Charlotte~
"You useless brat!" my mother screamed through the phone. "Would it kill you to lend me three million dollars?! If it weren't for you, I—"
Beep.
I hung up before she could finish because I was tired of hearing the same words she'd been throwing at me for years.
"It's because your wolf is weak, the Alpha kicked us out," I mimicked her voice bitterly, rolling my eyes. "It's because you don't have any talent except being a stabilizer, blah, blah, blah."
If I hadn't been working as a stabilizer for feral werewolves, my family would have been starving on the streets, rummaging through garbage just to survive.
Ungrateful bastards.
I threw my phone onto the couch and rubbed my face with both hands. The apartment was dark, lit only by the red glow of my tablet blinking on the table.
LICENSE SUSPENDED — PENDING REVIEW.
Perfect.
There was no license, no pay, and apparently, I was still the family's personal ATM.
My brother had already emptied my savings after stealing my ATM card and memorizing my PIN when he saw me type it once. Now I had nothing left for rent, and our debts kept growing because he couldn't stop "investing" in his stupid get-rich-quick schemes.
Worse, he was the reason my license got suspended in the first place. He'd shown up while I was handling a client and almost made the feral werewolf escape from the containment area.
Yeah, he was a fucking bastard.
While I was still thinking about how to pay rent before getting kicked out, my phone suddenly buzzed. Without looking at the screen, I put it to my ear. "Yes?"
"Miss Willow," a deep voice came through the line. "I have a client who needs a stabilizer tonight. Ten million upon completion."
I froze. "What?"
I shot up and stared at the caller ID: Donovan.
He was the agent who usually handled my Bureau assignments. But with my license suspended, I wasn't supposed to get any work, especially not something worth ten million.
That kind of job could only mean one thing: illegal, unrecorded, and completely off the Bureau's radar. If I got caught, I'd lose my license for good.
But we were talking about ten million here. I could quit working and live like a salted fish after I got that amount of money.
"Why me?" I asked carefully.
"Because you've never failed a case," Donovan replied. "And I know you need the money, so either take it or leave it."
He wasn't wrong. Waiting two months for my suspension to end would mean living on the streets. Meanwhile, my parents wouldn't stop calling until I paid off their debts.
I took a deep breath. "Send the location."
===
Most feral werewolves who needed stabilizers—people like me who could calm their minds—were said to be descendants of Lupis Rex, the strongest wolf king who ever lived thousands of years ago.
The purer their bloodline, the easier it was for them to lose control. It was because modern werewolves simply couldn't handle the power of that ancient blood anymore.
Luckily, after thousands of years, the bloodline of Lupis Rex had become weaker because it had been mixed with others over time.
At least… that's what everyone believed.
"Fuck," I muttered.
The moment I stepped into the containment room—something that looked more like a luxury bedroom than a cell—the heavy scent of pheromones hit my nose.
The door behind me had already been shut tight, locked from the outside after I confidently told a bunch of rogues that I could calm their King with ease, and instructed them not to open it until I knocked three times.
But seriously, what the hell was this?!
Just from one whiff of his pheromones, I could already tell this werewolf carried the blood of Lupis Rex, almost a hundred percent pure!
No wonder he managed to become the Rogue King.
When I glanced down at my tablet and saw his profile, my stomach dropped the moment his name appeared in bright red.
He was so dangerous that even the Moon Bureau had refused to take his case. That's why he had to find an illegal way to get a stabilizer, and paid a ridiculous amount of money for it.
But was ten million really worth this kind of trouble?
"S–Sebastian Hunter?" I called out his name, staring at the man sitting in the corner of the dark room.
His hands and neck were bound by chains, yet despite that, I still felt nervous, and hesitant to even take a single step closer.
"I'm here to help you," I said again, this time a little louder.
Usually, most werewolves calmed down just by being near me, or after I touched their skin. But with pheromones this thick in the air, I wasn't sure if my scent would be enough to soothe his mind.
Maybe… I should just leave?
There's a saying: if you can't beat your enemy, run for your life.
"So, Mr. Hunter," I said carefully, inching backward, "I don't think I'm the right person to handle your case."
I was about to knock on the door when a voice echoed inside my head.
"Mate." My wolf, Nora, spoke again. "He's our mate."
For a moment, my mind went completely blank.
No. No, no, no. This had to be some kind of mistake. There was no way my mate was the Rogue King!
More than that, my wolf had never found my fated mate in twenty-five years, so how the hell did I suddenly have one now?
I thought I'd already expired!
"He's our mate," Nora whispered again. "Can't you feel it?"
Of course I could feel it. It was like an invisible force pulling me closer.
My lungs burned as I tried to breathe through the thick scent of his pheromones, or maybe it wasn't just that. Maybe it was because our fated bond had finally snapped into place.
This was bad. Really bad.
Once a feral werewolf finds their fated mate, the only way to calm their mind is through two things; bonding… and mating.
"Mate…" Sebastian finally lifted his head, his golden eyes blazing like molten fire.
He gritted his teeth, fighting to stay conscious while his feral instincts tried to take over.
I wasn't supposed to bond with him. The only reason I came here was to stabilize his mind, not to tie myself to him forever.
He was the Rogue King, someone dangerous, someone I should've stayed far away from.
But my body moved on its own, and the more I breathed in his scent, the harder it became to run toward the door.
I wanted him.
CRASH.
The sound of breaking metal filled the room. He'd shattered his restraints like they were paper.
Our bond must've been too strong, strong enough to drive him more insane with the need to reach me.
He looked at me like a starving beast who had finally found what he'd been hunting for.
In the next heartbeat, he was standing right in front of me, one hand gripping my waist, his breath hot against my ear as he whispered, "You're mine."