Ember's POV
The fire inside me started exactly at midnight.
I dropped the heavy box of Christmas lights I was carrying. Glass ornaments scattered across the cold ground, breaking into tiny pieces. Glittering like stars in the snow.
"No, no, no," I whispered, pressing my hands on my stomach. The burning feeling spread through my whole body like liquid fire. My skin felt too hot, too tight. Something was very wrong.
Around me, the Christmas Eve festival continued. Families laughed and sang carols. Children ran between the food booths, their cheeks red from the cold. Nobody noticed the girl falling apart behind the big Christmas tree.
I tried to stand up straight, but another wave of heat crashed over me. This wasn't normal. This was something else. Something I'd been waiting for since I turned sixteen.
My first heat.
But why now? Why tonight when the whole pack was here?
The smell hit me first. My own scent, but different. Stronger. Sweeter. Like warm honey mixed with winter roses. It floated around me like invisible smoke, and I couldn't make it stop.
Then I heard the growling.
Low and dangerous, coming from somewhere in the crowd. Then another growl from a different direction. And another.
My heart started beating so fast that i thought it might explode. Every unmated male wolf in the pack could smell me now. They knew exactly what was happening to my body, even if I didn't understand it myself.
"Ember?"
I turned around and saw Tommy, the little boy who helped me at the tree farm sometimes. His nose was twitching, and his eyes looked confused.
"You smell different," he said. "Like flowers, but scary flowers."
Before I could answer, his older brother Ryan appeared and grabbed Tommy's arm. Ryan was nineteen and unmated. His eyes were getting darker as he looked at me, and not in a friendly way.
"Go find your mom, Tommy," Ryan said, his voice rough. "Now."
Tommy ran away, scared by his brother's tone. Ryan took a step toward me, then another. His hands were shaking.
"Ember," he said. "You're... you're in heat."
I backed away from him, my heart beating faster. "No, I'm not. I'm just sick."
"I can smell you from across the field," Ryan said. "Every male here can smell you."
As if his words made it real, more growls filled the air. I turned and saw them coming. Ben from the gas station. Marcus who worked at the hardware store. Even some of the older men who should have known better.
They moved like hunters, their eyes locked on me. Their wolves were taking control, making them forget about rules and respect and everything else that made them human.
I ran.
My legs felt weak and shaky, but fear gave me strength. I pushed through groups of people, knocking over a table of hot chocolate. The liquid splashed everywhere, and people yelled at me, but I didn't stop.
Behind me, I could hear them following. Heavy footsteps in the snow. Voices calling my name, but not in a nice way.
The heat inside me was getting worse. Every breath felt like swallowing fire. Sweat poured down my face even though the air was freezing cold.
I needed to get home. I needed to lock my door and hide until this was over. But home was six blocks away, and I could barely stand up straight.
The pack house was closer. If I could reach Alpha Blackwood, he would protect me. He had to. That was the law.
I reached the front steps, panting and banged on the heavy wooden door. "Please," I gasped. "Please help me."
The door opened, and Victoria Sterling stood there in a beautiful red dress. Her perfect blonde hair was styled in waves, and her makeup looked like a magazine picture. She took one look at me and wrinkled her nose in disgust.
"What do you want?" she asked.
"I need... I need to see the Alpha," I panted. "I'm in heat, and the males are following me."
Victoria's eyes went wide, then narrow. "You're in heat? Tonight? During our engagement party?"
I didn't know it was their engagement party. I was just trying not to die.
"Please," I begged. "They're coming."
Victoria looked past me at the men gathering at the bottom of the steps. Their eyes were wild now, completely lost to their wolves. She could see how dangerous this was getting.
But instead of helping me, she smiled. A cold, mean smile that made my stomach drop.
"How inconvenient for you," she said. "But this is a private party. For pack members only."
"I am pack," I said desperately.
"Are you?" Victoria tilted her head. "Because pack members don't embarrass their Alpha's family on important nights."
She started to close the door in my face.
"Wait!" I grabbed the door frame. "Please don't leave me out here with them."
Victoria looked at my hand on her perfect white door and made a disgusted sound. "You're getting your scent all over everything. It's revolting."
The door slammed shut. I heard the lock click.
I was alone on the porch with a dozen unmated males slowly climbing the steps toward me. Their faces didn't look human anymore. They looked hungry and desperate and completely out of control.
"Come here, little omega," Ben called out. "We just want to help you feel better."
I pressed my back against the locked door. There was nowhere left to run.
The heat inside me pulsed again, sending out another wave of my scent. The males all breathed in deeply and groaned. Some of them started shifting, their bones cracking as their wolves tried to break free.
This was how I was going to die. Torn apart by my own pack members on Christmas Eve, all because my body decided to betray me at the worst possible moment.
I closed my eyes and waited for the first one to reach me.
Then I heard a sound that made my heart stopped for a moment.
A roar. Loud, fierce and absolutely terrifying. The kind of sound that made every wolf in hearing distance freeze with fear.
I opened my eyes and saw him pushing through the crowd of males like they were nothing. His silver eyes were blazing, and his face full with rage.
Cade Blackwood. The playboy Alpha who was supposed to marry Victoria Sterling in nine days.
He was starring at me. Not just with anger. Something deeper. Something that made my whole body shiver despite the fire burning inside me.
The other males backed away from him, whining like scared wolves. Even in their wolf-crazy state, they knew better than to challenge an Alpha.
Cade stopped close to me. His chest was rising and falling fast, like he'd been running. His hands were folded into fists.
When he spoke, his voice was so low and rough I almost couldn't understand him.
"Mine."