Theron

My chest always felt like it had a giant hole in it. It was a cold, empty space where my soul used to be. Every time I breathed, the hole hurt.

Doctors said I was fine, but they were wrong. I was an Alpha with an empty heart. Five years ago, I had ripped it out and thrown it away when I rejected Keira.

Now, the space where our mate bond should have been, felt like a "phantom limb", like an arm that was cut off but still felt itchy and sore.

I sat on my heavy stone throne, looking at the other Alphas in the room. We were having a big meeting because something was attacking our borders.

My pack was scared. Cattle were dying, and my warriors were being found beaten in the woods.

"You look tired, Theron," a voice hissed from the corner.

It was my father, Silas. He wasn't the Alpha anymore, but he still acted like he owned the world. He sat in the shadows, his eyes watching me like a hawk.

"I am fine, Father," I said. My voice was deep and tired.

"You are thinking about that weak girl again," Silas said with a mean laugh. "Keira was a mistake. She was too small, too quiet, and too slow.

If you had kept her, our pack would be dead by now. Be glad she jumped into that river after you rejected her. She saved us the trouble of cleaning up her mess."

My jaw tightened. Every word he said felt like a slap. I remembered that night. I remembered the way Keira's eyes had filled with tears when I told her I didn't want her.

My brain told me I had done the right thing for the pack, but my soul felt like it was screaming.

"The meeting is over," I told the other Alphas.

"Leave me."

When they were all gone, I walked slowly to my private study. I locked the door behind me. This was the only place where I could be weak.

In the corner of the room was a small table. On it was a single white flower that never died, it was kept alive by magic and a small ribbon Keira used to wear in her hair.

I touched the ribbon. "I'm sorry," I whispered to the empty air.

Suddenly, I saw her. For a second, a girl with soft eyes and messy hair stood by the window. She was smiling at me.

"Keira?" I stepped forward, my heart beating fast.

But she vanished. It was just another hallucination. I saw her everywhere in the shadows of the hallway, in the reflection of my wine glass, in my dreams.

I believed she was dead because my father had shown me her broken body by the river. I had buried that body myself, crying like a child.

A loud knock on the door made me jump.

"Alpha!" my Beta, Marcus, shouted. "The mercenary is here. The one we hired to protect the borders. She just drove through the front gates."

"I'm coming," I said. I wiped my eyes and put on my Alpha face, the face that was made of cold stone.

I walked down to the front courtyard. I expected a dirty wolf in old clothes. Instead, a huge, black armored SUV, a car that looked like a tank pulled up. The engine roared like a monster.

The door opened, and a woman stepped out.

She was not a normal wolf. In fact, I couldn't smell a wolf on her at all. She smelled like the air right before a lightning storm, sharp, cold, and electric. She also smelled like something old... like ancient blood and expensive silk.

She was wearing a long, flowing dress made of black silk that hugged her body in all the right places.

It moved like water around her legs. Over her face, she wore a mask made of white bone. It was carved with strange symbols that made my head hurt if I looked at them too long.

"You are the Alpha?" she asked.

Her voice was like music, but a scary kind of music. It was a melodic, chilling rasp that made the hair on my arms stand up. It felt like a soft hand and a sharp knife at the same time.

"I am Alpha Theron," I said, stepping closer.

As I got near her, a violent, magnetic pull hit me in the stomach. It was so strong I almost fell over.

My wolf, who had been sleeping and sad for five years, suddenly woke up. He started howling inside my head. MATE! MATE! MATE!

I shook my head. That was impossible. My mate was dead. This woman was tall, strong, and walked like she owned the sun and the moon.

She was a goddess of death. She couldn't be the small, "pathetic" Keira I remembered.

"I am called The Huntress," she said. She walked toward me, and even though she was shorter than me, she felt much more powerful.

She didn't look at my eyes; she looked at my neck, like she was deciding where to bite.

"You are late," I said, trying to sound tough. But my heart was racing. Why was I so attracted to a stranger? Why did I want to reach out and touch the silk on her shoulder?

She laughed, a short, dark sound. "I am exactly when I need to be. I heard your pack is falling apart, Alpha. I heard you are losing control."

"My pack is fine," I snapped.

"Is it?" She stepped into my personal space. She was so close I could feel the coldness coming off her skin. Most people are warm, but she was like ice.

It was a strange, sexy kind of cold. "Your men are scared. You are haunted. And the thing that is attacking your borders? It isn't a wolf. It's something much worse."

She reached out and ran a gloved finger down the front of my shirt. The touch was light, but it felt like a jolt of electricity.

My skin burned where she touched me. I wanted to grab her waist and pull her against me. I wanted to rip that bone mask off and see who she was.

"Why do you wear the mask?" I asked, my voice getting husky.

"Because the truth is too much for you to handle," she whispered. She leaned into my ear, her breath cold against my skin.

"You hired me to kill your enemies, Theron. Are you sure you want me staying in your house?

I might find things you want to keep hidden."

Theron

I felt a shiver of fear, but also a deep, dark hunger. I haven't felt alive in five years, but this woman made my blood boil.

Her presence was like a fire held too close to my skin, it was painful, but I could not look away.

