The night air was sharp, laced with the bite of an oncoming storm. The forest was too quiet—like it feared him.
Kairo stood on the ridge, unmoving. His dark coat whipped in the wind, barely concealing the tattoos that traced along his arms and neck like silent warnings. His black hair was tied into a loose bun, strands slipping across his brow, framing a face that never showed mercy.
He looked like a storm—beautiful, distant, and dangerous.
But if you asked him what he was?
He'd say: alone.
He didn't believe in love.
Not anymore.
Not since the day he learned it was a lie.
Kairo wasn't just an alpha—he was the Alpha. Leader of the Eclipse Pack. Unchallenged. Unbothered. Unforgiving.
Some said he was cursed.
Some said he was born to destroy.
And tonight, he was hunting.
"She's close," a voice crackled through his earpiece. It was Tael, his Beta.
Kairo's jaw tightened. "I know."
He had already sensed her. Not in the mate-bond way. No, he didn't have a mate. Didn't want one. But her scent was unfamiliar — soft, warm, and so dangerously out of place in his blood-soaked territory.
She shouldn't be here.
And yet… she was.
---
Fate, he thought bitterly, was a cruel joke.
---
Kairo stepped forward, boots silent on the rocks. His golden eyes swept over the treeline — calculating, cold. Below, the forest pulsed with shadows. Somewhere down there… she was hiding. Or running.
He wasn't sure which was worse.
---
"Backup?" Tael asked again.
Kairo yanked off his coat, revealing the markings coiled across his chest like armor. "No."
His voice was ice.
He needed no one.
---
Fifteen minutes later, it happened.
She appeared like a ghost.
Running. Breathless. Wild.
She slammed into him before she even saw him. "Oh my God—I'm sorry, I—"
She stopped.
Because he was staring.
Because the moment her eyes met his… the world held its breath.
---
He saw everything in her.
Fear. Fire. Fragility.
And something inside him — something ancient and violent — stirred.
---
She whispered, "Who… who are you?"
Kairo stepped closer.
"You're on Eclipse Pack land."
Her eyes widened.
"You shouldn't be here."
And still, she didn't move.
And neither did he.
---
He didn't believe in love.
But something about this girl?
Was about to test everything he thought he knew.