Adrian woke on the cold floor, the air thick with the scent of sweat and leftover alcohol.
His body was sore in places he didn't want to acknowledge, his temple throbbing like a cruel reminder of the night before. He blinked, the room spinning before him, it was dim, and for a second he didn't remember where he was.. Everything felt too loud. Too still. Too intimate.
And then it came—like a flood crashing against a broken dam.
The heat of the mouth on him. The sharp tug of fingers in his hair. The reckless moans that weren't just pleasure but surrender. The hunger.
He shot up like he'd been scalded, his breath catching in his throat as if someone had just driven a stake through his chest.
His head swiveled around the room wildly. His trousers were still around his ankles, his shirt discarded on the floor. Shame clung to him like a second skin.
He couldn't stay.
He couldn't even think.
He staggered to his feet, yanking his clothes on with trembling fingers. His legs threatened to give out under him, but he forced them to move.
He forced himself to forget. To bury the memory behind the same iron wall he'd used since childhood.
He barely made it out of the lounge without throwing up. The sun had risen over Ravenshore like it was mocking him. A perfect day for a wedding.
His wedding.
He didn't wait for the two men still tangled in the sheets deep asleep. He ran. Just ran.
***
By the time he reached his family estate, wedding preparations were in full swing. Guests were arriving in gleaming black cars and lining the driveway, the scent of flowers filling the air.
Staff were hurrying in every direction. A seamstress gave him a horrified look as he burst through the door.
"Sir—you weren't at the morning blessing ceremony!" someone yelled after him. Adrian didn't hear them. Or maybe he did, but he didn't care. He sprinted upstairs, sweat slicking his back, every heartbeat a thunderous reminder that his life was about to change forever...and not for the better.
No one noticed how pale he looked. Or maybe they did—but no one said a thing
He burst into his room, locked the door behind him and leaned against it, chest heaving.
Soon after, he peeled himself off the soiled clothes.
He ran into the bathroom next to let the shower scald the sins off his skin. Perhaps it would make him forget the recurring thoughts he couldn't get away from his head.
But it didn't work.
No amount of water could erase the taste of the lips from his memory. Or of the sin wrapped in muscles that had been on him.
Before leaving his room, he had swallowed two pills of a drug he pulled from a hidden and locked drawer in his room. Fingers trembling as he gulped it down, standing at his door to stand guard and make sure no one came in.
***
Adrian stood at the altar like a man being led to execution.
His bride—a tall, graceful woman in silver and white—smiled dutifully as she took his hand.
He'd made it just in time before the groom was called to the stage, and he had walked up gracefully to the raised dais at the podium, masking his resentment at this charade with a smile.
Staring at the lady before him, he couldn't help but feel guilty. Her name was Elizabeth, and she had a pleasant face, carefully sculpted, and eyes that didn't quite meet his.
They both said their vows like strangers reciting from a script. But there had been passion in hers. Probably proud she was the one becoming the bride of Adrian Carter. Heir to Crimson Moon Pack and the Carter Holdings. Those two titles always preceed him wherever he went.
"I promise to honor and protect you," Adrian muttered as his voice cracked.
She nodded. "I promise to submit and support you."
Their lips touched. But it was dry and robotic . Almost as if it were a formality, a greeting between two casual friends.
The crowd clapped.
The wolves of Crimson Moon and Obsidian Howl cheered, thrilled at the alliance that would unite their packs and strengthen their hold on Ravenshore.
But Adrian felt nothing.
Nothing but nausea.
His thoughts were locked in a loop he couldn't escape—his fingers in another man's hair, the warmth of his cock in someone's throat, and the raw freedom that had tasted like sin.
The ceremony was all a blur.
A script read in monotone. A bride he barely looked at. Vows spoken with lips that still remembered someone else's touch.
He didn't remember the kiss soon after, just the flash of cameras and the raucous cheers of people who he didn't know. Didn't know her. Didn't know what the hell had happened the night before.
They weren't celebrating a marriage but a contract.
An alliance.
Crimson Moon and Obsidian Howl. One united front.
She would give him heirs—pups. That was what their fathers had agreed to. There would be a proper mating ceremony once she was with child. The human wedding was just a stage act.
And the human wedding was only happening because wolves had since evolved. Since they didn't live in the wild, they'd adopted to the ways of lives of the humans. Living at their own part of the modern world... Ravenshore.
The real binding would come later. With blood and with teeth when he would mark and claim her as his mate underneath the full moon . If only his father knew. If only they all did.
But he had to keep that secret for another day. Had to hide it. No one needed to know.
***
After the ceremony, his father's speech droned on. Adrian barely heard it. He stood among the gathered elite, half-drunk on adrenaline, his eyes fixed on a faraway point. He forced himself not to think and not feel anything . And Instead to focus his gaze on Elizabeth like every newly wed husband was to.
The curve of her smile.
The lie of her perfection.
He'd given her a vow. Words with no weight.
She looked so innocent. She deserved better. He told himself.
But so did he. And this was all because of their fathers. Though he wouldn't say for her, but he was here because of his. This was even his first time seeing his bride and whom it was.
Daughter of Obsidian Howl Pack's Alpha. Now his bride and mate. Now his to protect and care for. It felt funny.
He needed air. Or wine.
Maybe both.
So he broke away from the crowd, moving toward the drink table, shoulders tense and jaws locked.
He reached for a glass.
And that was when he felt a presence.
Before he could turn fully, a voice slid into his ear—smooth and far too familiar. But it wasn't Lucas' even though he was the only one he was supposed to recognize his voice that quickly. He kept no friends hence the reason why.
"Didn't think I'd see you again so soon."
Adrian's stomach turned to stone.
He blinked hard and then he turned.
There he was.
Him.
Leaning casually against a column, half-smile curling his lips. The same lips Adrian had kissed. The same eyes that had pinned him in the dark.
Adrian felt the blood drain from his face. The stem of the wine glass shook between his fingers.
He opened his mouth but snapped it close right after without saying anything.
He was ready to walk away. To run again.
But fate had one more blow to deal.
"Adrian!"
His new bride's voice floated toward them like a silk ribbon.
He turned.
She walked up with a beaming smile, slipping a hand around his arm. Her touch made him flinch, but she didn't notice. Or pretended not toz whichever justified it.
She looked between the two of them, completely unaware of the wildfire raging beneath Adrian's skin.
"I see you two have already met," she said cheerfully.
Adrian's heart stopped. What did she mean by that?
She gestured between them.
"Adrian, meet my brother… Landon Hayes."
The breath whooshed out of him.
Like he'd been punched in the lungs.
Landon's smile deepened—subtle and knowing whereas Adrian's chest hollowed.
The ground no longer felt real.
The man he had been with the previous night was Landon Hayes? His brother-in-law?