Fateful Encounter

Adeline bit down hard on the inside of her cheek to try to push the pain away. It didn’t matter now. Nothing mattered except reaching her father’s office. She could already picture the disappointment on his face and the way his cold eyes would scan her battered form and find her lacking. 

Again.

By the time she reached the grand doors of the pack house, her limbs were trembling with exhaustion. She pushed them open. 

A guard stood by the entrance. He barely glanced at her before jerking his chin toward the office doors. 

“He’s waiting.”

Adeline swallowed hard and limped forward to drag herself to the heavy oak doors. She raised her shaking hand and knocked.

“Come in,” came the deep voice of her father, Alpha Gregor.

Adeline pushed the door open and stepped inside. The familiar scent of leather and burning wood filled the room, but underneath it, there was something else. 

It was sharp and intoxicating like the raw scent of the earth after a storm with a raw and rich deep smell of pine and moss. But beneath that sharp edge was something surprising. 

Something sweet.

Honey. 

It should have felt overwhelming and suffocating but it didn’t.

Instead, it drew her in.

She hesitated for a moment, trying to shake off the strange feeling it stirred. She couldn’t figure out why. She doesn’t have the time to figure out why especially when she could feel his father’s burning stares.

She saw him sitting behind his massive desk. The moment his sharp eyes landed on her, they darkened with disapproval.

But it wasn’t him that nearly made her knees buckle.

It was the man standing near the window.

He was tall, broad, and intimidating. His presence was suffocating and his expression was void of warmth. 

And then like a sudden breeze that carries a distant scent, she caught it.

The same scent from earlier but now stronger. It wasn’t just the earthiness that surged forward now. The sharp scent of pine, wet earth, and the fresh bite of cold mountain air wrapped around her like a cloak. It was wild, raw, primal. 

There was honey, yes, but far more than that. Wild honey with an intoxicating richness that carried the sharpness of sun-warmed citrus. There was something deeper to it now, something stronger, as if the sweetness had grown more potent. It was the scent of a dangerous kind of sweetness, not soft or gentle, but overwhelming. It filled her senses until it felt like she could taste it and feel it against her skin.

But now, as their gazes collided, the sweetness was undeniable and pushing through like a force of nature itself.

It was overwhelming but she brushed it off as her senses playing tricks on her. She was already running on empty so she didn’t have time to focus on whatever this strange sensation was.

But it didn’t fade.

It lingered in the air and pulled at something inside her that she couldn’t name.

His dark eyes slowly dragged over her battered body as if taking in the bruises, the torn dress and the limp in her step. If he had any thoughts about it, they didn’t show on his face. His expression was unreadable but the way he looked at her that made her pulse quicken. Not fear exactly but something close enough.

And then he spoke.

“This?” His voice was deep and sharp enough to cut through the heavy silence. He turned to her father with a scowl. “This is what you’re offering me? A useless girl without even a wolf? Is this your idea of sincerity?”

Adeline’s stomach twisted painfully but she bit her lip to stay silent.

Avery stirred inside her. A low growl rose at the insult but Adeline shoved her wolf down with all her strength.

Her father’s cold voice interrupted the tension. “Adeline.”

She slowly lifted her head and forced herself to meet the stranger’s eyes.

Callum.

She had heard the whispers. He is the ruthless new Alpha who had taken his pack with blood and violence. Some said he had killed his own parents to take the position and he is ruling with fear and cruelty. 

And now, she was being handed to him like she was nothing more than property.

“She’s yours,” her father said flatly. “Do with her what you will.”

The words felt like a dagger to Adeline’s chest.

Her lips parted slightly but no sound came out.

Betrayal clawed at her insides and it’s colder than the pain in her body. 

After everything she had endured, after the years of suffering under this roof, her father was finally getting rid of her.

Avery bristled furiously. Adeline clenched her fists to fight back tears but something inside her slipped.

A sharp wave of anger and despair and her wolf seized it.

Her vision blurred for a second. Her pupils shifted and darkened.

