Kaya

There are three important things to know about me.

First, I am meeting my mate tonight. Second, I want to lose my virginity tonight. Third, if my uncle knew that my best friend and I just snuck out in the middle of the night to go to an unhinged full-blown werewolf party, he would not be happy.

“The full moon is like a giant spotlight over us,” I say. I look over my shoulder, at the pack compound. “Do you think anyone saw us leaving?”

“You’re not getting cold feet now, are you?” Danielle nudges me, smirking. “You know tonight is your big chance with Stone.”

I take a deep breath. “You’re right.” I move forward. “This is happening. Stone is my mate, so it’s only natural to—”

“You don’t really know if he’s your mate, though,” Dani points out. “Not yet.”

“He must be,” I say. “I’ve known him for years. I’ve had feelings for him for so long, and we’re just…” I smile. “So good together.”

“Have you thought about what you’re going to say when you see him?” Dani asks. Her suggestive tone makes the back of my neck heat up.

“Not sure,” I say. “I just want to solidify what we have, one way or another. Besides, I need to see what all this fuss is about anyway—I’m twenty-five years old, and I’ve never been out late to a party like this. That has to change.”

“Of course.” Grinning, Dani wraps her arm around mine as we walk. “But how could you go to one? You’re the precious Nightstar princess—we have to keep you Bubble Wrapped and locked up.”

“Stop,” I scoff, swatting her away. She laughs. I try to play along, but my smile is forced.

Her words remind me of who I am, where I come from, and what it means to be the “princess” of the Nightstar pack. Even after the rightful king is gone. My dad was murdered in cold blood when I was only thirteen, and every time someone talks about me being protected, the notion triggers something in me that makes my chest throb.

Grief never leaves you, people say. You just grow and grow up around it.

Dani’s laugh has faded. “Hey, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” I say, quickening my pace.

Dani looks around. “Okay, if you’re a little bit scared out here, like—I get it.” She examines an unremarkable bush suspiciously. “I mean, we’ve always been told not to wander through this side of the woods, but—”

“You said it’s the only way to the Gathering,” I say. “And I’m sure it’s fine. It’s not like a big bad monster is gonna pop out of nowhere and attack us.”

The second I say the words, we both stop to listen, to scent the air. New sounds and smells greet me, but it’s nothing alarming. The forest is a live entity, a loud one. If a predator were around, the silence would’ve been deafening.

Dani and I continue our course, and I clear my throat. “Do you think…” I swallow. “Have you heard who’s going to be at the party?”

Dani shoots me a look. “Are you thinking about the Shadowheart?”

A sudden chill hits my back. I choose to believe it’s the autumn breeze. Not a sense of dread. Before I can answer, Dani adds, “A lot of the packs will be there, and even some rogues. But it’s an unwritten rule that no one comes to the Gathering to fight. It’s a chance for everybody to let loose for one night without any consequences.” She eyes my expression. “Sure you’re not having second thoughts?”

“Going to the Gathering was my idea, if you remember.”

Dani nods determinedly. “Good. Because we’re close.”

Intertwined with the sounds of the forest, I can now hear music and howling in the distance. I smell a mix of smoke from the fires, unfamiliar werewolves, and pheromones. Good-mood type of pheromones that make you think of dancing, laughing, sex. A sense of revelry floats in the air, whispering, Don’t worry, there are no big bad monsters out here.

Under the moonlight, beyond the ring of trees, looms the silhouette of the mountains where the Shadowheart pack lives. The peaks look inconspicuous, peaceful. A contrast to everything I know about Shadowheart—all these tales that speak of brutality and fear.

The chill down my spine returns. A spike of fury crushes it.

I am not here to think about them.

I am here to have fun, like Dani said. And see Stone. Be with Stone, all the way.

My wolf stirs. She always does when I think of us together.

“We have arrived!” Dani gestures at the clearing ahead a moment later.

I take in the scene. Werewolves from every pack are mixing together in ways that I have only ever dreamed about—dancing, horseplay, making out. My heart pounds. I spend a beat or two just standing there, and Dani asks, “Okay, what are you waiting for?”

“What if someone from our pack tells my uncle?” I blurt.

Danielle raises an eyebrow. “The members who are here to party won’t be paying any attention to you, Kaya.”

“That’s not true.” I straighten a bit, standing taller. “Stone will.”

“Well, he’s never gonna know you’re here if you don’t join the fun.” She pulls me forward. “Come on, he’s gotta see you in that dress!”

