1. Chapter One

Chapter One

Bane

“ Y ou’re telling me Vittorio Sorrenti’s daughter is wandering around my territory, and she’s still breathing?”

I thumb through the stack of threatening letters on my desk, and each one crumples a little more as I process what’s being said to me. My beta, Rook, stands rigid across the room, looking like he just chewed up an entire barbed wire fence and swallowed it whole.

“She is,” Rook’s jaw ticks like it always does when he has bad news. “She’s been in the city for a few days now. Our men spotted her on the east side, right near the docks.”

Great. Right in the heart of where I run every inch of this place. We practically have a Silver Howl flag waving on every rooftop over there. I drop the letters, lean back in the chair, and scrub my hand down on my face. "Did anyone have the bright idea to grab her and, I don’t know, deal with it?”

"She was surrounded." Rook crosses his arms deliberately. “Girl had two bodyguards, all firepower and attitude.”

“So? You’re a shifter who’s personally torn through townhouses for fun. You couldn’t knock out a couple of meatheads?

Rook scoffs, clearly unimpressed with my default sarcasm. “They weren’t human, Bane.”

I straighten in my chair. “What?”

“They were wolves.”

The minute the words leave his mouth, something tightens in the pit of my gut. Like a steel hook getting snagged into muscle and twisting deeper. Shifters? Near the docks? And they’re her bodyguards? Since when the hell was Vittorio working with wolves? The bastard hates our kind with venom. What’s changed?

“And it gets worse,” Rook brushes a piece of dust off my window ledge as though he’s just making friendly small talk and not feeding me a bite of apocalypse. “They had no pack scent.”

“What does that mean?”

“They weren’t tied to any existing pack around here. If they’re wolves brought in by the Sorrenti's themselves, it means either the scumbags have been turning rogues… or Sorrenti’s done some dirty deal for them. Either way, it’s a problem.”

A serious problem. My fists flex on my thighs. I don’t even realize I’m clenching them until I hear Rook clear his throat. He can feel the rumble of my wolf, riding just below the surface. It’s a predatory instinct, this need to protect my territory, my pack, from the slightest threat. And this daughter waltzing around under my nose with supernatural backupthat's not a fucking small threat.

Aria Sorrenti walked into my territory like she had some kind of diplomatic immunity card to wave in my face. Like her blood isn’t the only reason my men have graves. She’s living proof of why Vittorio Sorrenti deserves to bleed, thread by thread, for what he’s done.

“Where is she now?” Rook gestures vaguely toward the window. “According to intel, she’s near the old metallurgist factory off Fifth. It seems like she is poking her head around old territories her father used to use for smuggling.”

Old places her father used. Places I’ve already conquered. And she’s just… wandering around those ghosts like they still belong to her family? I don’t think so . "You think she’s here to run operations?"

Rook shrugs. “Could be sniffing around for information. Or she’s bait. With Sorrenti? It’s hard to say.”

“Bait…” I kick my chair back, standing abruptly. For a second, the sound of my heartbeat fills my ears, gone louder than anything else in my office. She’s bait, and I’m already taking it, aren’t I?

But here’s the thing. Vittorio Sorrenti crossed too many lines for this to be a wait-it-out situation.

Normally, I’d let her walk her pretty head right out of town and not blink twice. Except, I suddenly have this deep-seated urge to watch her.

“Send the scouts,” I say flatly. “Bring her in.”

Rook’s eyebrow twitches. “You sure?”

"I'm not playing games," I growl under my breath. "We bring her in. She’s a liability until I know what the hell she’s doing here."

Rook snatches his phone from his pocket and relays the orders without another word.

What are you really going to do with her? My wolf asks.

I don’t have an answer for that just yet.

But the idea of not knowing something, especially something tied directly to Vittorio, pisses me off enough to act now, and figure it out later."

“Keep your guard up, Marcus. I can see that opening from across the damn room."

The sound of fists hitting pads echoes through our training area as I circle the sparring pairs. The underground facility smells like sweat and determination - a combination I've grown to appreciate over the years. It means my pack is getting stronger.

"Again," I bark, watching Marcus reset his stance. "And this time, don't telegraph your—"

The door swings open, and Rook’s boots crunch on the concrete as he strides in.

"We have her," he says simply.

That's all it takes for everything in the room to shift. The training stops, all eyes turning toward us, but I wave them back to their drills. This isn't pack business. This is personal.

"Where?"

"In the holding room."

