Maria.

I opened my eyes slowly, blinking into the darkness as though it were hostile and alive. A sharp, throbbing pain exploded in my skull and I immediately lifted a shaky hand to my head, massaging my temples.

It felt like someone had taken a hammer to my brain, again and again, without mercy.

Every pulse of blood sent a fresh wave of agony through me, and I flinched, teeth clenching against a groan.

I drew a breath in, ready to push myself upright, and that was when something felt...off.

My palm pressed into softness, too soft.

My fingers curled into fabric that wasn’t scratchy, wasn’t thin, wasn’t the rough sheet I had come to accept as mine.

This was a bed, a real one, warm, cushioned, soft like feathers.

My eyes widened and I forced myself upright, ignoring the pain that screamed in my skull. I scanned the room, dim light, expensive furnishings, the scent of sandalwood and dominance in the air.

I wasn’t in my room.

I was in Adrien’s room.

On his bed.

My stomach lurched violently. "Oh, shit," I whispered, my voice cracking in disbelief.

"He could have just sent me to my room."

Instead I was here, in the one place I should avoid at all costs. In the bed of a man who had hit me, who despised me, who had treated me like nothing more than dirt.

I glanced toward the window. It wasn’t morning yet, the moon still cast faint silver over the floorboards. A perfect time to disappear before anyone saw me.

Because if Anabel or Vanessa walked in and found me here...No explanation would save me. No punishment would compare.

I swung a leg toward the edge of the bed, bracing myself to ease quietly to the floor.

Then the doorknob clicked.

My breath froze in my lungs, without thinking, instinct took over and I dropped back against the pillow, eyes shutting, body sinking into stillness.

The room filled with slow footsteps, then something cool, water splashed lightly onto my face, every part of me tensed.My eyelids trembled with the urge to open.

But I forced myself to sleep. I was sleeping.

A low voice slipped into the silence.

"Looking at how fragile you are, I cannot help but feel guilty."

Adrien.

My heartbeat slammed against my ribcage, desperate and frantic. Of all the Alphas, he was the last one I wanted to face consciously, much less unconsciously and defenseless.

I kept still, clinging to the safety of pretense. His footsteps shifted closer, the mattress dipped slightly, and then fingers, warm, callused, and unnervingly gentle, traced my cheek.

I wanted to flinch away, to slap his hand aside, to bolt across the room and lock myself somewhere he couldn’t reach me.

But I didn’t.

Couldn’t.

My lungs barely dared to move.

His breath ghosted over my skin, and before I could brace myself, something soft brushed my lips.

His lips.

It wasn’t deep.

Not devouring like Damien’s kisses, but I stayed frozen, trapped between dread and disbelief, my fists clenched tightly beneath the mattress.

He was kissing me while I was unconscious, while I was helpless.

My mind screamed: What kind of asshole takes advantage of someone who can’t fight back?

The thought boiled inside me, bitter and sharp, but my body remained utterly still.

"You better wake up healthy, mate," he murmured. "I am not done with you yet."

Mate.

The word landed like lightning, sharp, bright, impossible to ignore. The first time I had ever heard Adrien say it. My heart skipped painfully, my breath faltering in my chest.

Mate.

He called me that?

The bed shifted again and a wave of dread rolled through me as he lifted the sheet.

He slid beneath it like it was the most natural thing in the world, his presence swallowing the space around me.

He wasn’t leaving.

His body edged closer, heat radiating off him in steady waves. Then his arm curled around my waist, firm, possessive, possessive, caging me in place.

Not a hold I could wiggle out of, not even a hold I could push away without waking him fully. His chest pressed against my back, his breathing fanning across my neck.

I stiffened instantly.

And then...I felt him...Hard.

Pressing into me through the thin fabric that separated our bodies.

My breath hitched, my muscles seized, my mind raced in panic.

His hand tightened minutely, as if sensing my tension, like a predator adjusting its grip.

