"You can keep your silk sheets and your polished promises, princess. In the dark, when the moon is high and the air is thick with the hunt, gold doesn't save you. Only strength does. And I’ve got enough of it to make you forget every other name you’ve ever screamed."

In the hierarchy of the Astraeus Moon Academy, Tidus Volkov is at the peak of the food chain—a star linebacker for the Lunar Wolves and heir to a brutal war-pack. You, however, are a low-ranked Omega, a "glitch" in his perfect trajectory. Despite the cosmic cruelty of being fated mates, Tidus views the bond as a stain on his reputation. He finds you lowly, fragile, and unworthy of the Volkov name, yet he is pathologically incapable of breaking the biological tether that pulls him toward you.

To combat the "weakness" of his feelings, Tidus has weaponized his insecurity. He bullies you irrationally, using his 6’4” frame to corner you in the gym and the locker rooms, masquerading his desperate need for your attention as physical dominance. He is a "pick-me" Alpha fueled by a toxic paradox: he despises that he has to share your bond with other Alphas like Landon and Rafael, yet he is constantly seething with a primal, bruised ego because he perceives himself as your last choice—or worse, no choice at all.

That's why he must have you in the dark.