DAMIEN POV
My wolf slammed against my chest so hard I nearly staggered.
There.
I scanned the crowd frantically, searching for whatever had triggered that violent reaction. The party was packed—hundreds of people drinking and dancing and pretending to have fun. But my wolf didn't care about any of them.
He was hunting.
Then I saw her.
Honey-blonde hair catching the light. Standing near the drinks table with another girl, looking like she wanted to disappear into the floor. She was pretty in a natural way that made every other girl here seem plastic and fake.
I'd never seen her before in my life.
So why did my entire body feel like I'd been struck by lightning?
"Damien!" Arms wrapped around me from behind, vanilla perfume choking the air. "There you are! I've been looking everywhere for you."
Celeste. Of course.
"Hey," I said automatically, my eyes still locked on the blonde girl across the room. She was turning to leave, her friend pulling her toward the door.
No. Not yet. I needed—what did I need? Why did the thought of her leaving make panic claw up my throat?
"Are you even listening to me?" Celeste moved in front of me, blocking my view. Her perfectly manicured hand touched my chest. "I was thinking we could sneak away somewhere private. Like old times."
"We broke up." I tried to step around her, but she moved with me.
"We always break up." She laughed like this was funny. "Then we get back together. It's what we do."
My wolf snarled. Not at Celeste—at the fact that she was in my way. I needed to see that girl again. Needed to understand why every instinct screamed at me to go to her.
"Not this time," I said, finally focusing on Celeste. "I meant it when I said we're done."
Her smile faltered. "You're serious?"
"Completely."
Hurt flashed across her face before anger replaced it. "Is this because of someone else? Did you meet someone new?"
Yes. No. Maybe? I didn't even know her name, but something fundamental had shifted in the last sixty seconds.
Before I could answer, raised voices cut through the music. My wolf's attention snapped toward the sound like a dog hearing a whistle.
The blonde girl stood at the base of the stairs, and Celeste—wait, there were two Celestes? No. One was still in front of me. The other one near the stairs must have been earlier, or...
My brain was scrambled. Nothing made sense. But one thing was crystal clear: Celeste was confronting the blonde girl, and my wolf was losing his mind about it.
I moved before I could think.
"Celeste," I said, and everyone froze.
The blonde girl turned, and our eyes met for the first time.
The world stopped.
Pine and winter storm and something wild—her scent hit me like a physical blow. My wolf roared one word that changed everything: MATE.
No. Impossible. I didn't believe in instant mate bonds. Those were fairy tales. My father had always said fated mates were rare, probably didn't exist, that arranged matches made more sense.
But my wolf didn't care about logic. He knew.
She was mine.
"Leave her alone," I heard myself say, my voice rough.
I barely registered Celeste's shock or the crowd's whispers. All I could see was this girl—my mate—looking at me like I was the last person she wanted help from.
"Thank you," she said stiffly. "You didn't have to—"
"Are you okay?" I moved closer, drawn like a magnet. I needed to touch her, to make sure she was real and safe and—
"I'm fine." She stepped back, and the rejection felt like a knife. "Maya, let's go."
"Wait." Panic seized me. She couldn't leave. Not before I understood this. "I don't think we've officially met. I'm—"
"I know who you are." Her hazel eyes were cold. "And I'm leaving."
She turned away, and my wolf howled in despair. Every instinct screamed to follow her, to stop her, to make her understand we belonged together.
But she clearly wanted nothing to do with me.
Why? What had I done? We'd never even spoken before!
Then I remembered—my reputation. The endless stream of girls. The Instagram posts. The playboy image I'd cultivated so carefully.
To her, I probably looked exactly like the kind of guy she'd hate.
And she had no idea we were mates. Couldn't know. Only I felt it because only Alphas could sense the bond immediately. Omegas didn't feel it until—
Wait. Omega. Her scent told me everything. She was an omega wolf.
My father's voice echoed in my head: "Mingle with appropriate families."
An omega mate would never be considered "appropriate" by pack standards. My father would lose his mind. The Council would object. Everything I'd been raised to believe about suitable matches said this was wrong.
But my wolf didn't care about any of that.
Marcus appeared at my elbow. "What just happened? You look like you've seen a ghost."
"I found her," I whispered.
"Found who?"
"My mate."
Marcus's eyes went wide. "What? Who? Where?"
I pointed, but she'd disappeared into the crowd. "The girl Celeste was harassing. I need to find her. I need to—"
"Fire!"
