Chapter 1 Roman prologue

Roman's head snapped up with enough power to make his teeth clash together. Sucking in a deep, shaky breath, his nostrils flared as his cornflower-blue eyes scoured the mass of people that surrounded him, darting to find the source of the smell that lit his very body on fire. It was a smell he knew well. One that haunted him. One that he had waited fifteen years to smell again. But even with his sharp eyes, he couldn't see what his nose knew was there.

The wolf inside of him stirred, raising its head, and the howl it released tumbled out of Romans human lips. The beast inside him scented the air that was thick with lust and desperation and whined. His animal wanted out. It pushed against his skin, making his chiselled features sharper. His skin stretched tight over his already sharp cheekbones, as if it would burst from his skin at any second.

She was here.

His wolf wanted to find her. Needed to find her. For the first time in his adult life, Roman struggled to control his wolf. Unconsciously, he reached to loosen his tie. As if somehow that would help. The fidgety movement was not lost on the people at his table; several pairs of wary eyes watched him from beneath their lowered lashes.

"You ok there Roman?"

He was silent for a second before his eyes left their endless search and he turned them on the younger man on his left. Smiling down at his packmate and friend in a way that he hoped conveyed that everything was indeed fine, even when it wasn't. He needed to find her, and soon before his wolf forced the shift. He nodded once. "All good here." raising his champagne glass he toasted the table, as if that somehow made his statement true. The delicate cut crystal looked so out of place in his big hands. Hands that were white-knuckled and shaking. If he wasn't careful, if he didn't gain some semblance of control, he would smash that delicate crystal into dust. He put the glass down gingerly.

"Just wondering what I could smell, it's making my wolf go a little crazed." Well that was the truth. It just wasn't all the truth.

The smaller man raised an eyebrow. Roman, who had impeccable control over every aspect of his life, and that included the animal side of him, was acting... strange. "I think the only pleasant thing I can smell is the smell of the desserts they just bought out." The younger man laughed "But I didn't peg you for a sweet lover, I thought you were all about the bloody steak?"

Roman turned in his chair to follow where the younger man was pointing. And his wolf clamoured in his head, pacing and whining like a caged animal.

Standing amongst the most lavish display of desserts he had ever seen, talking animatedly to the bride, was a small woman. No more than five foot four, she was curvy in a way that made a lazy smile form on his lips. His body quickened as he shifted to get a better look. Dark hair fell in loose waves down her back. His eyes took her in,feasting on the sight of the woman he had thought he would never see again. The shapely calves, the figure-hugging pale blue dress, the mass of wavy dark hair that was slightly darker then he remembered it being. Her shoulders moved as she laughed at something the man on her right had said. Roman's hearing was good, but not so good that he could hear a conversation over two hundred intoxicated people chatting. He needed to get closer. He needed to see her. To smell her. To touch her.

She was his.

She had always been his.

She turned as if someone had called her name, and her eyes met his over the dance floor. She looked bewildered, confused to find someone staring at her so intently but she smiled. A small, uncertain smile. And a million fantasies of what he could do with those full smiling lips flashed through his mind. His perfectly tailored suit became instantly snugger.

Roman had pushed back his chair with a loud screech and rose to his feet before he even realised what he was doing and stopped dead, his hand gripping the back of the chair until his knuckles turned purple. A growl spilling from his lips, making several people at neighbouring tables turn to him in shock. His pack, those that were closest to him, turned to him as the well trained unit they were, and followed his gaze across the hall to the petite brunette who was being led on to the dance floor by a slender blonde man in a well-tailored grey morning suit, and then back to their Alpha; more than one raised an eyebrow.

The next growl rumbled, louder. His wolf wanted out. His wolf wanted blood. And he wanted to give it to him.

"Uh oh boss, you need to get yourself together."

"Take your hands off me, Samuel, before I remove them." Roman's voice was low, his eyes never left that small woman, his woman. The woman who, at that second, was being held tightly against a man who wasn't him. The fingers that gripped the chair cracked and elongated, claws erupted from the skin.

His wolf wanted out NOW.

"Right, time for you to get some air, come on lads let's get Roman out of here." He lowered his voice, "I'm not sure what's got into you but snap out of it, you almost shifted in front of everyone, and no one here wants to see your naked ass when you shift back." The younger man had him under the arms as his other pack members crowded round. He struggled, but it was half-hearted at best. His pack was right; he needed to get his head together. Unfortunately, his wolf had other ideas. Ideas that involved blood and claiming what was his.

"For god sake, Roman get a grip! What the hell is wrong with you, there's humans here. Hell, most of the guests are human!" Samuel took an elbow in the gut with a grunt but didn't let go. If Roman had wanted to hurt him, he would already be down and he knew it. Roman let himself be moved, his fists clenched, and head bowed. To everyone in the room, he was just another knucklehead who had too much liquor, having to be escorted out before he started a fight. No biggie at a shifter wedding. If human weddings were notorious for upsets, then shifter weddings were ten times worse.

"He's touching her!" He spat it out of a mouth that had far too many teeth. His wolf pushed at his skin, wanting freedom, wanting what was his, wanting the blood of whoever had their hands on her.

Samuel glanced back "You on about the pretty dark-haired girl in the blue dress? Yeah, she's gorgeous but come on man, you don't act like this around women." Playfully he punched Roman's shoulder.

"She's mine!" Roman growled again. His human half losing the battle with every minute that passed. "Mate."

Samuel's eyes went wide, and he glanced back into the party. "Mate as in ...?"

Roman nodded, growls rumbling through his chest. Samuel grimaced.

"Oh shit."