CHAPTER 2

ADRIAN'S POINT OF VIEW

The water was pushing against my chest, cold and sharp as knives against the flesh. I had no choice anymore. Running was impossible. The crocodiles were circling and I knew I must go through them. It is better to be a predator than a drowned prey.

I stuffed my lungs with air and was about to plunge deeper, to face those creatures in their own nest. My claws tensed. My body tightened. I was ready to strike.

But then, under the black water, she came.

Clarissa.

A strand of black hair swept in the stream, and she surfaced out of the river with a cold-bloodedness. She held in her hands two arrows, both imbedded in the skulls of the crocodiles at her sides. Their bodies were dead beside her. Their jaws were closed, and their huge bodies no longer moved.

I forgot to breathe a moment.

She was nearly unnatural, with the water streaming down her face, and her blue eyes flashing with pride, and challenging me to question her power once more. She drew the two arrows out together and slipped them across her shoulder. I had supposed that she was powerless when the river took her bow, but I was wrong. So very wrong.

She sailed through the floating crocodiles with a grace which I could not ignore. I heard my instincts cry to me, and I must not forget the law of my kind.

The Lycans first rule: All werewolves are enemies. None must be spared.

That idea brought me to myself. I was about to protect her life, to fight crocodiles in order that she might live, but now I set all that aside. She was my enemy. I had my duty. And weakness always preceded duty.

I jumped after her across the river. Every stroke was a scalding of my muscles as I pulled myself to the shore where she had already scrambled out. Her frame was tall at the bank, wet but stable, and she waited. She did not flee. Any other werewolf would have fled. But not her.

She stood her ground.

Blood followed down her arm and leg, but as I drew nearer I could see the wounds close before my eyes. The skin knitted up, quick and neat, till the wounds were gone. The reminder stung me. Werewolves never took long to heal compared to Lycans. It was among the things that distinguished them.

She drew two arrows out of the quiver behind her, and took them in a fighting position, her blue eyes fixed on me. Her hands did not shake. She was about to deal me a blow at the heart the moment I presented her with an opportunity.

I got out of the water and stood opposite her, with claws out, fangs uncovered. I was ready. Ready to do what had to be done.

But then her eyes caught mine.

Pools of blue. Constant, crisp, but exhilarating.

Time slowed. The battlefield stilled. And the world seemed to come to a halt, the first time in my life.

CLARISSA'S POINT OF VIEW

The day had not begun this way. I had not risen in the morning with the idea that my destiny would take so sad a twist.

My name is Clarissa, the daughter of the Alpha of the Black Arrow Pack. I grew up tough, to fight, to never give up. My father used to say that I was his pride. I believed him. That is why I trained more than any warrior in our pack.

But power had been purchased at a price. When I was a pup, my mother was carried off by the Lycans. My father got remarried, but that was not a warm home. My stepmother and stepbrother never hid their hatred against me. They wanted me to be gone, but could not touch me. I was stronger than them both.

I was only a week old in eighteen. Grown old enough now to seek my mate, but I had not yet found him. My father did not wait. He made friends with Brandon, the most violent beta of our pack. Brandon was strong, there is no doubt, but he was arrogant in every step. He had lied to his own mistress to possess me, and I had not responded.

I said to myself that I would wait a month. And should the Moon Goddess give me a mate worthy of me, I would take him. Otherwise, maybe I would pick Brandon. Perhaps. But I did not want pride. I wanted devotion, courage, more.

My father complimented me this morning, words sweet and strong, as he always said to me before I went out. I had smiled and taken his pride into the woods. But then the river came. The undertow caught me, and pulled me down, and I could not resist. Crocodiles circled me. Death waited for me.

But I fought. I always fought.

And then there was the Lycan.

I thought he would smile when I died. I thought he would be glad to see me fall into the crocodiles. He would have found that easier. But no. I killed the beasts myself. I clawed my way free. And now he came out of the water before me.

My injuries closed over. My blood dried. I lifted my arrows, ready. The Lycan scrambled out, with his claws in readiness, and his eyes threatening. He showed no mercy.

But then his eyes met mine.

A scent hit me. Sweet, deep, as I had never known. My wolf is a-wolf within me, keen and vivid.

Mate.

The term hit me like a bolt.

ADRIAN'S POINT OF VIEW

I could not take my eyes off her.

Her fierce and soft face, her black hair sticking to her cheek, her lips pink and full, her brows so fined as to be cut by the moon itself. She was taller than any girl I ever saw, nearly as tall as I was, and her figure was strong and steady. But those blue eyes impressed me the most. They held me captive.

Why did she smell so sweet?

The law screamed at me. I knew what I should do. I should have killed her. I should have cut her in bits on the riverbank and left no trace.

But I could not.

She stood there, her bewilderment flushing her face. Her eyes were opened as though she beheld something she did not believe. Her lips were parted, and there was fear and disbelief. She stared at me, and she really stared, and I could see the walls inside her start shaking.

Why is she afraid of me? I thought. Why should I tell her she has no reason to be? Why do I want to hold her?

I took a step forward.

Her hand shook. She ran away before I could say a word, before I could narrow the gap between us. This cannot be."

I stood there and watched her go, with my claws bare, but useless now. Her feet struck the ground hard and quick. She ran away to the neutral grounds without looking back.

I stood and watched her go, my claws still bare, but useless now.

Then it flashed through my chest like fire.

She was my mate.