The Snow Wolf's Mate

The Alpha Saw:

[POV: Aria]

My lips still tingled.

My breath came too fast, and not just from the cold night air. I walked blindly, stumbling over roots and uneven ground as I fled the clearing where Cole had kissed me. Where I had let him take my first kiss.

Why did I let him?

I pressed the back of my hand to my mouth, trying to wipe away the warmth that lingered, the guilt that bloomed sharp and sick in my chest.

It felt like I was betraying myself.

And maybe… even someone else.

No. I couldn’t even say it. Couldn’t let the thought fully form.

Not when everything inside me was still in pieces.

I slowed near a fallen log, placing a trembling hand against the bark to steady myself. My legs felt like they were made of smoke. My heart wouldn’t stop racing, not from desire—but from chaos.

Cole’s kiss felt familiar. Comforting. Safe, even.

But something had been missing.

“Yoka?” I whispered into the silence of my own mind.

Nothing.

Not a purr, not a flicker of excitement. She hadn’t stirred once during the kiss. Hadn’t leaned forward or whispered ‘yes’ in the back of my mind.

She’d been silent. It hit me all at once—like the cold slapping across my face.

Because it wasn’t right.

Not for her. Not for me.

I exhaled shakily, the cold air scraping down my throat like glass. My fingers curled into fists as I shoved away from the log and turned toward the packhouse.

I needed space. I needed to breathe. Just a moment to—

A chill licked up my spine.

That feeling. That primal, bone-deep sensation of being watched. My pulse surged, heart thundering against my ribs.

Cole?

For a split second, I thought it might be him. He’d noticed the tension, the storm brewing beneath my skin. But no. This wasn’t his energy. Cole was warmth, curious.

This… this was heat. Pressure. Dominance. Familiar.

I turned—and my breath lodged in my throat.

Hayden.

He stepped out from the trees like a shadow breaking free of the dark, his body framed by moonlight. Every inch of him radiated restraint on the verge of shattering.

His jaw was set, chest rising and falling, hands clenched at his sides like he didn’t trust what they might do.

His eyes locked onto mine—those eyes. Glinting like steel about to snap.

He said nothing. Didn’t need to.

He’d seen it. The kiss.

“Hayden—” I started, voice cracking like brittle glass.

“Is that what you want?” His voice was ice over fire—controlled, but only barely. “Him?”

I flinched at the tone, at the quiet fury simmering just beneath it. He didn’t raise his voice. He didn’t step forward.

But his wolf was close. Too close. I could feel Sirius’s presence like heat radiating off his skin. Coiled. Dangerous. Hurt.

“No,” I said quickly, then stopped—realizing how that sounded. “I mean—”

“You kissed him.”

“No.” I bit my lip. “He kissed me.”

“Yet you didn’t stop him.” His words weren’t a question.

I hated how my throat tightened. How shame crept up my neck like vines.

The accusation hit harder than a scream. It was the way he said it—like a verdict, like it meant something.

“I didn’t expect it,” I murmured. “I didn’t plan for it.”

“That doesn’t answer my question.”

I blinked fast, anger flaring suddenly in my chest. “You don’t get to interrogate me.”

His brows lifted slightly, but the storm didn’t ease.

“You’re my Alpha,” I snapped, voice rising now. “Not my keeper. Not my… something else.”

Not my mate. Can’t be.

His expression barely shifted, but something behind his eyes flickered.

Hurt? Rage? I couldn’t tell.

Not that it mattered. Because even as the words burned my tongue, even as I spat them like a shield—I lied.

I knew what he was to me. But I couldn't let him know.

He stepped closer, slowly, as if holding himself in place with sheer force. His eyes never left mine.

“You think I don’t know that?” he said quietly. “You think I haven’t been fighting it every damn day since I first caught your scent?”

I staggered back, breath catching.

His voice turned rough, like gravel scraping against fire. “You think I don’t feel it? Every time you walk into a room, every time you look at me like I’m something you don’t know whether to run from or reach for?”

“Stop,” I breathed, shaking.

“I can’t,” he growled. “Not when I just watched you give something that was mine to someone else.”