The Moon-Glow Summit was a sea of expensive suits and hidden claws. Usually, Rikae hated these events. They were too loud, too scented, and far too political. But as the Silver-Claw's strategist, he had to be there.
He stood by the champagne fountain, looking every bit the lethal gentleman in a charcoal-grey suit. He was nodding politely to a daughter of a neighboring Alpha when the air in the room suddenly changed.
It wasn't a sound. It wasn't a sight.
It was a pull.
Rikae's heart slammed against his ribs so hard he nearly dropped his glass. His wolf, usually a silent, disciplined shadow in the back of his mind, let out a deafening howl that vibrated through his very bones.
MINE.
The word echoed in his skull, primal and undeniable.
He ignored the girl talking to him, his head snapping toward the entrance. His nostrils flared, filtering through the hundreds of perfumes and colognes until he found it.
Jasmine. Fresh rain. And something sweet, like honey under the sun.
He moved through the crowd like a shark through water. People parted for him, sensing the sudden, violent shift in his aura. The calm, logical Beta was gone. In his place was a predator on a trail.
He rounded a marble pillar and stopped dead.
There she was.
She was smaller than he expected, draped in a midnight-blue dress that made her pale skin glow. Her hair was a dark cascade down her back, and her eyes-wide and startled-were locked onto his.
Lisra.
The name whispered in his mind before he even knew it. He stepped forward, his hand reaching out instinctively. The "Mate Bond" was a physical weight, dragging him toward her.
"You," he breathed, his voice thick with a sudden, overwhelming heat. "I've been looking for you my whole life."
He expected her to gasp. He expected her to run into his arms. He expected the world to start today.
Instead, Lisra took a trembling step back. Her face went deathly pale, and she didn't look happy. She looked terrified.
"No," she whispered, her voice shaking. "Please... not now. Not you."
She stumbled back, and as she did, the light caught the side of her neck. Rikae's blood turned to ice.
There, stark against the cream of her skin, was a jagged, angry mark. A permanent, jagged scar of a mating bite.
She was already claimed.