Silence fell like a blade.
The guards tensed. Alpha Gray rose slowly, fury simmering beneath his calm.
Arielle couldn't breathe.
The man who had entered—Lucien—was no ordinary rogue. You could see it in his posture, the way the air around him vibrated with power. Cold, commanding, effortless.
She'd never seen him before, yet… something in her blood remembered him.
Like an echo.
He scanned the room with eyes sharp as a hunter's, then settled his gaze on her.
"I said," he repeated, voice low and absolute, "I'm here for the girl."
Alpha Gray's eyes narrowed. "And who the hell are you to demand anything in my territory?"
The stranger smiled, a cruel twist of his lips. "You know who I am."
And he did.
The guards backed up just enough to betray it.
Lucien Nightfang. Prince of the Crimson Claw Pack. Son of Alpha Malric — the man responsible for the fall of the Alpha King.
The same man who likely murdered Arielle's father.
She stumbled back instinctively, heart roaring in her chest.
Alpha Gray laughed bitterly. "You've got some nerve stepping foot in my pack, prince. And for her? She's nothing."
Lucien's eyes flicked to her again. His voice stayed level. "Then handing her over shouldn't be a problem."
Gray snarled, "She's pack property—"
"She's not yours."
Those words didn't just echo. They boomed. They filled the room with pressure.
Even Arielle flinched.
Lucien stepped forward. "I'm taking her with me. You can either hand her over… or I take her from your corpse."
The two guards moved. Bad idea.
Before they could draw their weapons, Lucien moved like a shadow cutting through wind. One flipped midair, crashed into a pillar. The other landed flat on his back, wheezing.
He hadn't even shifted.
Arielle's legs refused to move. She stood frozen, not from fear—but from confusion. Rage. Shock.
Why was the enemy prince here for her?
And why did her wolf whisper one word, again and again?
"Run."
Lucien turned toward her, now only steps away. His eyes weren't kind. They weren't soft. But they weren't cruel either.
They were calculating. Curious.
"You're coming with me," he said.
She forced her voice through trembling lips. "Why?"
His answer was cold and sharp.
"To find out what you are."
---
She didn't have time to think. Lucien grabbed her wrist—not hard, not painfully, but with unshakable control—and led her past the stunned Alpha. No one moved. No one dared.
Outside, the snow was still falling, but the path was clear. Arielle looked back once, at the only home she'd ever known.
Ashes and silence.
She turned away.
---
They rode for hours on horseback, through the shadowed trees of the mountain, his soldiers trailing behind at a distance. Lucien didn't speak, and neither did she. The only sound was the wind and the steady beat of her heart.
It was almost nightfall when he finally broke the silence.
"You dream of fire. Of wolves bowing to you. Of a sword, don't you?"
Her breath caught.
She didn't answer. She didn't need to.
He already knew.
Lucien looked at her sideways. "You don't know what you are, do you?"
She turned toward him slowly. "Then tell me."
He studied her, jaw tight.
"You're the last threat to everything my father built."