Chapter 1 RAINE.

She was not supposed to be here. But she was so close. She could see Ronan spread out on the bed. She hiccupped, stumbling drunkenly as she steadied herself against the doorframe. Raine wasn't supposed to come back, but the rejection, the humiliation, it was too much. She had to try, Ronan needed to take her back.

The room swayed as she staggered in, her breath uneven, the sharp bite of alcohol still thick on her tongue. She stumbled to the bed, the figure on it slept soundly, half-covered by the sheets.

Ronan, her love.

With shaky hands, Raine pulled down the zipper of her dress. It pooled at her feet and she climbed into the bed, pressing herself against him. Her breath hitched as she reached for him in the pitch-black room. He was perfect, her mate. He had cast her aside like she was nothing. But this, she was sure it would fix everything. She could change his mind, she knew it.

She dragged her naked body over him, and placed her lips on his. She felt the moment he stirred into awareness because his body stiffened beneath hers. She moaned low, moving against him as she kissed him again. The body beneath hers hesitated for a minute, but then he was kissing her back. Raine was pleased.

Her mate still wanted her.

His hands tightened on her hips, and then he was flipping her beneath him in an instant. Raine gasped against his lips as the big body above hers pressed her down into the mattress. Something was different about him tonight, he seemed rougher, more desperate, and in the dark, he seemed bigger. But her drunken head was too gone in the haze of lust to care.

Her alpha's lips brutalized hers, practically devouring her as his tongue danced with hers, fucking in and out of her tongue in a sloppy, wet kiss. Raine moaned, rubbing herself against one of his thick thighs. The sheet around him had slipped, and his rock hard member poked into the side of her hip. Raine ached to reach for it, but the alpha had her hands pinned over head as his mouth left hers and trailed down her neck. He nosed around her mating gland, teeth pressing gently against it.

Raine whined, bucking into the touch. She wanted him to bite her, she wanted his mark, but the alpha did not give it to her. Instead he trailed his lips down until he was biting one of her nipples. He pulled hard on the nub and Raine screamed, pleasure shooting straight through her entire being. His fingers nosed in between her legs, rubbing at her clit and spreading her slick.

Raine huffed, her chest puffing up in anticipation as he positioned his cock at her entrance and thrust in at once. Her back arched as her mouth spread in a silent scream. The alpha bottomed out, and for some reason, he seemed bigger than usual. Or had it been that long since she'd had her mate inside her? Raine's walls spasmed and clenched around the thick length inside her and the alpha gave a low guttural groan, hands tight on her hips.

Raine whined again, moving her hips against him in a silent plea for him to move. The alpha growled, dragging her until she was practically hanging off his lap. His big hands spanned the width of her waist and he began moving her over his length, dragging her like she was his living cocksleeve. Raine moaned, her voice rising with each pounding thrust into her, until she was practically sobbing. And just, as she approached her climax, she felt him swell inside her as he gave her his knot.

Raine screamed as her orgasm crashed over her, sobbing at pleasure ran over her in waves. She felt it then, that fire, that hunger as their wolves surged towards each other, a sense of rightness like no other as they molded into one. Raine's sobs became tears of joy as their wolves clicked together, a connection snapping into place.

She was finally getting it. The bond that she'd been denied. Ronan was hers now, and by morning he would have no choice but to mate her. Their wolves accepted each other, they were one.

Raine smiled as the alpha's knot pulsed deep inside her, and she let the relief consume her as everything went dark.

***

With the morning light, came realization. Raine stretched as she awoke, her limbs and muscles aching with a delicious soreness. The events of last night came back to her and she smiled despite her hangover. Ronan had made love to her. He took her back. The rejection had meant nothing. They would be joined as fated mates. Finally.

She turned, smile ready for her lover.

She froze.

The man in the bed beside her was not Ronan.

Raine felt her heart drop down to her stomach as all the blood drained from her face. She sat up frantically, pulling the sheets up to her chest as she took in the man next to her. The man she had let into her body last night.

Silver-streaked hair, a powerful broad frame she'd clung to last night as he'd pounded into her over and over again. And finally, glaring in the light of the morning, the alpha's mark on his shoulder.

Matthias Draven.

Alpha of the Draven Pack and Ronan's father.

Raine's stomach lurched and she made a pained sound as she scrambled back, struggling to get off the bed before the man woke, sheets tangling around her legs. Her commotion woke Matthias, and he stirred. Raine watched as those grey eyes of his flashed open and his gaze met hers. She saw confusion cross his features, and then shocked realization, and finally settling on revulsion. Raine was going to be sick.

Neither of them said a word. They barely even breathed. And then with one trembling hand pressed to her lips, Raine did the only thing she could do.

She ran.