Page 32 of The Forbidden Alpha

The music started as we led her to the center of the floor. We pulled her flush against me, my arm wrapping around the nonexistent back of her dress. Her skin was silk and fire under our palm, a living heat that turned the rest of the Hall cold by comparison.

Every other person in the room vanished. The music was a distant echo. There was only the rhythm of her heart and the terrifying realization that my power didn’t belong to me anymore.

It belonged to her.

We leaned down, stopping before the spikes of my mask could brush against her temple. “You’re shaking, Wildflower.”

“You’re wearing a mask,” she breathed, her hands resting tentatively on my shoulders, careful. “It’s hard to trust a man when I can’t see his eyes.”

My hand moved instinctively to the latch at the side of my head. I wanted to show her. We wanted her to be the first person in years to see the man behind the monster—to look into the eyes of the wolf she had tamed without even trying.

“No,” she whispered, her fingers catching my wrist and stopping the motion.

We froze. “No?”

“Wait,” she murmured, her eyes searching the iron slits. “Not here. Not in front of them. I want to see you when it’s just us. When I don’t have to share the sight of you with a room full of strangers.”

The request hit hard. She wasn’t just asking for a face; she wanted the version of me the outsiders didn’t have access to. My chest tightened.

We dipped our chin then pulled her closer until there wasn’t a breath of air between us. For those few minutes, there was only the honey on her skin and the crushing heat of our bond.

The song faded into a haunting silence, but I didn’t let her go. I couldn’t.

“Alpha.”

Odis’s voice was a sharp intrusion. One not worth turning away from her for.

“Not now,” I snapped.

“Alpha, it’s Olivia. We have a situation,” Odis said, his voice dropping to a low, urgent frequency. “Enforcers at the South Gate. They’re pushing the boundary.”

We closed our eyes, a low growl vibrating in our throat. Interlopers. Of course they would try to bleed into our territory the moment we found the cure to our insanity.

Normally, the prospect of a border skirmish was a welcome distraction. I thrived on the prospect of war, but tonight, for the first time in my life, I’d found something that made me fear the necessity of war.

I looked back at Adea. I could see the confusion and the lingering heat in her eyes—the way she looked at me, holding on with both hands.

“I have to step away,” I said, my voice tight with a rage I was struggling to contain. “I promise it will be brief. Stay with your pack. Do not leave the Hall.”

“Ethan?” she asked, her voice small, her fingers grasping at my arms.

We couldn’t bring ourselves to walk away from her. “You are mine, Adea. I’ll be back for you.”

We forced ourselves to let go of her hand. Something in us tore doing it. We snapped toward Odis.

“Lead the way. I’m going to paint the ridge in their blood for interrupting.”

Chapter 18

Adea

The silence Ethan left behind was heavier than the music pulsing in the Hall. I was rooted to the same spot he’d left me, my skin still humming where he’d touched me, my mind a mess. I was wolfless—void where my soul should be—and yet, for those few minutes in his arms, I’d felt more alive than I had in years.

A force tackled me, squealing as I tried not to fall. Nikki’s arms wrapped around me, crushing.

“You lucky skank!” Nikki hissed, her eyes scanning my face with nothing but excitement. “We got split up and when I find you, you’re in the arms of the Desert Moon Alpha! And that mask? I don’t even care what’s under it—he is hot.”

Mavy stood beside me, her eyes round with shock. “He didn’t just dance with you. There was more, wasn’t there? Tell us.”