Chapter 6

Keiran’s POV

The moment I took a whiff, her scent hit me, letting it fill my senses as I loomed over her. I knew she wasn’t a rogue, just as she claimed.

This made sense because Rogues wouldn’t be stumbling in my land unless they had a death wish.

Her scent didn’t carry the wild bitterness and chaos most Rogues had, but it seemed a little bit off… No… in fact, a little bit familiar.

It’s subtle, but it almost had a mix of the scent of chestnut and mint. I couldn’t point a finger at whether it was indeed the same scent I had been looking for three years, though because it was faint and a bit different.

“Adeline… Adeline Hansford.”

I kept my eyes on her. If she was lying, which I was damn sure she was, I’d find out soon enough. But the real question was why she was lying.

I’d seen countless wolves hide before. Most of them were cowards running from debts, deserters feeling their Alpha’s wrath, and so many more, but they never ran to hide in the most dangerous pack, my pack.

And even if some of them did get lost and went there, they’d be too scared to lie and beg to be kept alive.

But this little stray was different. She looked more afraid of something than me and my pack, and she kept that sarcastic mouth of hers running wildly everywhere, almost like the Demonmaw was her least of things to be scared about.

The next morning, I passed through the barracks on the way to the academy where I train warriors.

I watched her from outside her room through the small gap in her curtains after I heard the swishing of wind inside. To my shock, I found her in the middle of the room, moving her fists with surprising precision as she shadowboxed in the corner.

For someone I’d dragged out of the dirt, she wasn’t as helpless as she pretended to be.

The second I found her, I had half a mind to throw her out or kill her as I did for the others who made the same mistake as she did.

When I said that, she was a problem. I meant it. She’s like a mystery puzzle that needs solving. 

The reason I let her stay for now was maybe because of the mixture of determination and desperation in her eyes that didn’t come from someone looking for trouble but from someone running from it. Or maybe it was something deeper…

Her identity was, without a doubt, suspicious, but what caught my attention the most was her scent, which seemed so familiar as well.

So familiar with the scent that covered Luna's body when I found her dead.

I clenched my fist, thirsting for the truth.

“Alpha,” Teddy Fisher, my beta, cut off my thoughts as he stepped beside me and nodded in Adeline’s direction, whispering, “You sure about keeping her?”

I wasn’t… Not at all… What if she really held a secret about the death of Francine, my Luna… what happened then? Would it be something I wanted to know?

Instead of voicing my thoughts, I shrugged my shoulders in time that Adeline kicked the ass of the one she was sparring with. “She doesn’t look so weak. Might be useful.”

Ted scoffed. “Or dangerous.”

Well, he wasn’t wrong…

“Keep an eye on her. If she steps out of line, I’ll deal with her myself,” I ordered, and he nodded before going to the Academy.

Looking back at her and catching her scent in the air, the memory of that night resurfaced in my mind. The blood in the air, my mate’s lifeless body in the middle of dead Rogues, and the blurry figures that vanished in the forest as I tried to get to Francine to save her… 

Someone had fought hard to protect her that night. But I didn’t catch on who…

Could it have been her?

I shook the thought away. By the looks of it, Adeline hadn't even had her first shift. My mate died three years ago, and she would have been too young then to fight off those Rogues.

But I don’t believe in pure coincidence. There’s just no such thing. Not to mention her suspicious identity and the recent news of criminals on the run. She’s definitely connected to something.

The pieces didn’t fit — not yet — but I knew better than to ignore them.

Focusing back on the present, I left to follow Ted to the Academy, but I suddenly halted when something came into my mind. We might as well test out if that shadowboxing was something real.

With a smirk on my lips, I ordered one of the guards to get her and prepared her to enter the academy.

I stepped forward, raising my voice over the crowd. “Demonmaw doesn’t waste time on the weak,” I growled. “You train hard, or you die fast.”

The room silenced instantly. My gaze locked on Adeline.

Her eyes widened, but she didn’t look away.

Brave... or stupid.

I didn’t know which one she was yet, but I intended to find out.