Prologue
I never believed in fate.
In my world, you take what you want, you bleed for what you can’t, and you bury the rest. The Voss name was built on blood, old magic, and the bones of anyone foolish enough to stand against it. I was born to rule this city’s underworld, to keep wolves in line, and crush the ones who forgot their place.
And yet, the moment I scented him, the world shifted beneath my feet.
Auren.
Sweet. Wild. Wrong for a place like this. He didn’t belong in the gutters of my city, selling pieces of himself to stay alive. Too delicate for the kind of filth that prowled my streets. Too pure for the darkness I carried in my blood. But that didn’t stop me.
Couldn’t.
His scent hit me like lightning—vanilla and rain-drenched clover, soft and untamed. A spark in a life I thought I’d burned hollow long ago. And those eyes… gods, those eyes. Gold, defiant, and aching with a loneliness I knew too well.
I should have walked away. Should have left him to whatever fate he was running from. But the wolf in me, the ancient, brutal thing under my skin, snarled one word.
Mine.
Not just a claim. A promise.
I’d tear this city apart to keep him safe. To keep that stubborn mouth and aching heart from breaking. I’d fight his demons and hunt down the ones who hurt him. And when he finally let me touch him, when he’d stop running long enough to feel what waited between us, I’d ruin him for anyone else.
Not because he was weak.
Because he was the only thing in this godforsaken city worth saving.
I never believed in fate.
But the night I found Auren Hale, I believed in something worse.
Obsession.
And it was beautiful
