Alaric POV
My wolf was losing his mind.
I'd released her wrist the moment she cried out, but the damage was done. That single touch had set something off inside me that I couldn't shut down.
She stood with her back against the door now, one hand pressed to her chest, breathing hard. Her eyes were wide and terrified.
And my wolf wanted to close the distance between us and never let her leave.
"Get out of my head," I muttered, pressing my palm against my temple. I wasn't talking to her. I was talking to the beast inside me that had suddenly decided this girl was the most important thing in the world.
"What?" Her voice shook.
"Not you. My wolf. He's being insane." I took a breath and immediately regretted it. Her scent hit me again. "What are you wearing?"
"What?"
"Perfume. Scent blockers. Something." I turned to face her fully. "What are you using?"
"I don't know what you're talking about." But her hand moved to her neck. A tell. She was hiding something there.
"Your scent is wrong." I took a step toward her. She pressed harder against the door. "It's too controlled. Too perfect. Betas don't smell like that."
"You don't know what Betas smell like."
"I've been around hundreds of Betas my entire life." Another step. My wolf pushed forward, demanding I get closer. "They smell normal. Plain. You smell like you're trying too hard to smell like nothing."
"That doesn't make sense."
"Doesn't it?" I was only three feet away now. Close enough to see her pulse hammering in her throat. "Why is your heartbeat so steady?"
She blinked. "What?"
"Your heartbeat. It barely changes." I'd been listening to it since she walked in. Training made you notice these things. "When I growled at you, it sped up for maybe two seconds. Then went right back to normal. That's not natural."
"Maybe I'm just calm."
"No one is that calm around an aggressive Alpha." I crossed my arms, trying to look less threatening even though my wolf was screaming at me to get closer. "Especially not a second year healer who's never worked with elite Alphas before."
Her jaw tightened. "I'm professional."
"You're lying." I watched her eyes. They darted to the left, then back to me. Another tell. "And you won't look at me directly. Why?"
"I am looking at you."
"At my shoulder. My chest. My forehead. But not my eyes." I leaned in slightly. She flinched. "Because eye contact with an Alpha makes you uncomfortable. Because you're not actually a Beta."
"You're paranoid." But her voice was too thin. Too defensive.
My wolf snarled inside me. He didn't like her lying. He wanted her truth. All of it.
"Then prove it." I kept my voice level. Calm. "Let me scent you properly."
"No." The answer came too fast. Too panicked.
"Why not? If you're really a Beta, you have nothing to hide."
"I don't have to prove anything to you." She reached for the door handle behind her. "This is inappropriate. I'm your healer, not your suspect."
"You became my suspect the moment you healed me in half the time it should have taken." I didn't move to stop her, but I didn't step back either. "Explain that."
"I'm good at my job."
"No one is that good." The wounds on my ribs were barely there now. I'd felt them closing under her touch. "I should be bedridden for at least three days. But I'm standing here having a conversation. Because of what you did."
She said nothing. Just stared at the floor.
"And my wolf." I pressed a hand to my chest where something warm and unfamiliar had taken root. "He's never settled for anyone. Ever. He fights my control constantly. But the moment you put your hands on me, he went quiet."
"That's not my fault."
"I didn't say it was a bad thing." I tilted my head, studying her. "I'm saying it's impossible. Unless you're not what you claim to be."
Her hand pressed harder against her chest. The same spot she'd grabbed earlier when pain had crossed her face. Something was there. Something that hurt her.
"What's under your hand?" I asked quietly.
"Nothing."
"Sera." I used her first name without thinking. Her eyes snapped to mine, finally making real contact. The impact of that gaze hit me like a fist to the gut.
"Don't call me that." Her voice broke slightly. "You don't know me well enough to call me that."
"Then tell me your full name."
She hesitated. "Seraphina Vale."
"Seraphina." I let the name settle on my tongue. My wolf purred in satisfaction. "Pretty name for a girl with too many secrets."
"I don't have secrets."
"Everyone has secrets." I watched a muscle jump in her jaw. "But yours are making my wolf insane. And that makes them my problem."
"I'm leaving." She turned and grabbed the door handle with shaking fingers.
