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He stood at the arched window, watching Celestial Pines stretch below like a living fairytale. Colorful rooftops, lampposts that flickered in daylight, shop windows blinking with enchantments and charm. A town full of magical oddities and ancient secrets, hidden from the human world beneath the Moonlit Veil.

He was the quiet engine that kept it running. Alpha of the Moonfang Pack. Protector of the Veil. Problem-solver for every supernatural squabble this side of the mountains.

But he hadn't been ready for today’s first crisis—a minor fight between two shifter teens over the same girl. Fur had flown. One mailbox lost a door. The girl ended up leaving with neither of them.

Jace had stood there with arms crossed, watching the whole mess unfold with a headache blooming behind his eyes.

“Alpha,” Petra had said gently afterward, “your new assistant should be settling in. You might want to, uh… check on that.”

He had growled something unintelligible and stalked upstairs.

And that’s when it happened.

He rounded the hallway, pushing open the office door, and everything… shifted.

There she was.

A mess of curls, fiery auburn laced with silver threads that shimmered even in the dusty lamplight. She was crouched in front of a file cabinet, sorting scrolls into piles that defied any organizational logic he’d ever seen. She wore a skirt that swirledaround her knees like a stormcloud caught in a spell, and her sweater was embroidered with mushrooms. Smiling ones.

She smelled like wild honey, sun-warmed lavender, and something else. Something older. Something that twisted in his gut like a howl caught in his throat.

His wolf surged forward, claws at the edge of his skin, eyes sharpening.

Mate.

It hit him like a punch. No warning. No preparation. Justtruth, absolute and unignorable.

She looked up. Their eyes met.

Green. Startlingly green, like moss and mischief and early spring.

“Hi,” she said brightly, holding up a small paper bag like a peace offering. “I brought muffins.”

Muffins?

Jace blinked. His heart didn’t stutter. His breath didn’t hitch. He was alpha, for moon’s sake. Steady. Controlled.

But the edges of his world had just tilted, and nothing was where he left it.

He took a slow breath. Pushed down the growl in his throat. Locked the wolf back in its cage.

“You’re in my office,” he said, the words low and clipped.

Her smile faltered. “Right. Yes. Sorry, I just thought since this was the central archive and I’m technically your assistant?—”

“I said you could work in admin support. Sorting incident reports. Filing. Quietly.”

She rose to her full height, which barely hit his shoulder, but she stood her ground with a tilt to her chin that dared him to keep growling.

“I’ve only been here four hours and haven’t set anything on fire. I’d call that a win.”

Her voice was like her smell, sweet, warm, threaded with chaos.

“I don’t like surprises,” he said, taking a measured step forward. Her scent thickened. The wolf inside him growled softly. “And I don’t like magic that doesn’t stay in its box.”

She blinked up at him, a small crease forming between her brows. “Then you hired the wrong witch.”

He froze.