Davian.

Vanessa sat calmly on my legs, her fingers tracing slow, lazy circles over my chest.

The touch was light, affectionate, familiar.

I leaned back against the headboard, watching her as she smiled softly at something she had just said, her voice fading into the background of my thoughts. A warmth spread through me at the sight of her, at the simple fact that she was here, that she had chosen me, that in less than a month, she would officially become my mate.

Damn.

I was so in love with her.

The realization never failed to make me smile. Sometimes I caught myself grinning like an idiot when I thought about the Mate ceremony. The preparations, the gathering of Alphas, the declaration before the pack, everything felt surreal.

Less than a month.

In less than a month, Vanessa would be mine in every sense recognized by our kind.

The thought filled me with pride.

With certainty.

All the Alphas were supposed to leave after the meeting and return to their respective territories, but because of the competition, plans had shifted. Most of them would have to remain here until it concluded, likely until the day of our ceremony. Their Betas would be handling pack matters in their absence.

It was a necessary adjustment.

An inconvenience, perhaps, but nothing that truly mattered.Not when the end result was my future with Vanessa.

She shifted slightly, her fingers brushing over my collarbone now, and I placed my hand over hers absentmindedly.

Vanessa was finally going to be mine.

The words echoed in my mind with satisfaction.

And yet....there was an issue.

A quiet, persistent one.

Whenever I allowed my thoughts to settle, whenever I drifted beyond the obvious joy and anticipation... something felt incomplete.

Like a missing piece I couldn’t quite identify.

And lately...Maria kept coming to mind.

The thought irritated me instantly.

Even now, with Vanessa sitting on my lap, with her warmth against me and her touch grounding me in the present...Maria’s face surfaced in my thoughts.

The way she looked at people when she was thinking too hard, fhe confusion she seemed to carry like a shadow.

No.

I tightened my jaw.

No.

"Get a hold of yourself, Davian," I warned inwardly.

This was ridiculous, Vanessa was my mate. The woman I loved, the woman I had chosen.

Maria was....A spy.

For crying out loud.

A spy whose true allegiance I still hadn’t uncovered. That fact alone should have erased any unnecessary thoughts about her.

At first, I had been certain she worked for Darren. The pieces had seemed to align neatly back then. The movements, the timing, the access.

But now?

With Daniel’s involvement surfacing unexpectedly, the situation had grown murkier.

I really could not tell anymore.

And then there was the issue with Noah being unconscious. That complication had only deepened my uncertainty.

The more I tried to connect the threads, the more tangled they became.

It was frustrating.

I had always prided myself on clarity.

On strategy.

On being able to assess situations quickly and draw the correct conclusions.

It was one of my strengths as an Alpha.

Yet with Maria involved...everything blurred.

My instincts, usually sharp and decisive, felt clouded. I would analyze one angle and feel confident, only to reconsider minutes later and question everything.

Why?

Why did she make it harder to think straight?

Vanessa’s fingers slid gently across my chest again, tracing slow, absent circles against my skin, and I forced myself to anchor there, on that simple, steady touch. I fixed my attention on her. On the warmth shining openly in her eyes. On the quiet devotion written so clearly in the way she looked at me, as though there was no doubt, no hesitation, no fracture in her belief.

This was real.

This was solid.

This was my future.

Everything about her felt tangible, predictable in the best way. Familiar. Safe. The path ahead with Vanessa was defined, structured, certain.

Maria was a variable.

An unknown element in a political and territorial puzzle.

Nothing more.

Just a complication to be assessed. Managed.

And yet, no matter how many times I repeated that to myself, no matter how firmly I tried to categorize her, her presence refused to fade. It lingered at the edge of my thoughts, quiet but persistent, unsettling in a way I could not fully explain.

I exhaled slowly, deliberately, letting the breath slip past my lips in a controlled stream. On the surface, nothing shifted. My features remained smooth. Relaxed. Unbothered. The kind of composure expected of an Alpha who had everything under control.