"Wait." I didn't reach for her this time. My wolf howled in protest, but I held back. "Just answer one more question."
"No."
"Please."
The word stopped her cold. Her shoulders went rigid. Alphas didn't say please. We commanded. We demanded. We took.
She looked back at me over her shoulder, suspicion written all over her face. "What?"
"Why did you flinch when I touched you?"
"I didn't flinch."
"You cried out. Like I'd burned you. But I barely gripped your wrist." I kept my voice soft, though my wolf was clawing at my control. "What hurt you, Seraphina?"
Her throat worked as she swallowed. For a moment, I thought she might actually answer. Then her expression shuttered.
"Nothing. I'm fine."
She was lying again. But pushing wouldn't help. Not yet.
"Okay." I held up my hands in surrender. "You can go. But you'll be back tomorrow for another check-up. Head Healer's orders."
"I'll send someone else."
"She assigned you specifically. You think she'll let you back out?" I raised an eyebrow. "Thorne doesn't change her mind once it's made up."
Seraphina's shoulders slumped slightly. She knew I was right.
"Fine. Tomorrow. But we keep this professional."
"Of course." I watched her reach for the door again. My wolf whined at the thought of her leaving. "Seraphina?"
"What now?" Exhaustion bled through her voice.
"Your patch is slipping."
Her hand flew to her neck. "What?"
"The patch on your neck. The corner is peeling up." I gestured vaguely, watching her reaction more than anything else. "You might want to fix that before you leave."
Panic flashed across her face. She pressed her palm against her neck, checking. And in that moment, with her arm raised and her shirt collar shifting to the side, I caught it.
A scent. Different from the controlled, too-perfect Beta scent she'd been projecting.
This was real. Unfiltered. Just a flash, but enough.
Sweet. Warm. Intoxicating.
Omega.
My world tilted. My wolf roared in recognition, in triumph, in possessive satisfaction.
Everything suddenly made sense. The controlled scent. The steady heartbeat that had to be chemically induced. The way she wouldn't make eye contact. The fact that my wolf wanted to claim her on sight.
She was Omega. And she'd been hiding it in an academy where Omegas were banned.
"What?" She noticed my expression change, my stillness.
"Nothing." I forced my voice to stay neutral even though my heart was pounding. "Just make sure you fix that patch."
She studied me for a long moment, those eyes searching my face for the truth I was hiding. Then she adjusted her collar and yanked the door open.
"Tomorrow. Nine AM. Don't be late." Her voice was stronger now, back in control.
"Seraphina."
She paused in the doorway but didn't turn around. Her spine was rigid, waiting.
"Whatever you're hiding," I said quietly. "I will figure it out."
She didn't respond. Just walked away, her footsteps quick and uneven on the tile floor.
I waited until the sound faded completely before I moved. My legs gave out and I sat heavily on the bed, running both hands through my hair.
An Omega. Here. Hidden.
And my wolf had recognized her instantly.
I looked down at my chest, at the place over my heart where something warm was spreading. I pulled my shirt open.
There, just beginning to form on my skin, was a faint mark. Barely visible. Like a shadow under the surface.
A bond mark.
My hand shook as I traced the outline.
No. This was impossible. I didn't have a mate. The Moon hadn't chosen anyone for me. I was twenty years old and I'd never felt a pull toward anyone.
Until her.
Until Seraphina Vale with her secrets and her pain and her Omega scent that called to every primitive instinct I had.
I pressed my palm flat against the mark and felt warmth pulse back.
This couldn't be happening.
But when I closed my eyes, I saw her face. Felt her hands on my skin. Smelled that brief flash of her true scent.
My wolf had already decided.
And when a wolf decided, there was no changing it.
I stood and moved to the mirror, staring at my reflection. My eyes were still more gold than brown. My wolf too close to the surface.
Tomorrow I'd get answers.
Tomorrow I'd see what she was so desperately hiding.
I looked back down at my chest where the bond mark was slowly taking shape.
And I realized with absolute certainty that Seraphina Vale was about to become my biggest problem.
Or my only solution.
I just couldn't tell which yet.