I’ve put on a slip dress tonight. Silk, crisp white in color, almost silver when the moonlight hits the fabric. I know I look good in it. I wanted to look good tonight, to feel noticed. It works. As Dani and I join the Gathering, I can feel men’s gazes on me—their scents signaling interest. But Stone is the only one for me.

“Do you see him?” I ask Dani. She shakes her head, scanning the crowd.

“Welcome!” A woman dressed in black leather hands us drinks. “You both look amazing!”

A bunch of males howl in appreciation. Dani thanks the woman with a smile, and they start chatting. There are so many people around, so much going on, that I have to make an effort to focus on each person’s face as I look for Stone. Under normal circumstances, I would’ve been able to track him by his intoxicating scent, but here everything is madness—sensory overload. Soon enough I lose Dani, and I’m pulled into a dance with a group of bikers.

They are just so loud.

“Hey, gorgeous,” one of them says. The tallest. His smile is leering. “Never seen you around before. What’s your name?”

I pretend not to hear him among the ruckus and down my beer. My head is throbbing. The music, the scents—they’re getting to me.

“I saw Stone!” Danielle emerges from the chaos. She gestures excitedly. “Over there!”

Through the flames and smoke and swaying bodies, on the opposite side of the large bonfire, there is someone who looks like Stone. I squeeze Dani’s hand in thanks and break from the bikers. Adjusting my dress straps, I head toward the figure I think is Stone. I am a girl on a mission, and this is it. He will see me, I will see him, and then—

I lose him. He’s not there anymore.

My pulse spikes.

Hang on, there he is!

A group of hard-partying werewolves from a rival pack blocks my way. Pushing through, I fight to look over their shoulders. There’s suddenly a lucky momentary break in the crowd, and I see Stone a few feet away. I grab a beer from someone walking by, down it, and charge ahead.

I’m ready.

I’ve been fantasizing about this moment for so long, and tonight is the perfect setting to make it a reality. My wolf has been pushing me, and Stone has done everything short of saying it—he wants me just as much. I’ve always felt it.

“Oh my god,” someone says from my right. The words are loud but breathless, and then two people pop up in front of me. A couple, making out like there’s no tomorrow, glued against each other. No doubt the woman is in heat—I can smell it as I sidestep them. If everything goes my way, Stone and I are going to be just like that by the end of the night.

My body trembles in anticipation. What is he gonna say when he sees me? Is he going to kiss me? The last time he did, I could barely keep my hands to myself. I wanted to touch him, feel him tremble against me, on top of me.

He has to be my mate.

Of course it’s Stone.

Who else could it be?

“Stone?” I call, and then—

Someone blocks my stride. Again.

But this time is different.

The werewolf standing there has dropped before me like a bomb.

A presence so overwhelming, I freeze.

I didn’t see him coming—he stepped out of the shadows, and now that he’s bathed in the moonlight, his face deserves its own kind of spotlight. His sharp jawline, decorated by stubble, his full lips, his heavy brow and deep-set eyes. He has one of those classical, statue-like types of faces, but it’s not beauty I see when I look at him.

It’s power.

The scar that runs down the right side of his face screams power.

His blue eyes are fixed in mine, and I feel—

Trapped.

This man feels like a trap.

I cannot look away. I cannot move. I am holding my breath.

What...

What the actual hell is wrong with me right now?

I blink, breaking eye contact. The trance shatters, but when it does, my first instinct is to move closer to him. Grab him, become the one to trap him. The thought is so disturbing and unexpected that I know I need to get the hell away from him.

But when I step back—

I stumble.

He steadies me.

He holds me, and the second his hand makes contact with my waist, the moment my palms land on the solid mass of his chest, I gasp. I’m breathing again, and his scent invades my nose. It slithers through my skull, down my esophagus, gliding through my chest cavity before it finds my pounding heart and wraps around it, squeezing tight. A chokehold.

My wolf whimpers.

Again, I think, This feels like a trap.

The man’s face is cold, unreadable, yet his body radiates heat. His heart beats so violently under my hands, you’d think he’s fighting for his life right now. His grip on my waist tightens, and the pressure sets off a blaze that rapidly spreads all over me before settling between my thighs—a crackling sensation that makes me shudder. He notices. He licks his lips, stares like he could devour me without leaving a single trace behind, and then, he opens his mouth.

In a gruff voice laced with enraging superiority, he says, “You look lost.”