nds, Ace.
Rowan’s voice was a low, dangerous growl. The sword in his hand gleamed under the dim candlelight, its sharp edge hovering just inches from her chest.
Ace’s breath hitched. A chill ran down her spine.
She took a step back. “What?”
“Strip,” he repeated, voice rough with restrained fury.
Ace’s mind raced. He knows. How? When? Her stomach twisted as she recalled the moment before everything went black—the moment Rowan had carried her. Had he felt it?
The door burst open suddenly.
Kane.
His sharp gaze darted between them, landing on Rowan’s drawn sword. “What the hell is going on?”
Rowan didn’t even turn his head. “Get out.”
Kane didn’t move. “What?!” His eyes flickered with unease.
Rowan’s grip on the sword tightened. “Get out. Now, Kane.”
Kane hesitated for a long moment, his gaze shifting to Ace. He could sense the tension in the room, the storm brewing just beneath Rowan’s composed fury. But then, without another word, he stepped back and shut the door behind him.
The silence that followed was suffocating.
Ace’s heartbeat thundered in her ears.
Rowan took a step forward, and she instinctively moved back. “You think you can grab this sword from me? Escape this?” He let out a humorless chuckle. “No, Ace. You’re not getting out of this. Now strip.”
Ace clenched her fists. “Alpha Rowan, please—”
“I said strip!”
She flinched.
Her pulse pounded in her throat. Should she fight? Should she beg? She had never begged anyone in her life. But this wasn’t just about her. This was about her mother’s warning. This was about survival.
Her mother must have realized leaving the confines of her home would expose her to this suspicion. It would make it difficult for her to keep her identity a secret so easily like she did back at her Pack.
No one suspected her there. No one had the reason to.
“Rowan, I—”
He grabbed her wrist and shoved her against the wall.
A small gasp escaped her lips as her back hit the cold stone. Rowan’s face was inches from hers, his breath hot, his green eyes ablaze with emotions too tangled to name.
Betrayal.
Anger.
Confusion.
Ace shut her eyes tight. She knew what was coming next. He was going to rip her disguise away, and there would be nothing left to hide.
But then—nothing happened.
Slowly, she peeked through her lashes.
Rowan was staring at her, his chest rising and falling unevenly, his fingers still wrapped around her wrist, but he hadn’t moved to expose her yet.
Instead of fighting back, she felt something deep within her stir.
Her wolf. Restless. Not out of fear. Something else.
The heat of his breath sent an involuntary shiver down her spine. Her body was betraying her, reacting in ways she didn’t understand.
This wasn’t supposed to happen.
Not now.
Not with him.
Rowan’s gaze darkened further, his grip tightening ever so slightly. “You deceived me,” he muttered. “All this time. And I let you into my pack, into my trust, into my—” He cut himself off.
Ace swallowed hard.
His voice was sharp, but something about the way he was looking at her now was different. Like he was seeing her for the first time.
Ace took a slow, deep breath.
She could hold out no longer.
If she wanted to survive, she needed to end this. She needed to tell him the truth.
Her hands trembled as she reached for her tunic. Slowly, she peeled it away, layer by layer, until the final piece remained. The thin fabric that bound her chest.
Rowan didn’t move. His gaze never left her.
Ace’s heart pounded, her breath shallow as she finally pulled it off.
The silence was deafening. Rowan’s eyes flickered downward, his expression frozen. Then, he gasped. He took an abrupt step back as if he had been burned.
Ace clenched her jaw, preparing for the explosion, the rage, the punishment but instead, the sound that filled the room was not Rowan’s voice.
It was something else. A loud, guttural voice that sent shivers down both their spines.
“Mate!”
