Twelve hours ago, she was free.
Free to run. Free to breathe without the scent of him coating her lungs. Free from the suffocating weight of a past she'd clawed her way out of.
Now, she stood at the altar of a cold, gleaming skyscraper in the heart of Vale Tower—trapped in silk, secrets, and the shadow of the man who had once ruined her without even breaking a sweat.
Sebastian Vale.
Alpha. CEO. A predator in a three-piece suit.
The wolf she had surrendered her heart and body to…
And the one who had shattered both without so much as a backward glance.
He hadn't changed. Not really. Still carved from steel and arrogance, still wielding power like a weapon. His eyes met hers across the space between them, and she felt her breath stutter. Not from nerves. No—Emma Grey didn't tremble anymore.
It was rage.
And something far more dangerous.
Recognition.
His gaze didn't flicker as she walked toward him, her steps echoing against the polished marble. Not a twitch. Not a breath. Just that brutal, unreadable stare—as if he were already undressing her soul, dissecting her resistance.
God, how she hated that he still looked at her like that.
"You're shaking, Emma," he murmured as she stepped beside him, voice low and velvet-dark, meant only for her ears. "Don't tell me you thought you could run forever."
Her hands curled into fists beneath the ivory lace of her sleeves.
"I never asked for this," she bit out, her voice sharper than glass.
"And yet," he said smoothly, the corner of his mouth twitching in something too cold to be called a smile, "you signed the contract. You agreed to be mine. For one year."
She turned her face just slightly, enough to look him in the eye. "You think a piece of paper makes you my mate?"
Sebastian leaned in, his breath ghosting against her cheek, warm and infuriating. "No. But this bond we've been ignoring?"
His lips brushed her skin, barely. Deliberate. Possessive.
"That'll do just fine."
Her body betrayed her—shivering in response, betraying the steel she had forged inside herself. She clenched her jaw until the ache reached her temples.
Because her wolf recognized him.
Still.
Even after everything.
Even after that night she left bleeding.
Five Years Ago – The First Flame
She could still feel his mouth on hers.
The forest had been alive around them—wind through trees, the distant sound of running water. She was a rogue then, a no one. Unmarked. Untethered. He was the Alpha's heir, heir to a legacy of dominance and clean bloodlines.
They weren't supposed to speak.
Let alone touch.
Let alone burn the way they did.
"You don't belong here," he'd said, voice already tight with something he refused to name.
She should've walked away.
But she didn't.
And neither did he.
He'd pushed her back against the tree, his hands in her hair, his body a furnace that melted her resolve with every whispered sin. There had been no promises. No tenderness. Just teeth. Hunger. Unapologetic need.
And still, he held her like she meant something.
She'd believed him.
Until the morning after—
when silence answered her instead of his voice.
When his world slammed shut behind marble gates and his name became a knife instead of a memory.
She vanished before the shame could stick.
Before the thing growing inside her became a noose, she couldn't escape.
Present – The Wedding Vow
"Emma Grey," the priest's voice rang through the grand ceremonial hall, crisp and clear.
She blinked back into the present, throat dry, chest tight. Her heartbeat thundered so violently she was sure the entire council could hear it.
"I now pronounce you—"
The words splintered through her like a blade.
"Wife of Alpha Sebastian Vale."
It wasn't real. It couldn't be. It was a contract. A business transaction. A trap wrapped in legal paper and binding vows. But the bond pulsed inside her like a second heartbeat, ancient and unforgiving.
Sebastian's hand slid around her waist, firm, steady. His fingers dug into her hip with that same arrogant confidence he used to command boardrooms and wolves alike.
And gods help her—
Her body remembered.
Everything.
The scent of him was fire and pine. The heat of him burned through the layers of designer lace and silk. Every nerve in her body screamed betrayal—betrayal of herself.
But Emma had survived worse than Sebastian Vale.
And she would not fall again.
Not for him.
Not even if her body betrayed her with every glance, every accidental touch, every aching reminder of what used to be.
"Smile for the cameras, love," Sebastian whispered, his lips grazing the shell of her ear, his tone as dark and smooth as aged whiskey. "The world's watching."
She tilted her chin, bared her teeth in a perfect bride's smile…
and whispered back, "Pray they never see what I really am."
He looked at her for one lingering second, long after the ceremony was done. Long after, the applause had faded, and the cameras stopped clicking.
There was something in his eyes then.
A flicker.
A shadow.
Not regret.
Not affection.
But a question.
Does she still hate me?
Or worse… does she remember?
Emma held his gaze.
Yes.
She remembered everything.
The scent of the forest.
The feel of his hands.
The way he disappeared without a word.
And now…
The game had changed.
The rogue was wearing white.
And the Alpha had no idea what he'd just invited into his home.
By the next full moon—one of them would break.
And it sure as hell wouldn't be her.