Chapter 2

ELARA

We left the Veiled Moon in his Ravelle GT and drove to what he called his hotel. The car alone told me the masked stranger possessed extraordinary wealth. He might have been an Alpha, but I did not ask. Names and titles had no place in the agreement we had made.

The night became the gentlest experience of my life.

When he realized I was a virgin, surprise gave way to care. He slowed down, checked that I was comfortable, and reminded me I could stop him. No man had ever treated my feelings as something worth protecting.

Then the impossible happened.

His body went rigid against mine, and a deep groan broke from him as he climaxed. For a few breathless seconds, neither of us could speak.

He had told me he never finished with a woman.

He moved away and sat on the edge of the bed. "That is strange."

I lay beneath the sheets, exhausted and equally confused.

After a while, he returned to my side and propped his head on one hand. Even through the mask, I could feel the intensity of his stare.

"Who are you?"

His fingertips traced my jaw, and the touch sent a current through me.

Just an unwanted woman whose mate and family discarded her.

Instead of answering, I watched him remove his mask.

My breath caught.

He was the most striking man I had ever seen: sharp features, silver eyes, and the kind of authority that made the room seem built around him. I pulled the sheet higher, suddenly conscious of every difference between us.

"You should have told me it was your first time," he said.

"Would it have changed your mind?"

"It would have changed how carefully I began."

His hand moved toward my mask. I recoiled and gripped the sheet.

"No."

He stopped at once.

"Why? You've seen me."

"You don't understand." Shame pressed the words down to a whisper. "I'm ugly."

He went still.

I could have kept the mask on. He had already honored that boundary. But I was tired of waiting for the moment tenderness became disgust, so I reached up and removed it myself.

His gaze settled on the scar.

Tears blurred my vision. I braced for him to turn away.

Instead, he touched the edge of the damaged skin with extraordinary care. "What happened?"

"Someone abducted me when I was young. I was blindfolded and burned. No doctor has been able to remove it."

He studied me without pity or revulsion.

"You're beautiful," he said.

I frowned. "You don't have to lie."

"You think a scar decides that?" He drew me against his chest. "Until tonight, I don't think I've met a woman as stunning as you, Princess."

His heartbeat sounded steady beneath my ear. A tear slipped free before I could stop it.

Perhaps he only wanted to comfort me. For that moment, I let myself believe him.

"I want to change our agreement," he said.

My body tensed.

"Stay another day."

I lifted my head. No one had ever asked me to stay.

"Please," he added.

Hope was reckless, but it entered me anyway.

"I'd like that."

He held me until I fell asleep.

By morning, he was gone.

There was no note and no sign he intended to return. Only the ache in my body proved the night had happened.

A man knocked and told me to leave the property.

"The man I came with," I said, struggling to keep my voice steady. "Will he be back?"

"No. He instructed us to remove you before he returned. He does not want to see you here again."

The door closed.

Just like everyone else, the stranger had lied.

And somehow, losing the man whose name I did not know hurt more than Darius's rejection.