Chapter 2
Laiko
Ever since the day I pulled Talia out of that mess, she seeped into my blood like poison.
Seven years. From the first time I saw those little punks picking on her, she burned herself into me like a brand. Small but stubborn, silver-white hair catching the sun, eyes clear and blazing with defiance. Humiliated, but she never bowed.
The moment I pulled her free, something woke in me. Not pity. Not sympathy. Something primal and deep.
She is my fated mate.
I knew it the second her scent wrapped around me—that warm honey-and-vanilla note that belongs only to her. It quiets the beast in my bones, giving me peace like I'd never known.
Mate bond is a fatal pull. Every time I saw her, my wolf snarled, demanding why I was holding it back, urging me to go to her, hold her, kiss her, and claim her. The wanting hurt so bad my body shook.
As the Alpha heir about to take over our pack, the power in me ran too hot. It hurt. It made me miserable and violent. On full-moon nights I came apart at the seams. But Talia—her desserts, her presence, just her scent—settled me.
Yet I still can't have her. Not now.
When I watched those stupid women humiliate her tonight, rage blew the lid off my chest. But I couldn't move. My father watches everything I do. He would never allow me to tangle myself with "the lowly eldest of the Ward Family."
He already laid out my life—marry Liriel, bind our families, ensure the pack's future. Love is a luxury to him. Only leverage lasts. And Talia—a "sick wolf" who couldn't even shift—doesn't exist in his plans.
My sanity clung by a thread. I wanted to grab her, bury her in my arms, and stake my claim. But reason said wait. I'm not strong enough to defy my father. Not strong enough to keep her safe.
Tonight should've belonged to Liriel's coming-of-age. Yet I couldn't look away from Talia once. In that plain dress she was still breathtaking, and the need to possess her clawed at my ribs. She should wear silk. She should wear jewels. She should stand beside me while everyone bows.
She came to me with a tray, and the sweet I know by heart wrapped me again. I kept my mask, cold and blank. Inside, my wolf howled like crazy—take her, claim her, mark her, let them all see who she belongs to!
"Mr. Thorn." Her voice was soft. The same nerves. The same shy devotion I've always heard.
I know the way she feels. That careful love is so obvious it breaks me and pisses me off at the same time. Breaks me that she has to love me from her knees. Pisses me off that all I can do is watch her swallow it.
I took a bite of her dessert, and sweetness bloomed across my tongue. The tempest in me went instantly quiet.
Lemon honey Madeleine. My favorite.
Golden as late-afternoon sun, shell ridges gleaming under the lights. One bite. The crumb melted slow. Lemon kissed first, then honey slid silk-smooth over my tongue, and a whisper of butter opened warm at the end.
Not just a feast for my taste buds. It was a small salvation. Every time I had these Madeleines, the angry energy that had built up inside from all that power would suddenly calm down, like a stormy sea going quiet all at once.
Only Talia's Madeleine does that. I had had our best bakers follow her exact recipe. Close on flavor, but the magic was dead.
That's what she is to me—my one soft place in a ruthless world. The only redemption my soul has left.
And all I could give her was a flat "Not bad," then watch disappointment dim her eyes. Every time. A thousand things I wanted to say. A thousand ways I wanted to pull her in and never let go. And I kept the damned distance.
Until Liriel showed up with a glass of wine.
The red wine looked tempting under the lights, but I caught a whiff of something off mixed in—some kind of strong aphrodisiac I'd seen on the black market.
Damn woman! She actually dared to drug me!
But it was too late. While I was sniffing to figure out what it was, I'd already breathed in some of the drug's fumes. That familiar heat started spreading through my veins, and my rational defenses were crumbling bit by bit.
I had to get out of here.
I staggered for my private lounge. Every step weighed a ton. The drug hit faster, and harder than I expected. By the time I got the door open, my skin was burning and my blood ran wild.
"Mr. Thorn..."
Talia.
Her voice lit the fuse. My fated mate's scent flooded through the crack—honey and vanilla—and I almost lost my mind.
Raw possessiveness completely took over my mind, and all my reason and self-control vanished in that moment. Seven years of pent-up desire exploded like a volcano, and I had only one thought—
Take her. Now.
I yanked her inside and threw the lock. Her scent drowned me. Sweet. Familiar. Addictive. My blood roared hotter.
I pressed her to the wall, pulled tight against her heat. Even through fabric I felt the silk of her skin, heard the hitch of her breath.
"Talia," I rasped into her ear, a husky voice I barely recognized.
Then I saw it—her body shuddering as bones shifted and heat rolled off her in waves.
She was shifting. My Talia was finally waking her wolf.
Seeing her trembling in pain, I fought against the drug's effects and half-knelt down, gently cupping her head in my hands. I was her mate, and my scent could be an anchor for her.
Don't hide from me, baby. Shift back. Let me see you.
"Breathe with me. Easy." I coached her, wrapping her in my scent. In that moment, I knew how low I'd fallen. I'd thrown consequences to the wind and bowed to the oldest hunger in me.
