North

I can’t look away from her.

My wolf is growling. His claws are drawn, scratching through my insides. He demands I go over to her. Ask why she’s fighting with that other blonde woman. I wish I could hear what they’re saying, but the music is too loud. I should go over and break off their argument, actually.

Contrary to popular belief, I can be a pacifist that way.

Then I’ll grab her by the waist, throw her over my shoulder, tear that goddamn white dress off her. My hand clenches into a fist when I remember earlier—how the curve of her hip felt against my palm. The way she looked up at me. Her scent. Her scent. I can still smell her—I can taste her under my tongue. My wolf wants me to pounce, but I can’t just go over there and beg for her attention.

Not after she turned her back on me without saying a single word earlier.

What the hell was that about?

It took everything in me not to grab her and pull her right back in.

“See, that’s the thing,” Jordan is saying in the background, “I try to keep a level head. I’m a chill dude. I don’t even get angry, you know?”

“You?” Malik’s tone is dry. “Angry? Never.”

Jordan doesn’t pick up on the sarcasm. Or he ignores it. “But then this asshole dared to call me ‘pretty boy,’” he goes on, “and accused me of sleeping with his girlfriend, and I lost it. And he lost a few teeth.”

“At least he didn’t lose his life,” Malik says. “Did you actually sleep with his girlfriend?”

“Dude, it was the redhead,” Jordan scoffs. “You’re the one who hooked up with her!”

“Oh. Right,” Malik says, realizing. Then he grins. “Well, she did ask so nicely.”

The guys laugh. I don’t. Across the clearing, the argument is getting worse, and the woman looks like she’s about to cry. My wolf hates the idea of her crying. The lust I can go along with, but caring so much about her being upset? That’s weird. Why is my wolf, a sourly son of a bitch if I ever met one, so emotionally invested here?

Why do I care so much?

“Do you know that woman in the white dress?” I ask, turning to the guys.

Malik looks over my shoulder. “What woman?”

I turn to look and she’s—

She’s gone.

The blonde she was talking with is gone too.

What just happened?

“Where the hell did she go?” I huff.

Jordan raises his eyebrows. “Sure you didn’t make her up?”

I glare at him. “Does it look like I’m in the mood for jokes?”

Jordan grins. “You’re never in the mood to joke, North.”

Malik rolls his eyes. “Come on, who gives a shit?” He gestures around. “Look, there’s plenty of fish in the sea. Did you see that tall one from the White Ash pack? Pretty sure she was checking you out.”

“It’s the perpetual murder scowl that does it for them,” Jordan says. “Who wouldn’t want a piece of Shadowheart’s big bad Alpha?”

The guys laugh. I ignore them. I look around for the woman, taking in the chaos of scents in the air. Her scent was what brought me to her earlier. I could pick it apart despite the crowds, the music, the chaos. It called to me. No, it wasn’t a call. It was a demand. Her scent drove me here. There was something familiar about it, though I’m sure I’ve never seen her before. I would have remembered those eyes. Big soft brown eyes, upturned like a fox’s, and her mouth, cherry red, shaped like it too.

Why did I let her get away?

Why did she walk away?

After the initial shock, the way she looked at me made me think that we were on the same page here. I could smell the sharp need on her—she’d let me do whatever the hell I wanted in that moment. Then again, if she really felt half of what I felt, she wouldn’t have walked.

The sting of rejection makes my wolf growl.

It shouldn’t matter, though. I came here for the same reason as everyone. There’s no reason to obsess over the one who got away. It’s stupid. Worse, it’s pathetic. Like Malik crudely said, there are plenty of other women who’d be into me. Shaking my head to myself, I look around. Not for her, but for other prospects. But even as I scan the crowd, the sight of her in front of me in that sexy dress, her eyes in the firelight, will not fade away.

The memory of her hands brushing against my chest is enough to arouse me.

Damn.

“Speaking of other girls,” Jordan says, eyebrows arched. “Incoming.”

He pulls me around, and I come face-to-face with Karol. She has a red jumpsuit thing on with a plunging neckline. Great chest. Pretty face.

Smiling as she approaches, she says, “Hey, boys.”

I glance around. “How come you’re not perusing the crowd?”

Karol hooks her arm in mine. “I got bored.” She moves up to tiptoe, her voice a breathy whisper in my ear. “You know I don't do boring.”

Karol and I have hooked up a couple of times. Even though the sex is good, I’ve never felt all that excited about her. Or any other woman. Malik is out there, charming his way into everybody’s pants like it’s all a fun game of conquest, but I don’t see sex as a sport. It’s just an itch to scratch whenever I feel like it, and there are always overly willing and enthusiastic participants around. It is what it is, and I’m in control the entire time.

My wolf yowls when the breeze hits, and I catch a whiff of that woman’s scent.

