Kai Blackthorn woke with a start, naked on the forest floor, the taste of rain and woman still on his tongue.
His wolf was snarling inside him, pacing restlessly, demanding he go back. Go back now.
He sat up, running a hand through his damp hair. The alley behind the Tipsy Timber felt like a lifetime ago. One reckless night. One human woman with fire in her eyes and a scent that had driven him half-mad.
Elara.
Just thinking her name sent another wave of heat through his veins. He'd meant to walk away clean — no names beyond first, no complications. The pack was already fracturing under the weight of his so-called curse. Five years without an heir. No new pups born because the Moon Goddess supposedly withheld her blessing until their Alpha found his true mate and claimed her.
Elders whispered he was broken. Young wolves grew restless. A challenge was coming; he could feel it in the air.
And yet last night he'd lost control with a human.
Kai stood, pulling on his torn shirt. His wolf howled again, louder this time, clawing at his chest.
Mate.
The word slammed into him like a rogue's jaws.
No. Impossible.
He'd looked into her eyes, breathed her in, buried himself inside her… and felt nothing but raw, blinding lust. The bond was supposed to hit like lightning the moment eyes met — the pull, the knowing, the wolf's instant recognition.
But it hadn't. Not then.
Now, hours later, with her scent still clinging to his skin, the truth crashed over him.
She was his. Fated. The one the Moon Goddess had chosen to break the curse.
And he had let her walk away into the night without even asking for her last name.
"Fuck," Kai growled, the sound echoing through the trees. His claws lengthened before he forced them back.
He had to find her. Before the pack learned he might have met his mate and lost her. Before another challenger smelled weakness and made their move.
By midday he was back at the pack house on the edge of the dense forests outside Blackthorn Ridge, barking orders at his Beta, Jax.
"Find her. Elara. Works at the Tipsy Timber. Human. Dark hair, sharp tongue, scent like wild jasmine and rain. Go."
Jax raised an eyebrow but didn't argue. "You sure about this, Alpha? A human?"
Kai's golden eyes flashed. "She's mine."
He didn't tell Jax the rest — that the bond had only clicked after he'd already had her, that he'd fucked his own fated mate without realizing it, and that every second she was out there unprotected made his wolf want to tear the world apart.
Two weeks passed in a blur of sleepless nights and dead-end leads.
Elara Voss stared at the two pink lines on the plastic stick, her hand shaking so hard she nearly dropped it.
Positive.
She was pregnant.
From one stupid, reckless night with a stranger whose face she still couldn't stop seeing in her dreams.
Morning sickness had started days ago — violent waves that left her retching over the diner toilet on her breaks. She'd blamed bad takeout at first. Then the exhaustion. The strange heat that sometimes flared low in her belly, like her body was burning from the inside.
Now it made terrible sense.
She sank onto the edge of the bathtub in her tiny apartment, pressing a hand to her still-flat stomach. Mia was at school; thank the stars for small mercies. How was she supposed to raise a baby on waitress tips while dodging debt collectors and the shady characters who sometimes lingered too long after closing?
And the father… Kai. She didn't even know his last name. He'd vanished into the trees like smoke. Probably for the best. Men like that didn't stick around.
A sharp cramp twisted through her abdomen, stronger than the usual nausea. She gasped, doubling over. Sweat broke out on her forehead.
This didn't feel normal.
Whatever was happening, her body was struggling. Badly.
Unseen, several kilometers away in the shadows of the forest bordering town, Kai Blackthorn finally caught her scent again — faint but unmistakable, carried on the wind.
He'd been searching relentlessly. Hacking into town records, questioning bar staff, running the forests at night in wolf form. The pack was growing suspicious. Elders muttered louder about his failure to produce an heir. One bold beta had already challenged him for dominance and barely lived to regret it.
But now he had a lead. She worked the evening shift again tonight.
He would watch. He would wait.
He would bring her home — whether she wanted it or not.
Because if the bond was real, and she carried his pup, then the curse might finally be broken.
But first he had to find out why her scent now carried an undercurrent of sickness… and fear.