Chapter 2

• Lucien
• The scent hit him first or rather, didn't.
• It was just after moonrise. Wind moved through the trees, dragging the scent of pine and frost from the cliffs above. Lucien stood at the ridge, arms folded behind his back, cloak brushing his boots.
• Nothing moved but everything felt wrong.
• The kind of stillness wolves only noticed after years of blood. The kind that made the air feel thin. The kind that said something is here but you wouldn’t know until it had its teeth in your throat.
• His wolf shifted under his skin without snarling or warning, just listening.
• He didn’t move right away. He never did. Let the wind speak first.
• Far below, the forest looked still. Silent but stillness was never safe. Stillness was the shadow before something broke.
• And then, there was movement
• The figure emerged between trees like she’d been there all along. Too smooth to be a rogue, too still to be prey.
• Lucien didn’t move.
• She did.
• Not toward him.
• Not away.
• She just walked like the land was hers.
• He descended slowly, each step soundless. His boots left no mark on the frost-hardened ground. His breath fogged in front of him but he didn’t feel the cold.
• His wolf, however, had gone strangely still.
• Not tense.
• Not aggressive.
• The girl didn’t glance up when he approached. That was her second mistake.
• No wolf missed an Alpha at their back.
• And yet she didn’t react until he stopped a few paces behind her.
• Bare arms, threadbare boots, dirt-stained knees. Too thin but her stance was braced, balanced.
• A fighter’s posture wearing a beggar’s clothes.
• She turned.
• Her hood slipped just enough for him to see her eyes.
• Not brown, not green,not wolf gold for a typical Wolf.
• It was reflective grey
• “What are you doing in my territory?” he asked, his voice low and cold.
• She met his gaze directly. Another mistake or a challenge.
• “Didn’t know it was yours,” she said.
• Liar.
• Her voice was soft but calm. Too calm. Not the panic of prey.
• Not the submission of a rogue. She stood like someone who didn’t care if he killed her or let her walk.
• “How long have you been here?”
• She glanced skyward.
• “A day or maybe two.”
• “You came from the cliffs?”
• “I came from nowhere,” she said. “And I’ll be gone by first light.”
• “Wrong again.”
• His wolf shifted. Under his skin, the thing stirred and for the first time in months, it didn’t snarl.
• It leaned forward.
• Intrigued.
• That was dangerous.
• He stepped closer slowly. Circled her once. She didn’t flinch. Not when his shadow fell across her, not when the tip of his blade scraped lightly against the leather straps hanging at her hip.
• She didn’t carry weapons.
• Not even a knife.
• Either stupid or terrifying.
• “You’re not marked,” he said.
• “I don’t belong to anyone.”
• His jaw tensed.
• She said it with pride. Like it was a shield.
• “Where’s your scent?”
• She tilted her head slightly, eyes unreadable. “Where’s yours?”
• He blinked once.
• His Alpha aura pressed forward like a tidal wave. Not a command. Just pressure and to mark his presence.
• The kind that made warriors sweat and rogues fall to their knees.
• She didn’t blink.
• Didn’t move.
• Didn’t breathe.
• He stepped back.
• “You shouldn’t be here.”
• “I didn’t ask to be.”
• “You’ll come with me.”
• She stared at him for a long moment. The silence between them wasn’t cold. It was thick. The kind that always came right before thunder.
• Then she walked.
• No protest. No hesitation.
• And again, that strange thing happened. His wolf settled.
• Not in surrender but in curiosity.
• That was worse.
• By the time they reached the fortress, the guards had noticed. Reid was already at the gate, arms crossed, expression sharp as frostbite.
• “She’s alone,” Lucien said before Reid could speak. “No threat.”
• Reid raised a brow. “Then why can’t I smell her?”
• Lucien didn’t answer.
• The guards watched as the girl stepped past them, eyes sliding over her form like they couldn’t quite focus.
• “What is she?” one murmured.
• “She’s nothing,” Reid said grimly. “That’s the problem.”
• They walked through the stone corridors in silence. Torchlight flickered along blackstone walls. Wolf runes were etched into the stone underfoot, glowing faintly as they passed.
• The girl didn’t look around.
• Didn’t marvel.
• Didn’t ask where she was being taken.
• Just walked.
• “Name?” he asked, without looking back
• “Rhea.”
• No last name.
• No pack name.
• The sound of it, hit his chest
• Lucien didn’t lead her to the cells. He didn’t trust her near the warriors and something in him refused to lock her up like prey.
• Instead, he stopped at one of the upper chambers.
• Wooden door. No window. Warm enough to survive the night.
• He opened it, stood aside.
• She entered without a word.
• No questions. No gratitude.
• Like she knew she would be watched.
• Like she had been caged before.
• He didn’t speak again until the door was shut and sealed behind her.
• Reid met him in the hall.
• “You’re not going to ask who she is?” Reid growled.
• “She doesn’t know,” Lucien replied.
• “And you believe her?”
• “No.”
• “Then what are you doing?”
• Lucien stared at the door.
• “I don’t smell her. I don’t feel her. I don’t know if she’s rogue or something worse but my wolf…”
• He trailed off.
• Reid waited.
• “My wolf didn’t growl,” he said finally.
• Reid went still. “Not even once?”
• Lucien shook his head.
• “That’s not not
• hing, Lucien. That’s wrong.”
• “I know.”
• “Then what now?”
• Lucien exhaled slowly.
• “She stays.”
• That night, sleep didn’t come.
• It wasn't the dreams nor the curse.
• It was because of silence.
• The kind that echoed through the fortress like a song he couldn’t name.
• Behind stone and shadow, Rhea Vale sat alone in a warm room.
• Unmoving.
• Watching the door.
• Waiting for whatever came next.