Slowly, she smoothed out. The wolf slid back. Her clothes were wrecked by the shift, and she curled naked into my arms. Dazed, raw from the chaos.
The drug tore through me. Looking at her—so breakable, so beautiful—my last line of reason blew apart. I held her hard, soaking in the heat and silk of her skin, the newly awakened sensitivity sparking under my hands.
"Laiko," she whispered my name, her voice carrying the confusion of her first shift and some kind of instinctive longing.
"I'm here, my girl." I stroked her cheek. My thumb traced her lips, flushed from the shift. In this private room, nothing else mattered. Not rules. Not restraints. Just us.
I kissed her. Seven years of hunger and need poured into one kiss. Her mouth was soft as petals, tasting faintly, impossibly sweet—hers and only hers. The flavor I've chased in dreams.
She kissed me back, awkward and eager, all nerves and discovery. I felt her tremble. Heard the small sounds she made when I touched her.
"Don't be scared." My voice dropped, rough with want. "I'll be gentle."
My hands moved over her, learning her body inch by inch, perfect as I'd imagined. Fresh from shifting, she was wildfire-sensitive; every touch made her shiver.
"Laiko," she whispered, panicked and wanting, "Is this right?"
"It's the rightest thing there is." I fought the drug's push, kept myself slow and gentle.
Under my hands, her tension melted. Fear burned off and something primal took its place. Our breaths mingled, our heartbeats gradually syncing up, like two souls that had been apart for too long finally finding their way home.
"Relax, my girl."
Under the moon's pale witness, we stopped lying to ourselves.
It wasn't just bodies meeting; it was something whole and holy.
The drug made it fiercer, longer. Every soft sound she gave was music.
Every answer from her drove me closer to the edge.
There was no world outside us. Only this fit. This perfect lock.
"From tonight on," I breathed into her ear, voice raw with heat, "you're mine, Talia. Forever. Only mine."
She answered with her own claim, nails scoring my back, staking me as hers. Being wanted back—completely—hit so hard it almost brought me to my knees. Seven years. I finally had her.
But the drug had its peak. When the last wave broke, exhaustion crashed over me. My vision tunneled. I fought it, tried to memorize every line of her in my arms, brand this perfect night into bone.
"I love you, Talia," I whispered, palm against her cheek.
I held her as the dark took me, locking in her scent, her warmth, as if I could weld them to my soul.
But when my eyes snapped open again, I woke into a nightmare.
Morning bled through the windows. My skull throbbed like it would split. The worst of the drug had burned off, but fatigue dragged me down. I reached for Talia, for heat and silk.
Liriel lay beside me.
Hair mussed. Skin marked. Smugness in her eyes.
"Good morning, my love." She poured sugar into the words.
"Why the hell are you here?" I shot upright. Rage surged through me like lava. Killing intent scraped at my skin from the inside.
"Darling, what are you talking about?" She blinked up all innocence. "You were the one who wanted it, Laiko. Don't you remember our wonderful night?"
No. No way.
Last night, I was with Talia. I remember her shifting. Her scent. Her heat. A mate bond couldn't get faked. Not even drugged out of my mind.
"Where's Talia?" I kept my voice flat with effort. "Where is she?"
Liriel's face twisted. "Talia? That pathetic little sick wolf? What does she have to do with anything? I'm the one who was with you. Liriel Ward."
"See?" She pointed at the sheets. "Proof."
I knew she was lying. These marks were too deliberate, nothing like what real lovemaking would leave behind. More importantly, I couldn't possibly feel desire for anyone other than Talia!
"Where is she?" I clamped a hand on her shoulder, squeezing hard enough to crack bone. "What did you do to her?"
The door crashed open. My father filled the frame, stone-faced, elders crowding behind him.
"Laiko!" Fury vibrated in his voice. "How dare you pull a stunt like this! What filthy she-wolf thought she could tempt you? I'll—"
He stopped when he saw Liriel. The fire in his eyes banked. I could even see satisfaction flicker there.
Liriel rushed in. "Alpha Thorn, I'm sorry. It was my fault. I shouldn't have—"
"Enough." He cut her off, stepping to the bed, looking her over. "Liriel, is it?"
"Yes." Head bowed. Shame painted on.
I saw it then—the pleased glint Father couldn't hide. She'd bet right. If he'd found any other woman in my bed, he'd have torn the house apart. But Liriel? Different story.
"Laiko, what's done is done. You will take responsibility." His voice was iron. "The wedding will be six months from now. Liriel will be your Luna."
Rage ripped through me, clawing, desperate to tear this pretty liar apart. Reason held the leash. If I told the truth now, my father would find a way to erase Talia. To keep her safe, I had to swallow it.
My father's gaze cut to me, sharp and measuring. "Laiko, do you have something else to say?"
I do. My real mate is Talia, not this nightmare. I love her. She is my Luna. I want to tell them that last night, in this bed, Talia and I were one. That I took her. That she is mine.
But I am weak.
I heard my own voice, flat.
"No, Father. I'll do as you say."