Chapter 3

Lucian didn't answer. He just slid the plate of cut steak toward me.

"Eat."

Realizing he wasn't going to say more, I let it drop.

"Anyway, I have something for you tonight."

Lucian's hand paused.

"If you want, I'll come back whenever you need me."

The words came out fast. Too fast for me to catch what he really meant.

Then he left with his beta.

I touched my chest. My heart was beating too hard, too fast.

My ears burned too, for no reason at all.

My heart hadn't settled yet, so I went to the medical office, wanting to check if something was actually wrong with me.

The doctor flipped through my chart, brow furrowing.

"With the Blood Moon approaching, this is the sign of Blood Fever."

"What's Blood Fever?"

"An unmarked she-wolf's pheromones destabilize. It only gets worse." The doctor adjusted his glasses. "The only cure is completing the bond soon. A male's pheromones can suppress the unrest."

My chest felt tight.

Lucian wouldn't even touch me. Bonding wasn't even on the table.

Walking out of the office, I called Zoe to vent.

"I know two unbonded wolves. Good bodies, good temperament. Want them to come suppress it for you?"

"No thanks." I refused without thinking.

"Look who's being modest." Zoe snorted.

After hanging up, I holed up at home working on manga line art, trying to push down the restlessness.

The villain Alpha's face for the new project still wasn't right. I stared blankly at the screen.

Zoe's call came through again.

"Did that rash on your neck flare up again?" Her voice carried a smile. "Sign the Blood Fever's getting worse?"

I touched my collarbone. It really was burning hot, flushed red.

"We need to rehearse the ritual dance for the Moon Festival," Zoe coaxed. "Might as well let those two try out the steps with you. You're about to dissolve the bond anyway—why not?"

I hesitated.

"Just rehearsing steps."

Zoe burst out laughing on the other end.

"Your self-control? Not buying it for a second."

Not long after I hung up, night fell completely. I finished the line art and crashed, only to dream.

In the dream, I was tangled with some beast, kissing like we couldn't stop, breath mixing, lost in it completely.

Then those eyes appeared, right in front of me—gold.

I jolted awake, drenched in cold sweat, heart pounding.

Legs weak, I went downstairs for water, and at the bottom of the stairs, heard laughter from the hall.

"Some people," Lucian's Beta Gavin Cole's voice, dripping with mockery, "are losing it during rut, but they'd rather go fight rocks in the training yard than risk hurting their wife."

The group burst into laughter.

"Alpha, if she runs off with another wolf, don't come crying to us."

I held my breath, frozen at the landing.

Lucian wiped blood off his hands, didn't look up.

He said something. The group laughed again.

I didn't catch the words, but one caught my attention—the Moon Well.

"The Alpha's been sneaking off to the back mountain lately," someone said. "Just to stare at that old well?"

The Moon Well—an ancient spring passed down through generations of the pack. Legend said if you confided in the moon, it would keep your secrets.

Something clicked in my chest.

A pack leader, talking to a well. What was he even saying?

The question kept growing, so I didn't go back to my room. I turned and headed for the back mountain instead.

The moonlight was thin. I felt my way through memory, stumbling in the dark.

The old well was tucked behind a cluster of bushes, its walls crawling with moon-moss, glowing faintly silver.

I leaned over the edge and looked in. The surface held something like a thin layer of ice—frozen whispers.

I reached out to touch it. The water didn't move.

I remembered the legend—only blood could wake it, and only the blood of the person named within could unlock it.

I bit my fingertip and let a drop fall in.

The surface rippled violently, and a whisper's afterimage surfaced.

Lucian's voice.

[Finally married her... but I was born with the Blood Rage Curse. Once I mark her, I might not be able to control the force. How do I give this to her without hurting her the moment I bite...]

I froze in place. The water kept churning.

[She says I'm rigid. If I wore this, would I finally be able to love her without fear...]

What surfaced was a muzzle guard.

Something in my chest twisted sharply. I leaned in closer without meaning to.

Another ripple, and this time it surfaced his confession about stealing the ritual robe—he'd kept it hidden in his den at the training grounds, needing her scent to calm the ache of missing her, only to hate himself for it afterward.

My eyes went wide. I could barely believe it.

Further down—

[It hurts so much. I don't want to bite my own wrist and cry her name anymore, not when I'm alone.]

My hand shook too hard to hold the well's edge.

The blood on my fingertip hadn't even dried yet, but my chest was already shaking with something I'd never felt before.

Lucian was carrying a curse. He'd stolen the robe. He loved me to the point of madness.

All that coldness, that restraint, that evasion—it had all been a mask.

I gripped my hand, still wet with well water, and turned to run back.

Tonight, I had to make him say it to my face.

The hem of my dress soaked through with dew, and as I hurried back, my head was full of what the well had shown me, my heart pounding too fast.

From a distance, I saw two figures standing at the territory gate, their pheromones drifting far—unbonded wolves in rut.

Damn it. These were the ones Zoe had arranged.

Inside the hall, Gareth shot to his feet, his face draining of color.

"Oh my god—" he blurted out.

The chatter in the room stopped dead.

Everyone turned to look at me, standing there in the doorway.