Rain hammered the city like it was trying to wash something wicked off its streets. Ariana Blake shoved her hood over her head, arms wrapped tightly around her chest as she hurried down the dimly lit road behind her apartment building. It was late—too late for the strange heaviness in her bones, the pressure between her temples, and the whispering sensation crawling under her skin.
It felt like her body wasn't entirely hers tonight.
Again.
She paused when she reached the alley shortcut. The air smelled different—sharp, wild, like burning pine and cold metal. Not normal for downtown.
She swallowed hard.
"Just stress," she whispered to herself. "You're imagining things again."
But her heartbeat didn't listen. It thudded violently, picking up a rhythm that didn't belong to her.
A howl tore through the night.
Not a dog.
Not even close.
A deep, resonant sound that vibrated through her ribs and sank into her spine.
Ariana froze.
Her breath misted in front of her as the temperature dropped unnaturally fast. The streetlights flickered. Something moved at the far end of the alley—silent, black, massive.
Her instincts screamed run.
But her legs wouldn't move.
Then—
Footsteps. Slow. Heavy. Confident.
A tall figure emerged from the shadows, cloak soaked with rain but posture perfectly still. His eyes caught the faint gold from the flickering streetlight, glowing with a predatory intensity that punched the air from her lungs.
A man.
No—a presence.
He stopped five paces from her.
"Ariana Blake," he said, voice rough velvet. "You shouldn't be out here alone."
She flinched.
"Do I… know you?"
"No. But I've known you were coming for a long time."
Her pulse jumped.
"What does that even mean?"
Before he could answer, a snarl exploded behind her. Something crashed into a dumpster. Claws scraped pavement.
Ariana spun—eyes widening as a hulking beast lunged toward her, eyes red, jaws open.
She screamed—tripping backward, bracing for impact—
And the man moved.
Not humanly fast.
Not possibly fast.
One second he was beside her.
The next he slammed into the beast mid-air, shattering its trajectory like it weighed nothing. Teeth and limbs flashed. The alley filled with the sound of violence: snarls, cracking bones, ripping flesh.
Ariana crawled backward until her spine hit the wall.
"What—what the hell—"
The man pinned the creature by its throat, golden eyes blazing with lethal fury.
"Stay down," he growled—words directed at the monster but echoing through Ariana.
The beast tried to rise.
He snapped its neck with one brutal twist.
Silence.
Ariana's breath shook uncontrollably.
Her mind refused to piece together what she'd just seen.
He turned to her, blood streaked across his cheek, chest rising and falling with feral heat. Rain dripped over the hard lines of his jaw, his lips, his throat. His eyes locked onto hers—electric, dangerous, impossible to look away from.
"You're not safe," he said, voice low, vibrating through her. "Not here. Not anywhere."
She pressed herself tighter against the wall.
"Who are you?"
He stepped closer. Too close. Her skin tingled, flushing with an intensity she didn't understand.
"My name is Kian," he said. "Alpha of the Shadowfang Pack."
A chill ran down her arms.
"I don't— I'm not—"
"You are," he interrupted softly.
"Am what?"
He lowered his head until his lips hovered a breath from her ear, his voice a dark whisper that ignited heat across her entire body.
"Mine."
Ariana's heart stopped.
Then thunder shook the sky.
And the night changed forever.