The scent of pine and rain filled the air as Kiera Davis stepped out of her battered car. Towering trees lined the narrow road into Silver Creek, their branches curling together like fingers guarding a secret. This was her fresh start—or so she hoped. A quiet town where no one knew her, where the betrayal that had shattered her life could be left behind.
As she adjusted her leather jacket, a strange sensation prickled the back of her neck. The forest felt alive, each rustling leaf and creaking branch like a whisper in an unfamiliar tongue. She scanned her surroundings with sharp green eyes, half-expecting to see someone—or something—watching her.
Shaking it off, she walked into the local diner. It was a time capsule of checkered floors and faded wallpaper, the kind of place where regulars sat in the same booth for decades. The smell of coffee and frying bacon was warm, inviting, but the atmosphere felt… tense. The murmur of conversation faltered as Kiera stepped inside, strangers’ eyes flitting toward her before quickly looking away.
She ignored them and slid into a booth near the window. But as she reached for the menu, her gaze snagged on someone sitting in the corner.Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.
He wasn’t just another stranger.
Impossibly tall, with broad shoulders and a commanding presence, the man sat with a stillness that felt predatory. His black hair was tousled, his jaw set like it had been carved from stone. But it was his eyes that locked her in place—stormy gray and piercing, as though they could see straight through her.
The world seemed to pause. Kiera’s breath caught, and for a moment, all she could hear was her own heartbeat. His gaze didn’t waver, and something in it sent a chill racing down her spine. Not fear exactly, but something close.
Then, just as suddenly, his expression hardened. He turned away, his grip tightening around the mug in his hand.
“That’s Alpha Damien,” the waitress whispered as she approached, her voice low like she was sharing a dangerous secret. “Trust me, it’s better if you don’t get involved.”
“Alpha?” Kiera repeated, raising an eyebrow. The title sounded strange, almost… archaic. She brushed it off with a shrug. “I’m not planning to.”
But even as she said it, her eyes drifted back to him. She told herself it was just curiosity, that she wasn’t intrigued by the way he sat like he owned the room—or the faint scar slashing through his left eyebrow. And yet, every time she looked, she found him watching her too.
She barely touched her meal, the air inside the diner too heavy to swallow. After paying the bill, she stepped outside and pulled out her phone to check the directions to the cabin she’d rented. It wasn’t a glamorous setup, just an affordable listing she’d found online—a rustic, off-grid cabin deep in the woods. The kind of place people called “quaint” when they wanted to make isolation sound appealing.