Arya’s POV

Gasps rippled through the room as they stared at the werewolf beast. He was the last person expected to be seen at the full moon party. This was because he almost never left his pack. He rarely spoke to others, and we had heard gory tales of his rage.

Being a Grade 7 alpha in lycanthropy availed him the strength and skills of rare werewolves—shape-shifting, speed, strength.

He was known to kill by ripping people’s heads off. But amongst all the horrible things said about him, only one thing was absolutely wrong—his face. Who said he was ugly? It had to be the mask.

His beauty was breathtaking. So breathtaking.

He had high cheekbones, slightly plump lips, long legs, jet-black hair tied in a ponytail, and icy grey eyes. And he was dressed in all black. Damn! He was an eye candy—but in a dangerous way.

“Chase King,” he growled as he took one more step toward my sister. She took one back. “That’s my name. Alpha of the Black Moon Pack. You know me, don’t you?”

Anastasia stared at her feet. “Yes,” she muttered. Her voice was small, like a shy child’s. This was my first time seeing her cower. I looked around her, and I couldn’t see her little minions. They had vanished into thin air.

“Of course you do,” Chase smirked. He looked down and knelt in front of my son. By then, Anastasia had disappeared into the crowd. The crowd that had formed quickly dissolved too. But I noticed something—people seemed to give way to where Chase, Chamber, and I stood.

Chamberlain smiled. “Thank you, sir. You were awesome… cool,” he laughed.

Chase smirked. “Right back at you, buddy.”

He stood up and fixed his laser eyes on me. I felt like hiding. Was I next to be growled at? He let his eyes travel lazily around my body. I felt naked, even with the various layers of clothing on me. He was about to speak when someone interrupted him. I turned around to find Jake. My eyes almost bulged out of their sockets.

“What do you want here?!” Jake thundered. His voice boomed through the room, drawing everyone’s attention.

Chase smirked as he faced Jake. “Nice of you to attend this year’s full moon.” Jake smirked back.

“Yeah, I decided to come see how all of you are doing,” Chase said. “How’s your chin, by the way?”

Jake scowled. What were they talking about? I knew nothing about it. Did these two know each other? What was I missing?

Jake looked around Chase. I think that was when he spotted me. His eyes widened a fraction but then he quickly recovered. He smirked and walked closer.

“I see you have someone with you,” he said. “If you do not mind me asking, who is she?”

My heart raced as everyone zeroed in on me. I wished for the ground to open up and swallow me. Chase first signaled to someone, and my son was taken away.

He walked closer to me, and as he tried to hold me, I flinched. I mean—who wouldn’t? The werewolf beast was holding me. He realized this, and his eyes softened. Chase leaned into my neck. And I thought he was going to whisper something in my ear—when he bit me. My eyes widened, and I tried to break away from him, but he was stronger. I was no match for him. Everyone gasped when he released me. It meant one thing, and one thing only.

I had been marked. He was my mate.

Like, my actual mate...

As I walked to his room, sweat dripped from my armpits and hands. I had never been this nervous. I thought of what would become of me if Chase vented his anger on me. I knew it wasn’t in my place to talk to him, but I just couldn’t sit back and be part of the Black Moon Pack.

After he marked me, I went to the bathroom and cried. There went my freedom and all. Alpha Chase was ruthless with his mates. The last—and only one—I heard of was so terrified when he marked her that she committed suicide. Since then, he hadn’t mated anyone. On our way back to the Black Moon Pack, I called Kelsi and told her everything. She told me she had a bad feeling about him. She finally told me to go to him and demand that he reject me as his mate. And that I did.

When I got to the door and was about to knock, I heard a voice and froze.

“Come in,” a voice growled from inside. I stood still for a while before recognizing it was none other than Chase’s. How he knew I was at the door surprised me. I took a deep breath and walked in.

His chambers were beautiful, even though he had only black furniture and curtains in them. It was bare of any other homely, warm thing. Dark—like his heart.

I walked in and saw him leaning on a wall, drinking liquor. Chase, as I had come to hear since my stay in the Black Moon Pack, never drank unless he had something brewing on his mind.

And what scared the shit out of me was that he was doing that—because of me. I waited for him to speak, but I heard nothing. Just as I was about to ask him to speak, he said a word that made me want to run without looking back.

“Strip.”

“Excuse me?” My heart stopped beating, but somehow, I was still breathing.

“You heard me,” he said with a bored look on his face. He stared at me like I was some stupid item. Suddenly, his door opened and someone walked in.

“Your Highness, she’s clean. She’s not spying,” he said and immediately walked out. Chase stared at me, and I gulped.

“If you’ve come here for me to reject you, know it’s not possible. You’re mine already,” he said, deadpan.