I swallowed hard, forcing myself not to shake, not to move, not to make a sound that could wake the beast beside me.

Because if Adrien was awake when he was like this...my body didn’t stand a chance.

His lips brushed the back of my neck, soft, warm, and unbearably intimate. I froze, every muscle locked tight. The faintest groan hummed in my throat, but I swallowed it back.

Adrien wasn’t asleep.

I could feel it, not just from the kiss, but from the controlled, steady warmth pressing against me, the awareness in the way his arm tightened just slightly.

His breathing wasn’t the slow, heavy rhythm of rest, it was sharper, deeper, threaded with something hungry.

He nudged closer.

Then closer still.

Every minute or two, his body shifted, inching toward mine until there was no more space, no air, no safety.

It lasted forever, or it felt like it. I remained perfectly still, afraid even my heartbeat could betray me.

Finally—finally—he stopped moving. His chin relaxed against my shoulder, his grip eased just a breath, and the tension in his body softened.

I let out a long, shaky sigh of relief, barely audible. He was asleep, or as close to it as an alpha like him ever came.

My chance.

I counted ten slow breaths. Then, inch by careful inch, I slid my hand down to his wrist. Gently, so gently I could barely feel myself move, I pried his fingers from my belly. One finger...Then another...My heart hammered so loud I feared he would hear it and snap awake.

When his hand finally fell loose, I eased forward, lifting my body from the mattress.

The sheet slid off me like silk whispering against skin. I held my breath and placed each step on the floor silently, toes first, heel last.

A few more steps. Closer to freedom than I had felt since stepping foot into this pack.

The door was right ahead, two steps...One step. Then a sudden rush of cold air brushed past my face, sweeping the last warmth of the bed from my body.

Before I fully registered the sensation, a silhouette stood right in front of me, blocking the door, blocking escape, blocking everything.

A tall figure, broad shoulders, purple eyes gleaming in the moonlight.

Adrien.

"Little vixen," he drawled, voice low and taunting, the name dripping with mockery that coiled around my spine like a snake.

"Where do you think you’re running to?"

My breath caught painfully in my throat, each inhale ragged, sharp, as if the air itself had turned to knives. My chest tightened, and my legs faltered beneath me. I stumbled back a step, the world tilting, my mouth opening before my brain could even form the words that might save me from the panic rising like wildfire.

"I—I..." I stammered, voice trembling and uneven, my tongue feeling thick and clumsy. I shook my head as if the movement alone could erase the fear coiling through my body, as if it could somehow erase the moment itself. I was too terrified to even attempt composure, too caught in the pull of dread to think clearly.

"Alpha Adrien, I am going back to my room," I whispered, the words brittle, almost breaking under the weight of my terror.

His expression hardened in an instant, ice cold and immovable.

"No."

No roar. No reasoning. No explanation...Just...no.

And then he moved.

So fast that he blurred, one moment at the door, the next his body crushed against mine, and his mouth crashed down on my lips.

My gasp was swallowed by his kiss. It wasn’t soft. It wasn’t curious or gentle. It was a takeover.

His hand grabbed the back of my neck, forcing my head still as he tried to pry my lips apart, demanding access to my mouth.

His breath was hot, insistent, filled with the raw dominance of an alpha who believed anything he touched belonged to him.

I struggled, but his strength dwarfed mine.

A minute of resisting felt like battling a storm with nothing but my bare hands.

"You are my personal maid, Maria," he growled against my lips, his voice vibrating through my bones. "So you need to attend to my needs."

He pulled back just enough to lock his eyes with mine, dark, burning, feral.

"And right now," he finished, voice dragging out like a command written in blood, "you will do just that."

"Alpha..." I whispered, desperation trembling in my throat, a plea forming, an explanation, a protest...

"To the bed," he snapped, cutting off every syllable, every breath, every hope of refusal.

And the order fell like a death sentence.