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No.

Something was wrong.

It had started the second he stepped in front of me, the moment his voice had rumbled through my chest like a slow-moving avalanche. That voice—familiar, rough-edged, full of quiet authority—sent heat spiraling low in my belly. I didn’t welcome it, but I couldn’t seem to fight it or push it away, or even just outright ignore it.

I swallowed hard, forcing my breath to even out. This was nothing. Just instinct. Just my body reacting to the proximity of wolves, their oppressive presence messing with my senses.

It had to be. That’s all itcouldbe.

Except it wasn’t the wolves.I knew that, but it didn’t make things any easier. If anything, it just made the realization worse, but there was no denying it.

It washim.It was all him.

The way his voice wrapped around me, smooth and primal, with a dark edge that made me shiver. The way I couldfeelhis attention on me, heavy against my skin, even though I couldn’t see him and he wasn’t touching me.

And the worst part? I knew—knew—he could scent it on me. The heat. The tension. The traitorous, aching want squeezing tight in my core. My unbidden arousal as it slowly unwound deep inside.

I clenched my jaw, nails biting into my palms.

Get it together, Lia.

Then he stepped closer, and his scent intensified, like a flame catching dry kindling. That was when I felt it. Not just my own rising arousal, buthis.

Thick. Unmistakable.

My breath hitched before I could stop it.

Fuck.

There was a shift in the very air between us, invisible but undeniable, and I knew—just as surely as I knew how to set a snare or skin a rabbit—that whatever was happening wasn’t normal.

It wasn’t stopping.

I didn’t like it. Not the way my body reacted to it, the way my pulse kicked up, just slightly, beneath the surface. I didn’t like it one bit.

I’d spent my entire life learning wolves—tracking them, reading their movements, anticipating their kills. They were dangerous predators, every last one of them. Yet, something about this one—this Alpha—didn’t feel like all the others.

He wasn’t growling or snapping or trying to intimidate me. He was studying me. I could feel his attention, the weight of it against my skin, heavy and smothering. And the strangest part? Even though I was the one blindfolded, even though I was the prisoner here… It almost felt likehewas the one on edge. Like something aboutmehad rattledhim.

The realization sent a dark thrill spiraling through me. When he told his lackey to take me to his cabin, before I could stop myself, my lips curved up in a smirk.

“Careful, Alpha,” I murmured, letting the words slip past my lips like silk. “I might be more than you can handle.”

The air went thick.

His scent flared, darkening, heating, and though I couldn’t see him, I could hear the way his breath caught, just for a fraction of a second.

A slow, satisfied warmth spread through my chest. Whoever he was, whatever power he held here… he wasn’t immune to me.

And that?

That was something I could use.

CHAPTER3

Silas

I watched Jax tighten his hold on her arm, her posture still loose, still so much in control despite the fact that she was a captive in very dangerous enemy territory. She let him lead her away, the blindfold still covering her eyes. She didn’t stumble, didn’t hesitate. Even shrouded in darkness, she moved like someone who knew exactly where she was going.