My jaw clenches, stomach drops. That doesn’t feel like something entirely controlled.

“You should follow me,” Karol mutters, “we can put on a show for all the newbies. Bet they’d love to see the Shadowheart Alpha in action…” She’s tugging on my arm and says something else, but I’m not listening.

I lost the woman’s scent again.

“Are you even listening to me, North?” Karol has gotten into my face.

I focus. “No.”

She frowns for a split second. Then it’s gone. Reaching for me, she mutters, “What about now?”

Before she can touch me, I grab her wrist. “This is a bad idea.”

She stares at me in disbelief. “Since when?”

“Since I said so,” I say.

Her eyes narrow for a beat. She wouldn’t dare make a scene. I’m right—she doesn’t. She contains her anger and smirks, shrugging. “Your loss.” Turning around, she saunters over to a group of one of our rivals and joins them. They holler at her arrival. She flips her dark hair over her shoulder coyly.

“Damn.” Jordan whistles. “She got over you quick.”

“Good,” I grunt.

I do another look around for the woman in the white dress. Now I gotta wonder, if she wasn’t interested in me, what the hell is she doing here anyway? Did she have her sights set on someone? Someone else?

The thought is so enraging it feels like a vise around my throat. A threat to my very being. My wolf growls like he’s been attacked, wounded. It makes no sense to feel like this, but I don’t give a damn. I don’t know why White Dress is here tonight or what her deal is, but I will find her. And then I will figure out where I remember her intoxicating scent from.

Her scent is a memory that thrashes inside my head, and I’m fighting to grab it and figure out the truth about it.

“Hey, where are you going?” Malik blocks my way as I make a move to leave. “Party’s just getting started.” He nods to the left. Four sexy women are eyeing the three of us, sending clear signals. “The one in leather just waved us over. I’m doing all the work for you, man!”

“It’s fine. Go to them,” I say.

“But where are you going?” Malik asks for a second time. “You haven’t even gotten a drink yet.”

“Aww, look at Malik fussing over you again,” Jordan butts in. Just like any self-respecting shit-stirrer would. “You guys are so adorable.”

We both ignore him.

“Point is,” Malik goes on, “don’t come to me for advice when you end up lonely tonight.”

“When have I ever needed your advice about women?” I scoff.

“Exactly,” Malik says. Like that explains everything. “You never have fun. You never enjoy yourself.” He spreads his arms wide. “Come on, let loose, Alpha—this is the one day you don’t have to be anybody!”

I wave him off. He knows better than to insist, and then I’m gone. I pick up the girl’s scent and follow it, breaking through a group of partying werewolves. I get a few growls, but the moment we lock eyes, they force smiles. Because they know that taking me on would be the last thing they ever do. They can sense that I am an Alpha.

And that’s the key here. I can’t be anybody or let loose like Malik says I should. I cannot afford to be lighthearted when I’m responsible for so much, when I know that any normal day can turn into a catastrophe in the blink of an eye. Though what I’m doing right now, looking for that woman, is perhaps my version of letting loose. By avoiding the worst. In the sense that it feels like if I don’t find her, I will have a raging beast to deal with.

Myself.

My wolf huffs in agreement as I keep walking. I step around a couple going at it. They don’t even notice me. Not even the thick smell of sex is enough to cover White Dress’s scent, though. My wolf has latched onto it and won’t let go. It teases my mind and memory like a thread that leads me to the edge of the woods.

I frown.

Would she be so foolish as to leave the party? It’s one thing to come to the Gathering—as wild as it is, she’s as safe as she can be among the crowd. But during these parties, which always take place on equinox and solstice dates, some werewolves may be affected more than others by the full moon and nature’s heightened energy. Affected to such a degree that they become dangerous to themselves and others.

She should not be out there gallivanting in the middle of the night.

Scowling, I follow her trail through the woods when I am suddenly hit by another scent. This one male. My wolf lets out a territorial snarl. I don’t recognize the male scent. I don’t have to.

Whoever this man is, he’s tracking White Dress. My wolf feels this sense of protectiveness so ferocious it knocks the air out of me. I shift immediately, breaking into a run. I move so fast that I get to them in mere moments—I hear them ahead.

I hear a wolf’s growl.

The two scents have mingled, poisoning hers with his. When I break through a thick crop of trees, I come face-to-face with a massive male werewolf, shifted fully, his fangs bared. He’s ready to attack.

“Get away from me!” she screams at him.

I growl. Her terrified gaze shifts to me.

And in that moment, as the scar on my face throbs in phantom pain, I finally remember where I know her scent from. It makes no sense, and it’s unbelievable that it’s her knowing what I know right now, but I am certain that she’s not a mere stranger to me.

She is everything.

I would kill for her. I would die for her.

She is mine.

Howling, I charge toward them.