. So why did thinking about her make me want to punch something?
"I said I'm fine," I snapped, harder than Jake deserved.
Down below, Elder Samuel was moving around the group of eighteen-year-olds, awakening their adult scents. One by one, nice smells drifted up - flowers, fruits, gentle things that made me feel nothing.
This was stupid. Why was I even watching? I'd seen dozens of these events. They were all the same - young wolves getting their scents, meeting their mates, living their simple little lives.
I turned to go inside, but Elder Samuel's voice stopped me cold.
"Maya Rivers."
Maya Rivers. The baker's daughter. I'd seen her around the pack grounds, always quiet, always trying to stay unseen. Brown hair, big eyes, nothing special.
But when she stepped into the starlight, something slammed into my chest like a fist.
Her smell exploded across the night air, and my world tilted sideways.
Vanilla. Sweet, warm vanilla that made my mouth water. Wild roses that reminded me of summer storms. And underneath it all, something else - something dangerous and exhilarating that made every nerve in my body catch fire.
"No," I whispered, gripping the balcony fence so hard the metal bent under my fingers.
This couldn't be happening. I was Alpha Damon Stone. I didn't lose control. I didn't get overwhelmed by some little omega's smell. I was the one who used women and walked away. I was the one who never let anyone get close.
But Maya's smell wrapped around me like chains, and suddenly I couldn't breathe.
My wolf roared inside my chest, fighting to get out, demanding I claim her right now. The sound that came from my throat wasn't human - it was pure animal need, urgent and wild.
"Alpha!" Jake grabbed my arm, but I barely felt it. "What's wrong with you?"
I couldn't answer. Maya's scent was getting stronger, calling to something hidden so deep inside me I'd forgotten it existed. My parents' faces flashed through my mind - Mom laughing as Dad spun her around the kitchen, both of them sparkling with the kind of love I'd sworn I'd never want.
"Get away from me," I growled at Jake, my voice deeper than normal.
"Damon, you're scaring me. Your eyes are glowing."
Were they? I couldn't tell. Everything looked different now, clearer and brighter. Maya stood in the circle below, soaked in moonlight, and she was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen.
The logical part of my brain screamed warnings. She was eighteen. Innocent. The kind of girl who believes in fairy tale endings. Everything I stayed away from because I knew I'd destroy her.
But my wolf didn't care about logic. It wanted her with a hunger that made my hands shake.
I tried to step back from the platform, to run before I did something stupid. But my feet wouldn't move. Maya's smell held me prisoner, and for the first time in my adult life, I wasn't in control of my own body.
"This is impossible," I breathed. "I don't do this. I don't feel this."
"Feel what?" Jake asked, but his voice sounded far away.
How could I explain? How could I tell him that one whiff of an omega's smell had cracked open the walls I'd spent years building? That suddenly I wanted things I'd sworn off forever - kindness, connection, someone to come home to?
Maya looked up at the balcony, and our eyes met across the distance. Even from here, I could see her fear, her confusion. She had no idea what she'd just done to me.
The smart thing would be to leave. Right now, before this got worse. I could marry Elena as planned, forget about the little omega who smelled like heaven and danger.
But then Maya's smell spiked higher, and something inside me snapped.
I was moving before I knew it, pushing past Jake, ignoring his shouts. My feet pounded down the stairs, through the pack house, out into the night. I had to get to her. Had to make sure she was safe. Had to... What? What was I going to do when I reached her?
The ritual circle was in chaos. Other wolves were backing away from Maya, their faces showing the same shock I felt. Her smell was affecting everyone, making the unmated males growl and the mated ones protective of their partners.
Elder Samuel stood frozen beside Maya, his face white with fear. "The Omega Prime," he whispered when he saw me coming. "Alpha, you must stay back. Her scent during awakening is too strong. It could make you do something you'll regret."
Too late for that. I was already regretting every choice that had led me to this moment.
Maya turned to face me, and I saw tears running down her cheeks. She was scared, overwhelmed by the power rising inside her. Every protective instinct I had roared to life.
"Please," she whispered, so softly only I could hear it. "I don't understand what's happening to me."
That's when I smelled it - under the vanilla and roses, something that made my blood turn to ice.
Fear. Pure, frightened fear.
But not fear of her power. Fear of me.
She knew what I was - the Alpha who used women and threw them away. She'd heard all the stories about my cold heart and cruel rules. And now she was stuck in the middle of the most important moment of her life, surrounded by her scent calling to me like a siren song.
I took a step toward her, my hands reaching out without my permission.
"Don't," Maya breathed, backing away. "Please don't hurt me."
Her words hit me like a physical blow. Hurt her? I'd rather cut off my own arm. But she didn't know that. All she knew was my reputation.
"Maya," I said, my voice rough and desperate. "I won't hurt you. I promise."
"Your promises don't mean anything," she whispered, and I realized she was right.
I'd made promises before. To women I'd rejected. To pack members I'd disappointed. To myself about keeping strong and unfeeling.
But looking at Maya's tearstained face, breathing in her intoxicating smell, I knew I was about to break the biggest promise of all.
The promise never to let anyone mean more than my duty as Alpha.
Because this little omega with her dangerous smell wasn't just calling to my wolf.
She was calling to my heart.