Chapter 5 LUCIAN

Lucian’s POV

“Shift.”

The single word rolled out of me like gravel and thunder. My voice was low, command by habit, restraint by force. Varos prowled inside me, restless, claws raking at the walls of my mind. He wanted her. Wanted to close the distance, to press our scent against hers until she couldn’t run.

Why had she run?

Why from me?

Did she know who I was? Did she not want me? The questions thrummed deep in my chest, a slow drumbeat under my ribs.

I kept my eyes on her as she trembled, fur rippling, bones cracking and slotting back into place. The sound of her shift echoed off the trees wet, intimate, familiar and then it was gone. Skin where fur had been. Flesh where claws had been.

And there she stood. Bare as the day she was born.

She immediately folded her arms across her chest, head bowed so low her hair curtained her face. The gesture should have been submissive, but something about it cut into me like a blade. She was trying to disappear.

I wasn’t even looking at her body. Goddess, I was trying not to. I just wanted to see her face.

“Please… stop staring.”

Her voice.

It was the sweetest sound I had ever heard, soft as velvet, low and trembling, a chord that thrummed through my bones. It washed over me like warm rain, and for a heartbeat I forgot who I was. Forgot the rogues. Forgot Adrian. Forgot the blood on my hands.

If just her voice could turn me to mush, I was in trouble.

Realizing I was staring, I tore my gaze away, jaw tightening. “I’m sorry.” The words came rougher than I intended, like gravel caught in my throat.

“Please… let me cover up before we talk. Please.” Her voice cracked on the last word, carrying something else now. Fear.

Was she scared of me?

“Of course,” I said quickly. “Why would you need to plead for that?” The question slipped out genuine, baffled.

She didn’t answer. Didn’t even shift her weight. Head still bowed. Shoulders still trembling. Varos went quiet in my skull, watching.

I twitched with the need to see her face. To step forward, tilt her chin up, tell her she didn’t have to hide. But even I knew better.

“I’ll give you space,” I said instead. “Do what you need to do. I’ll be here.”

When she still didn’t move, I took the cue, turned, and walked into the trees. My skin prickled with the sudden absence of her scent, and the forest felt colder without it.

I was also very much naked, but nudity among wolves was nothing new. Still, something told me she wasn’t like the others. She was uncomfortable enough as it was. I wouldn’t make it worse.

We had stashes hidden all over the forest for times like this clothes, weapons, emergency rations. I found one under a rotted log a few dozen yards away. Rummaging through it for something that would fit my build was its own battle; most of these clothes had been left for lean patrol wolves, not Alphas. I finally managed to tug on a pair of black jersey shorts and a dark tank top that clung to my skin.

The smell of cedar and wet moss clung to the fabric. It grounded me, steadied Varos’s pacing.

When I stepped back into the clearing where her house stood, she was gone.

Her scent filled the small house nestled there. I could tell it was hers. The place thrummed with her energy, wild honeysuckle and rain-clean air. Her home.

I stopped at the edge of the lawn, forcing my feet to stay where they were. Everything inside me screamed to go in, to find her, to close the distance, but instinct told me barging into her space would snap whatever fragile thread we had left.

So I stayed put.

I watched the front door so intently it might as well have been a portal. The seconds stretched. Mist from the waterfall cooled the back of my neck; the smell of damp earth mingled with her scent until my head spun.

Finally, a soft click.

The door opened.

And there she was.

I moved to take a step forward but stopped when she shut the door behind her, body angled like a shield. Not invited in. The rejection stung more than it should have. I forced myself to swallow it.

She stood in front of me again, head bowed, fists clenched so tightly her knuckles blanched. Up close, she was small, no more than five feet if I had to guess but every inch of her smelled like home. Like something I didn’t deserve.

“Would you look at me? Please?” The desperation in my own voice startled me.

She froze. Hesitated, like I’d asked her for something far more intimate than eye contact.

Slowly, agonizingly slowly, she raised her head.

And met my eyes.

Bless the Goddess.

She was breathtaking.

Her light-brown eyes glowed like amber honey, catching the sunlight, rimmed with flecks of gold. Her nose was straight, delicate, perfectly proportioned to her small oval face. And her lips… dear Goddess, her lips were full and soft and pink enough to haunt a starving man. I had to physically clench my fists to keep from reaching out, from dragging her lower lip out from between her teeth where she worried it.

Well, fuck me.

I forced my gaze back up to her eyes. What I saw there stole the breath from my lungs.

She was panicking.

Her whole body trembled like a cornered rabbit.

“Hey. Hey.” The words tumbled out of me in a rush. “What’s wrong? Is it me? Are you scared of me?”

She didn’t answer. She looked down at her bare feet, hugging herself tightly like she was holding herself together.

The urge to pull her into my arms nearly knocked me off my feet.

Why was she so scared? What did I do? How did I fix this?

Now I was panicking.

Her trembling was starting to shake me apart. I wanted to reach for her, to steady her, but something held me back.

And then Varos’s voice slithered through my mind, low and certain. “Lucian… she’s an Omega.”

I froze. My eyes darted back to her. That didn’t make sense. Omegas always carried the softest, sweetest scents, floral, light, impossible to mistake. But she didn’t smell like flowers. She didn’t smell like any Omega I had ever known. Instead, her scent was muted, restrained, like someone had tied a cloth around a candle’s flame to stop it from burning.

“She doesn’t smell like…” I started, but Varos cut me off with a growl.

“She’s hiding it. Can’t you see? Look at the way she folds into herself, the way she won’t meet your eyes. Her body betrays what her scent won’t. She’s masking who she is.”

My chest tightened. She had hidden even her nature from me. But why?

So I stood there awkwardly, fists at my sides, fighting my own instincts. Waiting.

Finally, she spoke.

“I’m sorry for running from you… I-I panicked. I’m sorry.” Her voice strained on the apology, thin and brittle. “I know you’d want to talk right now, but I’d really appreciate it if we could… do this later.”

What the hell?

I wanted to object. I wanted to demand answers, close the distance, anchor the bond before it slipped away. More than that, I didn’t want to leave. Not her. Not now.

But the way her shoulders curled inward stopped me.

“That’s all right.” My voice came out softer than I felt. “I’m not entirely sure what I may have done to upset or scare you. While I was hoping you’d tell me, I don’t mind leaving it for later if that’s what you want.”

Her shoulders sagged in visible relief. Was she really that scared of me?

“Thank you,” she whispered.

“Of course.” I tried for a smile, though it felt foreign on my face. “When and where would you suggest we talk again?”

“Tomorrow is fine,” she said. Her voice wavered but steadied on the last word. “If you don’t mind coming here again.” There was a flicker of hope in her tone, small but there.

“I don’t mind at all.”

She smiled, a tiny thing, quick as a heartbeat and nodded, turning to walk back to the door.

“Can you at least tell me your name?” I asked, unable to let her vanish without something.

She paused, turned. “Aria.”

The name fit her like a song.

“She’s as beautiful as her name,” Varos murmured in my head.

“I’m Lucian,” I said aloud, hoping she didn't know me.

She nodded again, a small acknowledgement, then slipped inside, closing the door softly behind her.

For a long time I just stood there on the edge of her lawn, staring at the door. The smell of honeysuckle clung to me like a ghost.

Aria.

My Aria.

I turned at last, making my way back to the pack house, the forest swallowing me whole. Every step away from her felt like walking against a current, but tomorrow couldn’t come soon enough.