Pain was easier to fake than trust.
Selene limped behind the towering Beta wolf, her frame hunched and trembling with practiced effort.
Every step she took into BloodMoon territory was calculated, rehearsed, deliberate.
Weak. Meek. Omega.
She kept her eyes on the ground.
The pack's warriors watched her with suspicion as they passed; two flanked her sides, sniffing, glaring. She felt their mistrust as surely as their claws brushing against the hilts of their weapons.
Good. Let them fear her. Even if they didn't know why.
"This way," the Beta muttered.
Selene followed him through the massive stone corridor that led into the pack's main lodge. It was warmer here; smelled of woodsmoke, pine, and raw power.
And him. Kael.
The scent hit her like a strike to the chest; earth, musk, and something darker. The Alpha scent she'd been warned about. Dominant. Ancient. Dangerous.
A part of her wolf stirred. Stupid creature.
She couldn't afford weakness. Not now.
Inside the lodge's infirmary, the Beta gestured to a narrow cot. "Sit. The Alpha will be with you shortly."
Selene did, sinking onto the edge, careful to wince believably. Blood matted her shirt. Her shoulder throbbed where she had sliced herself. Not deep enough to risk infection, just enough to sell the illusion.
Minutes passed.
She inhaled slowly, listening to the murmur of pack wolves outside. Tuning her ears. Counting exits. Memorizing scent trails.
Then the air shifted.
He entered. Alpha Kael.
He didn't announce himself, but the moment he stepped in, the silence in the room became absolute.
Selene's eyes lifted instinctively. And there he was.
Tall. Broad. Dark-haired with the kind of presence that didn't need shouting. His eyes; deep amber, sharp as broken glass, cut through her disguise like it was nothing.
He looked at her like a wolf seeing through skin. Mate, her wolf whispered again, low and electric.
She crushed the voice.
"So," Kael said, voice low and clipped. "A rogue omega walks into my border covered in blood and conveniently collapses."
Selene forced her hands to tremble, her lip to quiver. "I-I wasn't trying to —"
"Save it."
Kael's tone was sharp, but he moved toward her with smooth, silent steps. He stopped inches from her. Selene could see the slight crease between his brows, the tick of his jaw.
He didn't trust her. Good. He shouldn't.
But still… he crouched in front of her.
And his hand; large, warm, calloused, reached out to touch the edge of the bandage someone had hastily wrapped around her shoulder.
The moment his skin brushed hers, the world shifted. A pulse slammed through her chest. Kael froze.
His eyes met hers, and something ancient and instinctual crackled in the air between them.
For a second, neither of them breathed. He felt it too.
No. No no no no.
Selene wrenched her arm away with a hiss, backing up until she nearly fell off the cot.
Kael's eyes narrowed, but he didn't say a word.
Instead, he stood and called a guard outside. "Get her cleaned up. Bring her to the south wing. One of the empty rooms."
"But Alpha —"
"She's staying," Kael said, turning away. "For now."
Selene stared at his retreating back, heart pounding. She'd touched him. And the mate bond… it sparked. Not fully. Not the wild, explosive blaze the elders always warned about. But the flame had been lit.
She couldn't kill him now. Not until she figured out what the hell this was.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The room she was given was small but clean; stone walls, a simple bed, a single window that overlooked the dense woods. The female omega who brought her clothes didn't speak much, but Selene noticed how she kept glancing at her arm. Where Kael had touched her.
Selene soaked in the wooden tub until the water turned red. She stared at the ceiling, her body aching, her thoughts louder than ever.
This wasn't supposed to happen.She was supposed to gain their trust, gather intel, and disappear after the kill.
But Kael had touched her.
And her wolf; usually cold and obedient, was pacing now. Anxious. Curious. Drawn.
Selene wrapped herself in the oversized tunic the omega had left and lay down. Not to sleep. She didn't dare.
Instead, she thought of Kael. The frown between his brows. The calluses on his hand. The heat of his touch. The flicker of something alive in his eyes, even though his words were ice.
She would earn his trust. Carefully. Slowly. But not to spare him. To get close enough to do what she came here to do.
Even if her heart; a traitorous thing, was beginning to beat in rhythm with his.