But beneath that calm exterior, my thoughts were anything but steady.

I needed to figure this out.

Not because of whatever distraction she had become... not because her presence had begun to linger in my mind longer than it should... but because uncertainty was a weakness. And weakness was something I had trained myself never to tolerate.

Especially not now.

Not with a competition looming so close I could almost feel its pressure coiling around my ribs.

Not with a ceremony approaching, one that demanded precision, strength, unity.

Not when everything was supposed to be perfectly aligned.

Vanessa’s fingers continued their slow, absent-minded trail across my chest, soft, affectionate strokes that should have grounded me. Her touch was warm. Familiar. Comforting. She had no idea there was a storm brewing beneath the still surface she leaned against.

"You’re lost," she murmured gently, tilting her head so she could study my face. Her eyes searched mine, curious but tender. "What are you thinking about?"

I forced a small smile, careful and measured. I brushed a loose strand of hair away from her face, letting my fingers linger just long enough to make the gesture convincing.

"Just thinking about..."

"About the ceremony?" she asked quickly, her eyes brightening at once, excitement flickering there like candlelight.

I held her gaze for a fraction of a second too long before nodding.

It wasn’t a lie.

I had been thinking about it.

Just not in the way she imagined.

She shifted slightly on my lap, her arms sliding around my neck as she leaned closer. There was comfort in her touch. Familiarity. Stability. She believed in us so easily, so completely.

And that should have been enough.

It was enough.

So why did my mind feel divided?

"Everything will be perfect," she said confidently. "The competition will end, the Alphas will witness it, and then... we’ll finally be bound."

Bound.

The word echoed in my chest.

I wrapped my arms around her waist, pulling her a little closer, grounding myself in the present moment. Vanessa belonged here. With me. She was my future.

Maria was a complication.

A distraction.

A potential threat.

Nothing more.

And yet....The more I tried to dismiss her, the more she slipped back into my thoughts. The way she observed quietly, as if calculating everything. The way she never seemed entirely afraid, even when she should have been. The way my instincts reacted to her presence, sharpening instead of settling.

Vanessa rested her head against my shoulder, completely relaxed.

"Davian, I am here with you, what else could you be thinking about?" she said softly.

I didn’t realize how tense I had become until she pointed it out.

"Nothing of course." I replied, though the words felt rehearsed.

My mind drifted again, this time not to Maria’s face, but to the unanswered questions surrounding her.

If she was a spy, who was she truly loyal to?

Darren?

Daniel?

Someone else entirely?

And why, every time I tried to piece it together logically, did something inside me hesitate?

It wasn’t just confusion.

It was instinct.

And instincts rarely lied.

Vanessa lifted her head and studied me more closely now, her expression shifting slightly from playful to curious.

"Come on Davian, you said nothing and yet you are still thinking." she said carefully.

There was no accusation in her tone.

Just observation.

That unsettled me more than if she had been angry.

"I’ve had a lot on my mind," I answered evenly. "The competition. The Alphas staying longer than expected. Security."

All true.

All incomplete.

She searched my face for a few seconds longer than necessary, as if weighing whether to push further.

Then she smiled again, though this one didn’t reach her eyes fully.

"Well, don’t overthink it," she said gently. "Whatever it is, we’ll handle it."

We.

I nodded again.

Not the way Maria’s presence seemed to disrupt the clarity I usually prided myself on.

Vanessa leaned in and pressed a soft kiss to my jaw. "You’re mine, Davian," she whispered playfully.

The words should have comforted me. Instead, they made me think of ownership.

Of bonds.

Of certainty.

And suddenly, my mind betrayed me again...Maria’s face flashed briefly through my thoughts.

The contrast was jarring.

Vanessa’s warmth in my arms.

Maria’s lingering presence in my head.

If I didn’t figure out what Maria meant to this situation soon...I might lose more than clarity.

I might lose trust.

And for the first time since sitting here with Vanessa wrapped around me, the upcoming ceremony felt less like certainty....And more like a countdown.