She never expected to find her mate already bound to another. The pull between them is undeniable—a primal force that consumes her thoughts and threatens to shatter her resolve. Every moment apart feels like torture; every moment near him is exquisite agony. He promised nothing, yet she craves everything. When she turns to flee, he follows. His footsteps echo hers through the darkness, the hunt as old as their kind. She runs until there's nowhere left to go, until his body pins her against cold stone and his breath mingles with hers. "When will you stop running from this?" His voice is low, dangerous, dripping with need. She summons every ounce of strength to face him. "When you leave your wife." His jaw tightens. He steps back, conflict blazing across his features. "It's complicated." "Is it?" She throws the challenge between them like a blade. His glare darkens as he draws closer, those caramel eyes drowning her in their intensity. But she stands firm, voice steady despite the trembling in her chest. "You want me to surrender to you—to become your secret, your forbidden affair? Do you comprehend how degrading that is? How little you're asking of me?" The tension crackles between them, electric and dangerous. She's his mate, his destined one. But she refuses to be anything less than his priority, anything less than everything.