Chapter 1 - Eva

Eva held her breath as she shimmied along the edge of the building. She carefully held her phone in her hand, her video recorder capturing every last detail that could lead to finding her brother.

The murmurs coming from around the corner were too muffled to hear. She slowly stuck her phone around the corner, capturing footage of those who were plotting against her brother.

Their voices and conversation may be muffled, but she would finally have a lead as to where to look for her brother.

Mateo’s been missing for almost two months and Eva has been going crazy trying to find him. Her family helped a lot when he first went missing and they would have large search groups that followed every clu they could come up with. But as the weeks went by, it narrowed to just her.

But she refused to let her twin brother become nothing more than a memory.

Eva watched her screen as the men suddenly looked around, their conversation on a complete hold.

Eva pulled her phone back slightly, thinking that they heard her. Her movements were slow as she carefully honed in on being silent. When she did, she heard it.

There were loud footsteps and heavy breathing not far from her.

Her eyes darted around, but she couldn’t see anything. The heavy footsteps stilled and Eva focused on the men again, who was now walking in her direction.

Shoot. Did they see her? She was being so careful and now it looked like they had her surrounded.

Eva spun and silently darted in the opposite direction, towards the footsteps she heard before. She’d much rather take down one person than a whole group of men that would know her face or torment her for information.

As soon as she turned out of the alley, she collided with something hard.

She flew to the ground and landed on something warm. She let out a quiet “oomph” and was shocked at the groan that rumbled under her.

She ran into someone and landed on top of him.

Her body exploded with warmness where she touched his body. She quickly sat up and almost fell off from the shock she received. He smelled of spice and the woods, an enticing scent that had her legs trembling and her heart beating.

The man turned his amber eyes on her, the vivid color sucking the breath from her lungs. Eva scanned his toned body and chiseled face, admiring the strong line along his jaw and the straightness of his nose.

His brown hair was neatly brushed to the top, the top of his hair longer than the sides. His golden eyes stared back at her with awe, his mouth slightly parted as they silently stared at each other.

‘Mate,’ her wolf hummed, almost making her purr out loud from the heat of him under her. Even though their clothes, his skin seemed to scorch her in deliciously.

A parade of thudding feet pulled her from her trance, making her snap her attention to the sound.

Right, she was running.

Eva quickly jumped up, leaving her mate behind her as she ran through the darkness, her boots light against the concrete as she sailed from trouble.

“Wait!” Her mate hollered, hot on her heels.

She cringed from his loud voice, hoping he would be quieter. She pumped her legs harder, using her wolf’s speed to let her escape the men who took her brother.

A warm hand wrapped around her wrist and yanked her back, almost pulling her arm from her socket. She hissed from the pressure as she was being dragged to the side, down another alleyway and out of the lighted streets.

She recognized the warmth and quickened her steps to keep up with her mate, who was dragging her behind him down the alley. She glanced behind her, looking for the men and expecting them to be behind them, but found nobody.

The man pulled her to the side again and pulled her down another side alley, still pulling on her wrist. His quick steps and methodical twists and turns down the alley convinced her he knew where he was going.

Who was he?

When he pulled her towards a rotten doorway, she dug her heels in. He spun around and looked at her quickly, confusion evident on his face.

“I’m not going in there,” Eva declared pointing towards the boards covering the dank wood.

Eva was claustrophobic and there was no way she could sit in that dark, old building with a stranger and feel okay.

No matter how handsome that mysterious man was.

The man looked panicked as he glanced around before sprinting to the side. He found a tall box trap and pinned her to the wall next to it.

Her mate stepped into her, pinning her against the wall with his warm body. His chest brushed against hers with every breath they heaved, making Eva feel warm in the cool night air. She fought to catch her breath herself and leaned her head against the wall, trying to clear her mind from the fog this man was giving her.

She once again took in his glory. She couldn’t believe she had a mate. She had come to terms with being alone forever and she was more than okay with it. She had no pack, her family was broken, and she had never been attracted to someone before.

That was until today.

Her mate stared intently into her eyes as his breath came out in warm puffs, creating little white clouds in the night air. His amber eyes seemed to glow more in the stark darkness and Eva fought even harder to catch her breath against his body, which had pinned her to the wall.

Eva sucked in a large breath when he moved his hand to both sides of her head. She finally registered their closeness and for the first time in her life, she didn’t feel uncomfortable. Her claustrophobia took a back seat as she stared endlessly at the gorgeous man in front of her.

“Who are—”

Eva pulled one of her hands up and clasped it over his mouth to silence him. She looked away from him to focus on her hearing and held her breath when she heard the footsteps.

They were still looking for them.

She locked her eyes with her mate’s golden orbs and when he slightly nodded, she removed her hand from his mouth, instantly missing the heat that left with him. He got her hint and pressed closer to her so they would be more inconspicuous while they were covered by the boxes.

She knew logically that he was doing this to hide from the men that were chasing her, but she couldn’t help the strong flare of desire that flicked up her body from how close he was to her.

His taunt body pressed into her intensely so not even a piece of paper could fit between them. She felt all of him pressed against her, heating every inch of her cold body.

He felt so good.

Her mate turned his head and stared at her as if he was in awe. He lowered his head closer to hers and she sucked in a breath.

He maintained his eyes contact as he edged closer to her, his nose brushing hers from their contact, sending a wave of pure desire down her spine.

They hadn’t even done anything and she wanted him so badly.

At the last minute, he turned his head and sunk his face into her neck, burying his face in the hair hanging over her shoulder from her ponytail.

He inhaled deeply and spoke so quietly only another werewolf could hear.

“If those men weren’t here, you wouldn’t be able to catch your breath,” he promised, his voice dark and thick with desire.

His words sent another wave of heat through her body and he held back a whimper from his promise.

Eva held her breath as he pressed a kiss to her shoulder, sending red hot sparks through every corner of his body.

When he removed his head from her neck and glanced around, reality snapped for Eva.

What was she doing? She’s trying to find her brother.

Once he had pulled back to glance around the corner, Eva took off.

Her heart begged her to turn back, her wolf protesting from every foot she tried to put between her and her mate, but she pressed on, sprinting from his beckoning lips before she couldn’t control herself.