Avery’s furious voice echoed in her mind. “Bastard!”

Callum’s eyes narrowed instantly. His gaze sharpened too.

Adeline’s breath hitched as she forced Avery back down. Her pupils flickered back to normal but the damage was done.

Something… changed in the air.

The scent grew more intoxicating.

But it’s not only the scent. It was the pull.

Her chest tightened. Her weak and trembling body felt as though it was being drawn toward him by some invisible force. It was a magnetism that she couldn’t explain but she felt it deep in her bones.

An undeniable pull that wrapped around her like a chain, like a rope tightening and binding her to him.

No.

Her mind screamed, desperately clawing at the walls of her thoughts and trying to shove the connection down. She couldn’t be feeling this. She couldn’t be… this close to him.

But it was already there.

And it was undeniable.

Her hands trembled at her sides, and her breath hitched as the realization slowly, painfully, began to claw its way through her mind.

Mate.

Mate!

He’s my mate!

The realization hit her so hard that she almost staggered.

No. No, no, no. Holy shit.

Adeline’s heart pounded in her chest but she caught the flicker of tension in Alpha Callum’s stance.

He knew it too. He recognized it.

But instead of relief or acknowledgment, his jaw tightened and his eyes darkened even further. 

“Pack your things,” he ordered coldly, “We leave tonight.”

Adeline could barely breathe.

Her father’s sharp gaze pierced through her. “You heard him.”

And then like a lightbulb flicking on, she thought of something.

She had to escape.

This was her only chance. Once they left the pack house, she would have an opportunity to slip away and to disappear into the night and never look back.

She nodded weakly and swallowed the lump in her throat. Her vision swayed but she forced herself to turn and leave the office.

She walked toward her room while her fingers trembled at her sides.

“I can do this,” she whispered to herself, forcing her aching body to move faster.

Her mind raced with possibilities. She could fake a collapse, wait until they crossed into the woods, or even jump from the moving car if it came to it.

Anything was better than being trapped with him.

But as she reached her tiny room and collapsed onto the bed, reality crashed over her.

Her body was barely holding on. Her leg was swollen, her ribs were hella damaged, and she could feel the fever burning under her skin. The infection from her untreated wounds was spreading fast.

Avery’s voice was quiet but urgent. “Adeline, we’re too weak. You need to rest.”

“I don’t have time to rest,” Adeline whispered, clutching the thin blanket on her bed.

She reached under the floorboards and pulled out the only possessions she had left. A dress, a water bottle, and an old locket from her mother. Her fingers trembled around the locket as memories flashed through her mind.

She had to survive. She had to get out.

But as she tried to stand, the world tilted violently. Her knees buckled, and she barely caught herself against the bed.

“No…” she whispered. 

If she couldn’t even stand, how could she escape?

A knock on the door made her jump.

“Time’s up.” Alpha Callum’s voice was hard.

Adeline took a deep breath while gritting her teeth against the pain. She couldn’t let him see how weak she was.

She pulled her bag over her shoulder and opened the door.

He stood there with arms crossed, looking down at her like she was a burden he had no patience for. “You’re slow.”

Adeline bit the inside of her cheek. “I’m ready.”

Without another word, Alpha Callum turned and walked away, expecting her to follow.

She took one last look at the room she had suffered in for so long then stepped out into the hallway.

The night air hit her skin when they stepped outside. She caught sight of the car waiting for them.

Escape.

She had to find a way.

Her eyes went to Callum as he opened the car door. He wasn’t looking at her but she could feel his presence pressing down on her like a weight she couldn’t shake.

She heard Avery’s firm voice, “He’s not going to let you go.”

Adeline’s grip on her bag tightened. She needed to stay awake and to stay alert.

But even before she slid into the car, exhaustion crashed into her like a tidal wave. Her eyelids grew heavy and no matter how hard she tried, her body betrayed her.

The last thing she saw was Callum’s cold gaze watching her before everything faded into darkness.