The first warm rays of morning sunlight filtered through Anastasia’s bedroom curtains, filling the space with a soft golden glow.

The gentle melodies of birds singing greeted the new day from outside, a peaceful prelude to her private ritual.

Padding barefoot across the plush rug, Anastasia slipped off her robe and stepped into the large marble bathroom.

She turned on the shower, adjusting the temperature until steaming hot water poured from the oversized rainfall showerhead.

As the room quickly filled with billowing clouds of steam, she stepped under the searing stream with a hiss of pleasure and trepidation.

This daily cleansing was as necessary as it was agonizing - scrubbing away every lingering trace of Cobra’s scent until only her own remained.

Squeezing out a generous dollop of body wash, Anastasia lathered up a rich foam.

She then began the methodical process of scouring every inch of her pale skin.

Each firm circular stroke over her chest, neck, and throat felt abrasive as Cobra’s intense, woody musk still stubbornly clung.

She grits her teeth, lathering and scrubbing harder until her delicate skin turns an angry red.

"Dammit!" she cursed under her breath, rinsing away the suds only to find his lingering scent maddeningly embedded in her ebony tresses and sensitive skin.

It was as if her fated mate’s essence had seeped through to her core, defiantly resisting all efforts to erase it.

Growling a vehement curse, Anastasia switched to an abrasive coconut sugar scrub.

If the gritty grains couldn’t scour away his musky imprint, nothing would.

Finally, after what seemed an eternity of scrubbing, rinsing, and repeating until her entire body was raw and pink, that last faint trace of Cobra’s scent rinsed away.

Stepping out, Anastasia toweled off roughly before slathering on a rich, fragrant body butter and she released her own pheromones to mask any trace left of Cobra’s scent.

Only once her pheromones surrounded her did the tension begin easing from her shoulders.

Turning to the mirror, Anastasia stared at the hollow-eyed, weary reflection gazing back.

The erasure was both a necessity and a sorrow, stripping away every molecule of the unbreakable bond fate had decreed.

A deep ache lingered in the wake of such a bittersweet purging.

Anastasia heaved a weary sigh as the last traces of Cobra’s lingering scent finally dissipated down the shower drain.

Though a bittersweet pang tugged at her heart to rinse away that primal connection to her fated mate, it was a necessity she could not avoid.

After toweling off and dressing in soft cotton lounge pants and a camisole top, she exited her room and immediately collided with a solid wall of muscle.

Strong arms encircled her waist, steadying her trembling form as a deep, achingly familiar chuckle reverberated against her thundering heart.

"Whoa there, good morning to you too," Liam’s rich timbre washed over Anastasia in soothing waves as she instinctively grasped his bulging biceps for balance.

"Good morning, Liam," she murmured, keenly aware of the shiver that rocked his powerful frame as her fingers traced the vascular contours of his chiseled arms.

His pupils blew wider, seemingly drugged by her proximity and scent as a low, rumbling chuckle spilled past his sensuous lips.

"Good morning," he echoed huskily, leaning even closer until their fronts were flush and his addictive earthy cologne threatened to overwhelm her senses.

Momentarily dazed by the overwhelming virility of his presence, Anastasia could only blink up at him in baffled confusion.

"Why were you running, Snow?" she murmured, unconsciously using his last name that never failed to spark that beautiful smile.

Liam’s features softened at the endearment, full lips curving into an indulgent smirk.

"I like it when you call me that," he mumbled before nuzzling his chiseled jaw against her fragrant crown. "I was just playing with Alex and Willow."

His admission conjured an image of him wildly frolicking and wrestling on the emerald grounds like an overgrown pup, completely carefree and at peace.

A sight she hadn’t witnessed in far too long.

As if reading her tentative thoughts, Liam drew back just enough for their molten gazes to lock intensely.

The warm, musky scent of desire still clinging to Liam’s skin suddenly intensified tenfold, as if someone had cracked open a proverbial dam of pheromones.

His nostrils flared, brandy eyes glazing over as wave after wave of Anastasia’s incredibly potent essence washed over him in dizzying tides.

"Whoa..." he murmured dazedly, brows furrowing as he visibly struggled to maintain his tenuous grip on lucidity against the intoxicating onslaught.

Shaking his head firmly from side to side, Liam blinked rapidly as if to banish the sensual fog.

"Anastasia, your pheromones...they are so intense. Overwhelming, even for me," he rasped, subconsciously pulling her closer until they were sharing the same heated breath. "What’s going on?"

Hastily extracting herself from his embrace, Anastasia chuckled nervously and averted her gaze.

"They are? Huh, I didn’t realize..." she trailed off with a distracted half-truth.

Fuck, she should have dialed down the potency of her pheromones, she just needed to mask Cobra’s scent.

"I’m not, you know...on my rut or anything," she rushed to reassure him with an undercurrent of chagrin.

"It just...happens sometimes. A true blood thing, nothing to worry about."

Liam’s brows arched quizzically at her deflection.

"A true blood thing?" he echoed with obvious confusion. "I’ve never heard anything like this."

"Yes, it is not very known." Anastasia brazenly doubled down with feigned confidence.

Only then did she fully register the dozens of omegas’ stares now fixated upon her from all corners of the corridor.

