004

Zara's POV

The weight of his gaze pressed against me, sharp as a blade. I could feel the shift in the air, the slow, dangerous interest forming in his mind, Cade was studying me, reading into every breath I took, every small flicker of movement.

I had his attention, but that was the easy part.

Keeping it was going to be much harder.

Cade moved slightly, shifting just enough that the golden mask caught the candlelight, casting sharp shadows over the lower half of his face. His presence was suffocating, his scent—something dark, something wild, lingering beneath the effects of my suppressants.

“You’re playing a game,” he murmured, his voice smooth but edged with something unreadable.

I forced myself to smile. “Aren’t we all?”

His lips curved, just slightly. Not a smile, not really. More like a flicker of amusement.

“Tell me,” he said, tilting his head slightly, “do you have any idea who you’re dealing with?”

A test. A trap. A warning.

My pulse quickened, but I didn’t let it show. “I know exactly who you are, Alpha King,” I said, keeping my voice steady. “The most powerful werewolf alive. The last of the bloodline that once ruled over all of us. A man no one dares to cross.”

His golden eyes flickered with something I couldn’t name. “Then you should be afraid of me,” he said softly.

I tilted my head, pretending to consider it. “Should I?”

His gaze darkened. He took a step closer, his energy brushing against me like a slow-moving storm. My breath caught in my throat as the room seemed to shrink around us.

I had been around Alphas before. Bradlyn’s presence was suffocating, aggressive—like a heavy hand gripping your throat, forcing you into submission. But Cade was different. His power didn’t crush. It didn’t demand rather It waited.

Like a predator watching, calculating, deciding if you were worth the effort to hunt.

I swallowed hard.

“Fear is a natural response,” he said, his voice deceptively quiet. “I could rip out your throat before you even had time to scream.” A shiver ran down my spine. Not just from his words, but from the way he said them.

Not as a threat, as a fact. A simple, undeniable truth. I forced myself to hold his gaze. “Then why haven’t you?”

A slow, stretched silence and he chuckled.

The sound was low, dark, full of something I couldn’t quite understand. “You’re interesting,” he murmured.

He turned slightly, his golden gaze flicking over the crowded hall before settling back on me. “Tell me your name.”

I hesitated. A name meant something. A name made me real but I had no choice. “Zara.”

"Zara" The way he repeated it—low, thoughtful—sent a strange, unfamiliar heat curling through my stomach.

Cade’s gaze slid past me, his expression unreadable. Then, just as suddenly as he had engaged with me, he stepped back. “I’ll be watching you, Zara.” And just like that, he was gone.

The space he had occupied felt empty, like the eye of a wind passing over, leaving destruction in its wake. My knees felt weak, my breath uneven.

I had survived, barely. But had I succeeded?

I barely made it back to my quarters before the weight of the night collapsed on me. My hands were shaking. I wasn’t sure if it was from fear or something else, Cade had noticed me and that much was clear. But that wasn’t the same as winning his trust.

If I wanted that ring, I needed to get closer, But how?

A knock on the door jolted me out of my thoughts.

I stiffened. No one came to my room! Slowly, I stepped forward and cracked the door open.

My breath caught in my lungs. Hannah.

She stood in the dim candlelight, her lips twisted in a mocking smirk.

“I saw you,” she said, tilting her head. “What did you say to him?”

I swallowed. “What are you talking about?”

She laughed, stepping closer, forcing me back into the room.

“Oh, don’t play dumb, Zara. The great Alpha King Cade, a man who never spares anyone a glance, staring at you like you were something worth his time?” She folded her arms. “I’m impressed.”

I clenched my fists, She wasn’t here to congratulate me, She was here because she saw me as competition.

“Tell me,” she continued, her voice dripping with amusement. “Are you actually trying to seduce him? Or is this some kind of joke?”

I forced a smile. “Why do you care?”

Hannah’s eyes gleamed. “Because he’s mine.”

A cold laugh slipped from my lips before I could stop it.

“Is he?” I asked, arching an eyebrow. “Because from what I saw tonight, he didn’t even know you existed.”

Her expression twisted, fury flashing across her face, I braced myself, expecting her to strike me.

Instead, she smiled, a slow, wicked smile.

“Oh, Zara,” she murmured, stepping closer, her voice dropping to a whisper. “You have no idea what you’ve just started.” With that, she turned on her heel and strode out of the room, leaving a chill in the air behind her.

My stomach twisted, Hannah wasn’t going to sit back and let this go as I just had made her my first enemy.

But I didn’t have time to worry about her because Cade’s words still echoed in my mind.

"I’ll be watching you, Zara'

And that meant one thing, this wasn’t over, this was just the beginning.