"I don't care what you find," I said, catching her wrist.

The moment my skin met hers, a jolt of electricity shot up my arm. Her wrist felt like it was made of solid steel, cold and hard.

She did not flinch. She did not pull away. She stood her ground with a power that made my own Alpha strength feel small.

"Just do the job," I growled, trying to hide how much my hand was shaking. "You will stay in the guest wing. My Beta will show you the way."

She pulled her hand back slowly. Her fingers lingered against my palm for a second too long, leaving a trail of ice in their wake.

Then, she bowed. It was not a respectful bow; it was a mockery.

"As you wish, Alpha," she said. Her voice was a chilling rasp that seemed to vibrate in the air. "But remember, once you let a hunter into your home, the prey has nowhere left to hide."

"Are you threatening me in my own house?" I asked, my eyes narrowing.

"A threat is a promise of pain," she replied, tilting her masked head. "I am simply telling you a fact. You hired me because you are weak and your borders are failing. Don't be mad when I show you exactly where you are rotting."

As she walked away, I watched the way her black silk dress moved over her body.

She walked with a power I had never seen before, not even in the strongest Alphas. She didn't just walk; she commanded the very ground beneath her feet.

My father, Silas, stepped out from the shadows. He was squinting at her back, his face twisted in a mean look.

"I don't like her, Theron. She smells like death. She has no pack scent, no wolf soul. She is a freak."

"She is what we need, Father," I said, though I felt like I was lying.

"The Iron-Fang pack is killing our people. If a monster is what it takes to save them, then I will hire a monster."

"She looks familiar," Silas muttered. "The way she holds her shoulders... it reminds me of someone."

"She's a mercenary, Father. Nothing more," I snapped.

I walked back into the house, but my heart would not stop thumping. That magnetic pull was still there, tugging at the hole in my chest.

It felt like the mate bond was trying to snap back together, like a broken bone trying to heal. But that was impossible. Keira was dead.

I went to my private study and sat in the dark. I looked at the little blue ribbon on the table, the only thing I had left of the girl I had destroyed.

"She's not you, Keira," I whispered. "She's a nightmare. You were an angel. You were soft, and I broke you."

I felt a tear in my eye, but I wiped it away. I didn't know that the "monster" was currently walking through my halls, her fingers touching the wallpaper of the corridors where she used to hide from bullies.

I didn't know she was planning exactly how she was going to make me scream for mercy.

Later that night, I could not sleep. I walked out onto my balcony to seek the cold night air. I looked down at the gardens and froze.

A dark shape was moving near the flowers. It was The Huntress. She was standing in the middle of the rose garden, the secret place I had planted for Keira.

"What are you doing down there?" I called out.

She did not jump. She stood perfectly still.

"The soil here is sour, Alpha," she called back. "You planted these roses to hide a memory, but you forgot that roses have thorns.

They thrive on blood, not sorry feelings."

"Get out of that garden," I commanded, my Alpha power rising.

Slowly, she looked up. Even with the mask on, I felt like she was staring right through my chest.

"You spent so much money on these flowers," she said, her voice dripping with venom. "But you couldn't spend a single moment of kindness on the girl they are for.

Do you think beautiful petals can cover the smell of a guilty man?"

"You know nothing about that girl!" I roared, gripping the stone railing so hard it cracked.

"I know that you live in a house of ghosts," she replied. She raised a hand and blew a kiss toward my balcony. "Sweet dreams, Theron. Try not to choke on your guilt."

Then, she vanished. She didn't run. She simply disappeared into the shadows like she was made of smoke.

My stomach turned over. I had just invited a deadly predator into my home. I had given her a key to my gates. My wolf was pacing in my mind, whining and growling at the same time.

As I went back to my bed, I saw a shadow on my wall. For a second, it looked like a wolf with huge wings. I rubbed my eyes, and the shadow was gone. Just a trick of the moon, I told myself.

I fell into a deep sleep, but it was a nightmare. I dreamed of blood and black silk. I dreamed of a woman with a bone mask standing over me.

She held my heart in her hand. She didn't stab it. She just squeezed it slowly, watching me gasp for air. And the worst part? In the dream, I liked the pain.

I wanted her to squeeze harder.

I woke up sweating, the name "Keira" on my lips. The sun was just coming up. But when I looked at the door, my heart stopped.

There, lying on the rug inside my locked bedroom, was a single black feather. It was as dark as the night and ice-cold when I picked it up.

She had been in my room while I slept. She could have killed me. But she hadn't. She had left a token a reminder that I was no longer the one in charge.

I stood by the window, clutching the feather. I realized then that I didn't know anything about the woman I had hired.

I didn't know where she came from or why her presence felt like a heavy weight on my soul.

I only knew one thing. For the first time in five years, the world wasn't gray. I was terrified. And I was starting to feel a dark, twisted need to see her again.

"Who are you?" I whispered to the empty room.

I looked out at the sun. Today, the training will begin.

Today, I would see what The Huntress was truly capable of. I didn't know that by the end of the week, my life would be a pile of ashes.

I didn't know that the girl I was mourning was currently laughing at me.

The hunt was moving inside the house. And I was the prey.