Subconsciously, she sidled closer to Liam’s hulking form, using his powerful frame as a literal shield against the weight of their ravenous attention.

"You’re not...scared of a few omegas, are you?" he teased with a low chuckle, clearly sensing her unease but misinterpreting the root cause.

"What? Me? Of course not, don’t be ridiculous," she immediately scoffed, proud mask firmly back in place despite the heated blush prickling along her cheekbones.

"I was just...wondering why you have so many unmated omegas living here," she ventured, purposely changing the subject. "Doesn’t that get...a bit messy?"

Liam’s deep laugh was infectious as always, despite her transparent deflection. "You know what, you’re right. How about we continue this conversation somewhere a little more private?"

Not waiting for her reply, he captured Anastasia’s hand in his larger, calloused grip and tugged her back toward her room with that heart-stopping grin.

Anastasia bit her lip nervously, shame and apology shining in her crystalline eyes.

"I’m sorry, Liam. I don’t do this on purpose, I swear. I’m trying so hard to get used to having omegas around, but..."

She trailed off, her gaze flickering uneasily to the salacious stares still burning into them from the corridor beyond.

"I can’t help feeling overwhelmed and uncomfortable when there are so many of them...looking at me like that."

The naked fear and vulnerability in her hushed tone instantly melted the playful gleam in Liam’s brandy-hued eyes.

Reaching out, he tenderly cupped her jaw, calloused thumb caressing her flushed cheek in a soothing sweep.

"Hey, it’s okay, Anastasia. Really," he murmured, the endearment slipping out as naturally as breathing. "You can’t just change these deep-seated instincts overnight. It’ll take time for you to feel fully at ease around us omegas."

"No!" Anastasia shook her head vehemently, panic flaring bright in those azure whirlpools.

"No, Liam, I don’t feel uncomfortable around you at all. Quite the opposite - you make me feel incredibly safe and..." She hesitated briefly, searching for the right phrasing. "Comfy. Very, very comfy whenever you’re here with me."

Unable to resist, Liam’s full lips curved into a devilish grin at both her earnest admission and the subtle spike in her already intoxicating pheromones.

"Is that so? And just how comfy do I make you feel, Anastasia?" He deliberately lowered his timbre into that rich, gravelly bass that never failed to make her shiver.

Anastasia picked up on the playful challenge, her pillowy lips quirking into a tantalizing smirk. "Very, very comfy, Snow," she raspes in a voice rippled with blatant sin.

Moving with the lithe, predatory grace of the apex hunter she was born to be, she closed the scant distance between their bodies until her body was flush against his.

Liam instinctively captured her in his arms, their shared breaths mingling in the electrified space.

Then, without preamble, Anastasia surged upwards to crash her plush lips against his in a searing, all-consuming kiss.

A deep, guttural groan reverberated through Liam’s massive chest as she effortlessly took possession of his senses.

Delirious under her skilled assault, he lost himself to the swirling ecstasy of her taste, her scent, and the sublime velvet heat of her mouth pillaging his without mercy.

Every nerve ending in his powerful body was alight and singing solely for her touch, her claim.

His large, calloused palms began roaming with fevered desperation over the lush body straining against her scandalously thin attire.

Only when the scorching path of his questing fingers seared dangerously close to her hidden cock did a spike of panic finally penetrate Anastasia’s lust-drenched psyche.

She vividly recalled Liam’s past traumas, the soul-deep wounds still so freshly scabbed over.

Gathering every ounce of willpower, she tore her lips from his with a trembling moan.

"Liam..., there’s something...I need to tell...you..." Each painted word was nearly unintelligible through the thick, heated tension cocooning them.

She needs to tell him about Cobra.

But Liam seemed deaf to her attempts at confession.

Consumed by an insatiable hunger for her intoxicating pheromones, he simply surged forward to recapture her lush mouth in another devouring kiss.

A primal snarl reverberated up from the depths of Anastasia’s shuddering core as her wolf’s hackles rose in righteous offense.

Pushing up onto her toes, she ruthlessly captured Liam’s powerful throat in one vice-grip, using her inhuman strength to momentarily pin him against the room’s wall.

Raw, liquid flames of wanton desire swirled in the glowing crimson depths of her eyes as she glared up at her prey.

Wild, feral lust poured off her in dizzying waves as she ravaged the seam of his full lips with punishing, crimson kisses.

Her free hand roamed, caressed, and clawed over every hard, striated plane of his spectacular musculature like a woman famished.

Only when his shuddering fingers skirted the defined grooves of his abdomen did he.

With a strangled, animalistic keen, she released him and stumbled back several paces, chest heaving against her modest top.

Liam stared at her with a mixture of delirious longing and deep concern etching his chiseled features. "Anastasia...you’re definitely in the throes of your rut," he rasped in a voice graveled by the ravenous kiss. "Your scent, your body’s temperature...The pull."

Realization slowly blossomed behind Anastasia’s wild, frantic eyes even as she mindlessly shook her head in denial.

But it was the only plausible explanation for this ferocious, insatiable desire clawing through her veins.

When Cobra scented her in the dungeon, that made her inner go through early heat.

Liam, an omega, her fated mate is here, looking at her with hooded needy submissive purple eyes.

She is fucked