I curl into myself and wait for dawn, but the heat doesn't fade. If anything, it builds, pulsing in time with a heartbeat that doesn't feel entirely like mine anymore.
4
STELLAN
She's burning. I can smell it from across the keep, her temperature rising, her scent thickening with the first threads of heat. She has no idea what's happening to her body. But I do. I've been waiting for this since the moment she stepped off that convoy.
The fifth day since she arrived. Five days of watching her navigate my world with that stubborn chin lifted and those dark eyes blazing with defiance. Five days of forcing myself to keep my distance while her scent grew sweeter by the hour, while the suppressants in her blood thinned and failed and let the truth of her nature bleed through.
I stand at the window of my study, watching her cross the courtyard below. Even from this height, I can see the flush on her cheeks, the way she tugs at the collar of her dress as if the fabric is strangling her. She snaps at a servant who approaches with a message, her voice carrying sharp enough that I catch the tone if not the words. The servant retreats with wide eyes and a hasty bow.
My lips curve. The irritability is a symptom. So is the restlessness, the way she paces within the confines of her room. The way her gaze lingers on doorways and shadows, searchingfor something she can't name when she thinks no one is watching. Her body knows what it needs, even if her mind hasn't caught up.
She needs me.
The thought sends heat coiling through my gut, and I grip the stone windowsill hard enough to feel the edge bite into my palms. Control. I've maintained it this long. I can maintain it a little longer.
But my wolf disagrees. He paces inside me, snarling against the cage I've built, demanding that I go to her. Claim her. End this torment for both of us. The mating instinct is a physical ache now, a pressure behind my ribs that sharpens every time I catch her scent on the air. I want to bury my face in her throat and breathe her in until she's all I know. To feel her body yield beneath mine, to hear her cry out my name as I make her understand exactly who she belongs to.
Instead, I watch. I wait. I let her unravel one thread at a time.
The door to my study opens, and Torben enters without knocking. He's earned that liberty over the years.
"We have a problem," he says.
I don't turn from the window. "I'm aware."
"Three of the senior warriors came to me this morning. They've noticed her scent." Torben moves to stand beside me, his gaze following mine to the courtyard below. "Ragnar was among them. He asked what you intended to do about the human who smells like an omega in pre-heat."
A growl builds in my chest before I can stop it. "And what did you tell them?"
"That they should mind their own business unless they want to challenge their alpha for mating rights." Torben's voice is carefully neutral. "That bought us time. But not much. If she goes into full heat before you've bonded, every unmated wolf in this keep is going to lose their minds. Including you."
"I know what I'm doing."
"Do you?" Torben turns to face me, and I see the concern he rarely lets show. "You've been planning this for years, Stellan. Watching her from a distance, calculating every detail of how this would unfold. But plans don't survive contact with biology. If you wait too long, if you let your control slip at the wrong moment, you could hurt her. Or worse."
The words land harder than I want to admit. I think of Iris in the courtyard, flushed and irritable and completely unaware of the danger surrounding her. Not just from me. From what she's becoming, and what that will trigger in every wolf around her.
"I won't let that happen," I say.
"Then stop playing games and claim her. Before someone else decides to try."
The suggestion sends ice through my veins. The image that follows is worse: Iris cornered by wolves who smell what she is and don't care about blood pacts or alpha authority. Iris fighting with those skills Helena taught her, fierce and brave and ultimately outmatched. Iris broken beneath the weight of wolves who would take what I've waited years to earn.
Something dark and violent unfurls in my chest. My claws extend before I can stop them, puncturing the stone beneath my fingers.
"No one touches her." The words come out barely human, my wolf bleeding through. "Make that clear. Anyone who approaches her without my permission answers to me personally."
Torben holds my gaze for a long moment. Whatever he sees there makes him nod once.
"I'll spread the word. But Stellan, you need to move soon. Days, not weeks. Her scent is only going to get stronger."
He leaves me alone with my thoughts and the view of the courtyard below. Iris has disappeared inside, probably seekingthe relative cool of the stone corridors. Running from a heat she doesn't understand.
She won't be able to run much longer.
I wait until she's at the evening meal before I search her quarters.
