Chapter 4

the words faded into a strange, echoing silence as a violent, agonizing shockwave suddenly ripped through my entire body.

It started in my chest—a sharp, burning heat that expanded outward, flooding my veins with liquid fire. My inner wolf, dormant for twenty-one years, threw her head back and let out a deafening, primal howl within my consciousness. She was awake. She was fully alive.

And then, the bond snapped.

It didn't feel like a beautiful fairy tale. It felt like a physical tether snapping into place, a thick, invisible cord wrapping around my heart and pulling with a violent, agonizing force. A scent flooded my senses—a scent so powerful it made my head spin, drowning out the smell of the club, the alcohol, everything.

Cedarwood, sharp winter air, and dark musk.

My breath hitched, a wild, ecstatic joy instantly replacing the pain in my chest. My wolf was scratching at the surface, screaming a single word over and over again: MATE. MATE. MATE.

It was Roman.

The universe hadn't chosen a stranger. It had chosen him. It had chosen the boy who had held my hand in the dark, the man who had bought me the black wolf bracelet, the only person I had ever loved.

"I have to find him," I gasped out to Sarah, breaking away from her embrace, my eyes wide with a manic, desperate happiness.

"Allie? What's wrong?" she called out, but I was already running.

I pushed through the heavy double doors into the VIP corridor, the tether in my chest pulling harder, tighter, guiding me down the dimly lit hallway like a compass. My heart was beating so fast I could barely breathe. I wanted to see his face when he realized. I wanted to feel his arms around me when he smelled the bond.

The tether led me directly to VIP Room 3. The door was cracked open, a sliver of warm light spilling into the dark hallway.

As I reached for the handle, a sound echoed from inside.

A low, breathless laugh. A female laugh.

My hand froze on the doorknob. The tether in my chest violently twisted, turning from liquid fire into ice-cold lead.

"God, Rome... you're driving me crazy," a breathless, unfamiliar voice gasped out from inside the room.

I pushed the door open. Slowly. Mentally praying, begging the universe that I was wrong. That my senses were lying to me.

But they weren't.

Inside the dimly lit room, pushed against the plush leather couch, was Roman. His sharp black suit jacket was discarded on the floor. His white shirt was half-unbuttoned, his broad chest exposed. And wrapped around his waist, her hands buried in his dark hair, was a gorgeous brunette in a skimpy silver dress.

Roman’s head was buried in her neck, his lips biting into her skin, making her let out a sharp, needy gasp.

He was making out with her.

Right at midnight. Right at the exact second my wolf had awakened, right when the mate bond had snapped into place, my fated mate was pinning another girl to a couch in a dark room.

The invisible tether around my heart didn't just twist—it shattered, sending a wave of raw, suffocating agony straight through my soul.

At the sound of the door clicking, Roman’s head snapped up.

His icy-blue eyes were blown out, dark with lust and alcohol, but the moment his gaze landed on me standing in the doorway, the color drained completely from his face. His body went entirely rigid, freezing in place like a statue.

I could see the exact moment the bond hit him. I saw his nostrils flare as he caught my newly matured scent. I saw his chest heave as the invisible tether snapped into his heart, binding him to me forever.

His eyes widened in absolute, paralyzed horror.

"Al..." he choked out, his voice a raw, broken whisper. He threw the brunette off him with a sudden, violent force that made her cry out in confusion. "Allie, wait—"

My throat was so tight I could barely breathe. The tears were already blinding my vision, hot and burning as they spilled over my eyelashes. The diamond wolf bracelet on my wrist felt like a branding iron, scorching my skin.

"I'm sorry," I whispered, my voice cracking, barely audible over the distant thumping of the club's bass. "I... I'm sorry to interrupt."

I didn't wait for him to speak. I turned around and ran