The scream came from upstairs. Smoke began pouring down the grand staircase.
Everything exploded into chaos. People ran in every direction, pushing and screaming. The fire alarms shrieked. Someone knocked into me hard enough to make me stumble.
My mate. Where was my mate?
I shoved through the panicking crowd, searching frantically. My wolf was going insane, demanding I find her, protect her, get her to safety.
There. Near the far wall, separated from her friend, looking terrified.
I fought my way toward her, but the crowd kept pushing me back. Smoke filled the room fast—too fast. This wasn't a normal fire. This was deliberate.
The threatening messages. Someone had been planning something tonight.
Someone had set my house on fire with hundreds of people inside.
And my mate was trapped in here.
I finally reached her and her friend. "Follow me! I know another way!"
I led them through the service hallways my siblings and I had used as shortcuts growing up. The smoke was thick. I could barely breathe. But I couldn't let anything happen to her. My wolf wouldn't survive it.
We burst outside into cool air. My mate collapsed on the grass, coughing. Her friend fell beside her.
"You're okay," I said, kneeling next to them even though my hands shook with leftover fear. "You're both okay."
But my mate's face had gone pale. She stared at her phone like it showed the end of the world.
"Isla?" her friend asked. "Why do you look like that? What's wrong?"
Isla. Her name was Isla.
Something was very wrong. I could see it in every line of her body. She looked up at me, and for just a second, I saw raw terror in her eyes.
Then her expression changed. Shifted. Her breath caught.
And I realized with a jolt that she felt it too.
The bond. The pull. The impossible recognition.
Our eyes locked. The world fell away. My wolf pushed forward, desperate and demanding.
Mate, he snarled. Ours. Claim. Protect. Mine.
But Isla's face crumbled into horror.
"No," she whispered. "No, no, no."
Pain shot through my chest. "What—"
"This can't be happening." She scrambled backward, away from me. "Not you. Anyone but you."
The rejection hurt worse than the smoke inhalation. "I don't understand. Why—"
"Stay away from me!" She was on her feet now, backing away. "This is a mistake. The Moon Goddess made a mistake!"
"Isla, wait—" I reached for her, but she flinched like I'd tried to hit her.
"Don't touch me! Don't come near me!" Tears streamed down her face. "You're a player. You use people. I've seen what you do to girls. I won't be another conquest you brag about!"
"That's not—I would never—" The words tangled in my throat. How could I explain that everything had just changed? That the moment I'd scented her, my entire world had shifted?
"I'm rejecting this bond," she said, her voice shaking. "I reject you as my mate. Stay away from me, Damien Blackwood."
She turned and ran, her friend chasing after her.
I stood frozen as my mate disappeared into the darkness, taking my heart with her.
My wolf was howling, clawing, begging to chase her. But her words echoed in my head.
"I've seen what you do to girls."
She was right. I had used people. Treated relationships like games. Never cared about the hearts I broke because I'd never felt anything real.
Until tonight.
Until her.
Marcus grabbed my shoulder. "Damien? What the hell just happened?"
I couldn't answer. Couldn't breathe. My mate had just rejected me, and it felt like dying.
My phone buzzed. A message from my father.
"Fire department says it was arson. Someone deliberately set this fire. Security footage shows a group wearing masks entering through the east wing. This was planned. Get inside NOW. We need to talk."
I stared at the message as pieces clicked together.
The threatening texts about Isla.
The fire set at my party.
My mate fleeing in terror.
Someone had tried to kill her tonight.
And they'd burn down my entire world to do it.
I looked at the chaos around me—firefighters, crying guests, my burning home.
Then I looked at the darkness where Isla had disappeared.
My mate was in danger.
Someone wanted her dead.
And I'd just let her run off alone into the night.
"Marcus," I said, my voice deadly calm. "Find out everything about Isla Monroe. Where she lives, who she knows, who's been threatening her. Everything."
"Why? What's going on?"
"Because she's my fated mate." I started walking toward my car. "And someone just tried to murder her at my party."
"Where are you going?"
"To make sure my mate survives the night." I pulled out my keys. "Even if she hates me for it."
Because mate bonds couldn't be rejected that easily.
And whoever threatened her would have to go through me first.
Even if it meant defying my father, my pack, and everything I'd been raised to believe.
My mate needed protection.
And I was going to give it to her whether she wanted it or not.