Rogue Alpha's Sweet Trap Chapter 3: A Signal of Danger

The mont the breeze shifted, I knew sothing was wrong.

I couldn’t explain it, not exactly, but a chill crawled up the back of my neck like a whisper of a presence I couldn’t see.

Soone was watching .

I felt it deep in my gut, the way animals know a storm is coming.

I turned my head slowly, pretending to admire the glowing white lilies planted near the fountain. But my heart was pounding. Too fast. Too loud.

Without another thought, I slipped away from the stone path and moved toward the deeper part of the garden.

Past the shrubs, the carefully planted rows of silver roses, and toward the maze – a quiet place no one really bothered with. Not during parties. It was too dark, too easy to get lost in.

I didn’t go far, just enough to slip behind the hedges and hide my body from view. The entrance alone was thick enough with flowers and tall enough to shield . I crouched behind a wall of ivy, holding my breath, trying to listen.

Nothing. No footsteps. No breathing.

Only the music playing faintly in the distance, and the chirp of crickets in the underbrush.

I let out a slow breath. Maybe I imagined it. The last thing I wanted was to be seen like this. Outside my room during a gathering filled with high-ranking wolves and guests from all over. If soone from the pack saw ... if they told Finn...

I started to step back out of the hedge when a voice stopped cold.

"Are you looking for ?"

My entire body jolted. I spun around so fast I nearly stumbled.

There.

Just a few paces away stood a man, partially hidden in the dark edge of the hedges. His arms were crossed, and a silver mask covered most of his face, catching silvers of moonlight between the leaves.

A guest? My first thought was that it must be a masquerade party the. That would explain the mask.

The man had a great build and was tall. Taller than Finn. His shoulders were broad, his stance relaxed but... commanding.

Like soone who didn’t need to prove anything. He looked like he could be a Beta, or even an Alpha.

But I noticed his scent barely lingered. Faint. Not at all like what I’d expect from a wolf of high rank.

Most powerful wolf shifters had a distinct scent that hit you before they even spoke—thick, earthy, wild. This one was barely there, like a phantom.

Books and the pack elders have always said that the weaker the scent of a shifter, the weaker the wolf he has.

Beneath his mask were eyes that glinted through the dark. They were sea-green, sharp, watching like I was so kind of puzzle.

"It is very convenient," he said, "for a prisoner to escape on the night of a party, don’t you think?"

My breath caught. His words sank in slowly, and I snapped out of my thoughts.

"I’m not—" I started, then faltered.

Was I not?

"I’m not escaping," I said instead, softer this ti.

He didn’t move. Didn’t even blink.

"You have sharp senses," he said, voice like a blade wrapped in silk. "You sensed I was watching. Not many can feel that. But you don’t have your wolf yet, which I find strange. You seem old enough to have one."

My hands curled into my skirt.

He was right about my senses. My father was a Beta, strong and reliable. He taught a few things.

But the stranger was wrong about my wolf.

I had her. I was accompanied by her, just before they locked her away.

After my father’s betrayal, the Alpha stripped us of everything. My mother and I were bound with the wolfbind, bands carved with the ritual markings of the cursed’s seal.

We couldn’t shift, couldn’t connect, couldn’t even sll like full wolves. It was the sa thing they used on criminals. And families of criminals.

I swallowed hard and forced my voice steady. "I see that you’re a guest. You should return to the hall, sir."

He didn’t reply right away.

His eyes narrowed, just slightly, like he was trying to read between the lines of what I didn’t say.

I kept my face neutral.

Don’t provoke. Don’t react.

Still, I couldn’t help but wonder. Who was he?

The way he spoke wasn’t like the others I’d seen. His voice was too smooth, his words too deliberate, as though everything he said had been carefully chosen. And those eyes... piercing, sea-glass sharp. Not a single flicker of drunken amusent or idle curiosity.

"So you want to leave you alone now? After distracting ?"

His tone shifted, playful on the surface, but laced with sothing colder beneath. The kind of tone that made my blood chill, even though he hadn’t moved a step.

What...?

My breath caught. What did he an by that?

I stared at him, confused, wary. I didn’t understand. Distracting?

"Aren’t you here to distract on purpose?" he asked, his voice twisting into a scoff, as though he’d already decided the answer. "Did your Alpha know I ca?"

My eyes widened.

When he said ’your Alpha’ it sounded like a warning. Like Finn shouldn’t know anything at all. Which ant this stranger... wasn’t invited.

Who was this man?

I opened my mouth, forcing the words out. "I-I don’t know what you’re talking about. I don’t even know you."

"Really?" His gaze was razor-sharp now.

Then his eyes slid over , slowly, from head to toe. Not lasciviously, but as though he was asuring .

"I don’t think you’re a prisoner," he said at last. "You just bathed. I can sll your flowery soap all over you, scented with rose and lavender. That nightdress..." He tilted his head. "Quite a good quality fabric. Not what a servant wears to sleep."

My heart sank.

"You knew soone was watching you," he continued. "You didn’t go back inside. Didn’t look for help. Didn’t even go close to the guards. Instead, you ca here to the shadows. You led whoever it was away from people, which ans there’s a good chance you wanted to follow you."

He wasn’t accusing like soone unhinged. He was breaking down my every move like a strategist. Calculated.

It terrified more than shouting would have.

"I didn’t..." I took a step back, barely able to find my voice. I didn’t expect this conversation to go this way.

He took a step forward.

I tried not to react, but my instincts scread at to run. My wolf stirred faintly inside , muffled by the wolfbind on my wrist.

"You’re intimidating ," I whispered. "Why?"

His sea-green eyes didn’t waver. "Why would you lure here, then?"

"I didn’t," I said, and I ant it. "Why would I even do that?"

His voice dropped. "Because you’ve discovered my identity? Who knows?"

I frowned. "I haven’t discovered anything."

"You seem... distrustful," I added, more softly now. "Your life must’ve been hard. But accusing people like this... that’s not—"

"Don’t sweet talk ," he snapped, cutting off. "You think I don’t kill cute girls?"

My breath caught.

He didn’t shout it. He didn’t snarl.

But his words made shiver.

And I realized then that I had no idea who I was talking to.

This man could be dangerous in a way that I couldn’t fathom.

"If you really want to kill ," I gritted my teeth. "Then do it." I wouldn’t mind. Maybe I was better off dead.

He didn’t answer.

Instead, he watched with a stillness that made my skin crawl. Like a storm deciding whether or not to strike.

The silence between us stretched.

Then, finally, he spoke, "Tell , what’s your na?"

I hesitated.

That pause, brief as it was, seed to amuse him. A corner of his mouth twitched, like he already knew I wouldn’t answer.

I parted my lips...

But before I could speak, the sound of a loud howl ripped through the garden.

I froze.

That wasn’t just any howl. It was sharp. Piercing.

There was no mistaking it. It ca from the ssenger of East Hill tower.

A signal of danger.