Chapter 2 Chapter 2

Amber

I froze.

My heart was beating a thousand miles per hour, and I knew he could hear it too. His quiet chuckle sent a shiver down my spine, igniting both rage and something else I refused to acknowledge.

I squeezed my eyes shut, struggling to regain my composure. When I opened them, I quickly scanned the room, evaluating my surroundings, calculating my chances of breaking his neck right here, right now.

But for some reason, the thought didn’t seem as satisfying as it should. His cold fingers traced slow, deliberate circles on my shoulder, and an unwanted thrill danced along my skin.

“Who are you?” I gritted out, despising the weakness in my voice.

His fingers suddenly tightened, digging into my shoulder before spinning me around with startling ease. My breath hitched as I was forced to face him.

And I hated what I saw.

He was more than gorgeous. He was devastatingly, unfairly beautiful.

His piercing grey eyes bore into mine, something flickering behind them—as if battling to settle on a single emotion. His dark brown waves of hair framed his face perfectly, grazing his ears and the base of his neck. My fingers twitched with an unfamiliar urge to run through them.

And his lips—God, his lips. Full, pink, and pulled into an arrogant smirk that made me want to slap him and kiss him all at once.

What the hell was wrong with me?

“What’s the matter, Princess? Rogue got your tongue?” His voice was smooth, laced with amusement, but beneath it was something deeper, something unreadable.

I stiffened. Never had a rogue openly revealed himself to me like this.

And yet, I knew.

He wasn’t just any rogue.

The ones I’d hunted before were sloppy, weak, desperate.

This one radiated power. My wolf stirred, reacting to it in a way I didn’t like. I shoved her back. He was a rogue. In my home.

That was reason enough to kill him.

I yanked my shoulder free from his grasp, fixing him with a sharp glare. So what if he was gorgeous? Most rogues I killed were.

“But none had you staring like this one,” my wolf murmured smugly.

She was right. And I hated that.

She was telling me something else too, something I refused to listen to.

“Why don’t we take this outside where we can talk freely?” I suggested, forcing a saccharine smile onto my lips. I just wanted to wipe that smug expression off his face. Permanently.

But instead of answering, his smirk deepened as his eyes searched mine. Then, his knuckle brushed against my cheek, an infuriatingly gentle caress.

I should’ve flinched. I should’ve shoved him away.

But instead, a shiver ran up my spine.

“Ah, yes. There is no doubt about it,” he murmured, more to himself than to me.

Then his gaze shifted, suddenly sharpening, darkening as he locked onto something across the room.

I followed his line of sight—Nathan.

And the look in the rogue’s eyes was murderous.

Not on my watch.

“Why are you looking at him?” I demanded, gritting my teeth, suppressing the tingles his touch had left behind.

His gaze snapped back to me, stormy and menacing. “Because he wants what’s mine, of course.” His voice was a quiet snarl. “Look at him, like a damn love-sick puppy.”

Then he stepped past me, heading straight for Nathan.

I moved on instinct, grabbing his wrist.

Nathan was an Alpha, fully capable of handling himself. But something about this rogue—his sheer presence, the suffocating power rolling off him—made me uneasy.

The way he turned on me nearly made me stumble back. His once-grey eyes now burned molten gold, his wolf straining against the surface.

And my wolf—she was clawing at my mind, desperate to close the distance between us.

I yanked my hand away. Not out of fear, but because—

Because I had never felt anything like this before.

“Get a hold of yourself,” I hissed. “And get the hell out of my ball.”

I grabbed his collar, watching as his eyes flickered gold again, as if he was struggling to contain himself. He looked at me like I was something forbidden. Something intoxicating.

Still, I didn’t flinch.

“Get. Out.”

His lips parted slightly, as if in pain. “This is harder than I thought. I shouldn’t have come.”

His voice was strained. Raw.

“Fuck, your touch,” he muttered, jerking away from me like I burned him.

My touch? What about my touch?

I watched him in confusion as he closed his eyes, his jaw tightening. We were at the far end of the room, away from the crowd, but anyone looking closely could see something was off.

When he reopened his eyes, they were back to grey.

Then, his gaze snapped past me again.

Nathan.

My heart lurched as I turned, catching Nathan’s confused expression before a blur of movement shot past me.

The rogue was gone.

And so was Nathan.

“Oh, shit,” I whispered. “That damn rogue!”

What did he want? Why was he targeting Nathan?

And how the hell did he move so fast.

I whirled around, scanning the room frantically. Then my eyes landed on the balcony.

And my blood ran cold.

Nathan was dangling over the edge, held by the throat. By the damn rogue.

I grabbed a butter knife from one of the tables and darted from the room, glad that nobody saw what was happening.

“Don’t come closer, Amber, or I’ll drop him.”

How the hell did he know my name?

Nathan choked out, “A-Amber…r-run.”

Not a damn chance.

“Put him down,” I growled, inching closer.

The rogue chuckled darkly. “That butter knife won’t hurt me, Princess. But understand that I have to do this.”

“I said, put him down.”

He smirked. “Fine.”

I realized my mistake too late.

“No, wait—”

He let go.

I lunged forward, heart in my throat—only to see Nathan land roughly on the balcony floor.

Not falling.

Not dead.

The rogue had set him down.

I exhaled sharply, barely registering my own heartbeat as I stared at him.

The rogue glanced at Nathan, murmured something I couldn’t hear, then Nathan walked past me, almost absentmindedly.

“What did you do to him?” I demanded, stepping toward him.

He chuckled. “Relax, Princess. I just told him to go home and forget tonight ever happened.”

I gaped at him. “How?”

“You hunt rogues, but you know nothing about us.” His voice was filled with amusement.

A chill ran down my spine.

“Who are you?” I spat, gripping the knife tighter. “I’m done with the games.”

His smirk widened. He gave a mock bow, eyes gleaming with something dangerous.

“Oh, I’m not playing games, Amber.” He straightened, his voice thick with something unreadable. “I’m Drew. The Alpha of the Rogues.”