Chapter 4
The silence between them stretched like a taut wire, each second thick with unspoken tension. Aeris Valkryn could feel the heat radiating off Rheon Draven, his presence an unyielding force pressing into her space, demanding recognition, submission—something she refused to give. His grip on her wrist was firm but not painful, his thumb brushing against her pulse point, as if silently reminding her that he could feel every erratic beat of her heart.
She swallowed hard, her mind racing for a way out, but the intensity of his gaze pinned her in place, rendering her escape plan useless before it even fully formed. It was unfair. Unfair how easily he unraveled her defenses, how effortlessly he made her feel exposed despite all the years she had spent perfecting the art of indifference.
“Let me go,” she demanded again, her voice laced with frustration.
Rheon didn’t budge. His amber eyes darkened, flickering with something unreadable, something that sent a slow, traitorous shiver down her spine. “No.”
The single word carried a weight that stole the breath from her lungs. There was no hesitation in his voice, no uncertainty. Just raw, unyielding dominance.
Aeris clenched her jaw. “You don’t own me, Alpha.” She spat the title like a curse, her defiance sharp enough to draw blood. “Whatever it is you think you’re feeling—it doesn’t matter. I don’t belong to you.”
A muscle in Rheon’s jaw ticked, but he didn’t release her. Instead, he leaned in, his voice dropping to a near whisper. “That’s where you’re wrong, Aeris.” His lips curled slightly, but there was no amusement in his expression. “You do belong to me. You’ve been mine since the second I laid eyes on you.”
Aeris’s breath hitched, but she forced herself to meet his gaze, refusing to back down. “You can’t force me to accept this.”
His grip finally loosened, his fingers sliding away from her wrist with agonizing slowness, as if reluctant to let her go. But he didn’t move back. He stayed close—too close—his presence overwhelming. “I don’t have to force you,” he murmured. “You already feel it. You just don’t want to admit it.”
Her stomach twisted. He wasn’t wrong, and that terrified her more than anything else.
Aeris took a step back, needing to put distance between them before she did something stupid—like let herself believe him. “I don’t care what you think, Draven,” she said coldly. “I don’t have time for this. I have a life. A job. Debts to pay.” She gestured around her tiny, crumbling apartment as if to prove a point. “I don’t have the luxury of pretending that fate is some kind of fairytale.”
Something flickered in Rheon’s expression, something dangerously close to understanding. But then it was gone, replaced by the same unshakable intensity he always carried.
“I don’t believe in fairytales either, Aeris,” he admitted. “But I do believe in what’s mine.”
Aeris’s fingers curled into fists at her sides. “Then you’re a fool.”
“Maybe.” His lips quirked slightly, but there was no humor in his eyes. Only determination. “But I’m a fool who doesn’t let go of what he wants.”
And he wanted her.
That much was undeniable.
The Packhouse, Midnight
Rheon stood at the edge of the balcony overlooking the Stone Hollow Woods, his hands gripping the iron railing so tightly his knuckles turned white. The night was crisp, the air heavy with the scent of pine and damp earth, but none of it brought him the calm he sought.
His wolf was restless—more than restless. It wanted to hunt. To claim. To drag Aeris back where she belonged and make her see reason. Every instinct inside him screamed that she was his, that she was meant to stand by his side. And yet, she resisted him at every turn, as if fate had made some cruel mistake by tying them together.
“She’s stubborn,” a voice drawled from behind him.
Rheon didn’t turn. He didn’t need to. He already knew who it was. Ray Lockwell. His Beta. His best friend.
Ray stepped up beside him, arms crossed, his sharp green eyes glinting under the moonlight. “You look like you’re about five seconds away from storming her apartment and hauling her back here over your shoulder.”
Rheon exhaled harshly through his nose. “Don’t tempt me.”
Ray chuckled. “I’m just saying, if it were me, I wouldn’t waste time trying to convince her.” He shot him a knowing look. “But you’re not me, are you?”
“No,” Rheon admitted, his voice rough. “I’m not.”
Ray studied him for a moment, then sighed. “Look, I get it. She’s different. She’s not like the others. And that’s exactly why she’s fighting this.” His voice softened slightly. “You’re the Alpha, Rheon. You’re used to getting what you want. She’s not used to being wanted at all.”
That struck a nerve.
Rheon didn’t reply right away. He knew Aeris had been through hell. He had seen it in her eyes, in the way she recoiled from kindness as if it were a trick, in the way she pushed him away every time he got too close. But that didn’t change what she was to him.
And it didn’t change the fact that he wasn’t about to give up.
“I don’t care how long it takes,” Rheon said finally. “She’s mine.”
Ray smirked. “Then you better be ready for a fight.”
Rheon’s gaze darkened. “I always am.”
Elsewhere in Arrow Brooke…
Aeris sat on the edge of her bed, staring at the wall, her mind a chaotic storm of emotions she couldn’t name. She had spent her entire life running—from pain, from rejection, from the ghosts of a past she could never escape. And now, fate had thrown Rheon Draven in her path, a man who refused to let her slip through his fingers, a man who saw her when she had spent so long making herself invisible.
It was terrifying.
But what scared her most wasn’t him.
It was the small, traitorous part of her that wanted to believe him.
Because for the first time in her life… someone was fighting for her.
And that was more dangerous than any enemy she had ever faced.
