The Alpha CEO

The night Aurora Vale lost her family, the snow smelled like iron.

A blanket of silence had draped over Silverpine, her small hometown nestled deep in the woods-too quiet, even for winter. She had fallen asleep reading in her bed, her fingers tangled in the fabric of her worn sweater, comforted by the scent of cinnamon her mother always added to the fireplace logs.

The first scream shattered everything.

She woke with a gasp, heart already thudding in panic. The sound of snarling and crashing glass filled the air outside her room. Then came her mother's voice.

"Aurora! Get Elias and run!"

She didn't make it in time.

Her mother had begun to shift, protecting her younger brother-but the rogues were faster. Bigger. Hungrier.

Aurora saw fur, blood, and snow all blur into one horrific moment. Her father's final roar. Her brother's scream.

And then silence.

She didn't remember how she got away. Only the cold against her feet, the branches scratching her skin, the sob caught in her throat as she ran into the forest and didn't stop.

She collapsed in the snow far from home, her body trembling, skin burning, her soul ripped apart.

That was when she heard it.

A soft voice, deep within her mind.

"Live."

Her wolf.

Still unnamed. Still curled in silence.

But alive.

Three Weeks Later – Ivory Hollow City

The train squealed into the underground station and Aurora stepped off, her bag clutched to her chest like armor. Ivory Hollow was nothing like Silverpine. It buzzed and howled and breathed, alive with towering buildings and a thousand strangers who didn't know her name.

She preferred it that way.

A new city. A new school. A new chance.

Crescent Hill University had accepted her on a partial scholarship before the attack. Her enrollment had been delayed. She didn't mention why.

Now she was here, officially admitted, dorm assigned, and a modest internship at Kade Enterprises-secured through a distant aunt who owed her mother a favor. It paid almost nothing, but it covered her bus fare and coffee.

She walked out of the building clutching the crisp letter of acceptance.

The breeze caught her hair and lifted her scent.

And that was the exact moment Damien Kade walked in through the executive entrance.

Damien – Elsewhere in the Building

He paused.

Just for a second.

A strange scent had wrapped around him-wild lilac, morning rain, and something... sweet, elusive. It was there and then gone.

His wolf, Ares, stirred.

"Something's wrong."