I nod, feeling an odd satisfaction curl through my chest. It's almost... pleasing. Which is strange, considering I should only feel contempt for anything bearing the name Sorrenti.

"Show me."

Without another word, I turn and head toward the holding cells. I know what I’m going to find, or at least, I think I do - a pretty little pawn wrapped in arrogance, and probably already planning some weak excuse to get herself out of this.

But then I reach the door, the first thing that hits me is her scent. It's sweet and dark, like honey laced with gunpowder. It sinks into my blood before I can defend myself against it, striking something primal and hungry deep in my core. My wolf starts howling. Howling, like some desperate thing.

She's tied to the chair, head bowed, dark hair falling forward to hide her face. There's a bruise blooming on her exposed shoulder, another on her wrist, and something in me wants to tear apart whoever put them there. The reaction is so violent it nearly staggers me. What the fuck is wrong with me?

"Leave us," I manage to get out.

Rook hesitates. "Bane… "

"Now."

The door clicks shut behind him, and we're alone.

She raises her head slowly, and fuck. Just...fuck.

She's beautiful. Not in the manufactured way I'm used to seeing in the city's elite. This is raw, real beauty. She has wide green eyes and full lips and a face that makes my wolf pace restlessly beneath my skin. I take my gaze over her, taking in every detail, and my body responds with an intensity that borders on painful.

"Are you going to kill me? … Because if you are, I'd appreciate you getting on with it."

I almost laugh. Almost. "Is that what you think this is?"

"What else would it be?" She meets my eyes directly, and that's when it happens.

Mine.

The word tears through me like a bullet, my wolf's cry so loud it drowns out everything else. My entire body goes rigid with shock, every muscle locking up as the recognition slams into place.

No. No, this isn't... she can't be...

"What's wrong?" she asks, and I realize I've been staring at her, for too long. "Did your brain short-circuit, or is this just how you intimidate people?"

I force myself to move closer, fighting against the overwhelming urge to touch her, to check her injuries, to mark her as... No. "Why are you in my territory?"

"Your territory?" She lets out a short, bitter laugh. "I wasn't aware the entire city had your name on it."

"Answer the question." I lean down, bracing my hands on the arms of her chair, bringing our faces close. It's a mistake because her scent is stronger here, and my wolf is clawing at my control, desperate to claim what it sees as ours.

"I'm here because I need to be," she says, not backing down despite our proximity. "That's all you need to know."

"That's not how this works, little girl." The endearment slips out before I can stop it, and I watch her eyes narrow in response.

"Don't call me that."

"Then give me a reason not to treat you like one." I'm aware of every breath she takes, every slight shift of her body. "You're in my city, surrounded by my pack, and you're Vittorio Sorrenti's daughter. Give me one good reason why I shouldn't end this right now."

Her chin lifts, defiant. "Because you can't."

"Can't?" I growl.

"Look Mr. Big bad wolf… what do you want from me?"

"Oh, princess." I click my tongue. "We're going to have so much fun answering that question."

"Go fuck yourself."

"Only if you watch." I wink at her, just to see that furious flush crawl up her neck.

Against every instinct in my body, I reach out and brush a strand of hair from her dirt-smudged cheek. She flinches. I pretend not to notice.

"My medic is on her way… She'll get you cleaned up."

Aria stares at me in disbelief. "You're kidding, right? First you abduct me, then threaten me and now you're playing nurse?"

I shrug. "Don't get excited, princess. You're no good to me if you bleed out."

She snorts. "How chivalrous."

"Now shut up and let me look at you."

For half a second, she gapes at me, outrage etched in every lovely line of her face. Then her eyes narrow, and I swear I can see the exact moment she decides to make my life hell.

"Make me," she hisses.

Heat explodes in my veins, a blast of pure lust strong enough to incinerate me where I stand. I lean in, one hand cupping her nape, the other hovering just above the delicate silk of her ruined blouse.

Mine , my wolf snarls again, and this time, I can't find the will to deny it.

Mate .

I stumble back, reeling from the force of it. From the undeniable truth that the woman I've sworn to destroy is my fated mate.

Aria stares at me, confusion and wariness warring in her eyes. "What's wrong with you?"

I shake my head, trying to clear the fog of lust and bewilderment. "Nothing," I rasp, my voice rough and foreign to my own ears. "Nothing at all, princess."

But as I turn and stalk out of the room, my wolf snarling in protest with every step, I know it's a lie.

Everything is wrong. Because Aria Sorrenti, is mine.

And I have no fucking idea what I'm going to do about it.