Zarek POVI was still dreaming, or maybe I wasn't. Lunette was pressed against me; her mouth opened in pleasure as I bit the inside of her neck, marking her as mine forever. A smile spread over my face as I looked into her eyes later.I woke up feeling lighter than I had in days, certainly lighter than I felt yesterday, which was saying something. My body felt rested; the tension that usually pulled at my muscles was noticeably absent. So was the pain and pulling from yesterday's forced transformation.Last night, I had slept like a dead man. I sat up, stretching my arms, muscles rippling under the cool sheets, and reached out for Lunette beside me instinctively. But my hand found only empty space, the sheets cold where her warmth should have been."Lunette?" I called out softly, but there was no answer. My brow furrowed as I sat up, rubbing the sleep from my eyes, and glanced around the room. She wasn’t here. Just the faint scent of her
Zarek PoVI headed downstairs, my footsteps barely making a sound against the worn wooden floor. The tension from the morning was still clinging to me.Lunette was nowhere to be found upstairs, and a faint sense of unease had settled in my chest, which was stupid because I shouldn't care what she was doing with her life at the moment, but I did anyway.I expected to see her in the kitchen or by the door, maybe lost in her thoughts as she so often was.But as I got closer to the kitchen, a different scent hit my nose—one that wasn't Lunette's. It was familiar and comforting, and yet it carried its own weight of complications.My brother, Axel.Sure enough, there he was, sitting at the kitchen table, casually sipping a cup of coffee and a plate of muffins in front of him.His long legs were stretched out in front of him, his expression a mix of boredom and the watchfulness he always had on him.
Axel POVI watched Zarek carefully, his eyes shifting the way they always did when he didn't want to tell me something. It was his way, and I never tried to force him into conversations, but now it was different.His eyes flickered with uncertainty. I’d known something had been off since last night, when the screaming had stopped. Normally, Zarek's forced transformation lasted all night, and yesterday had been worse than normal, so I had expected no less.But the quiet that followed had me thinking otherwise.“Tell me again,” I said, trying to keep my voice steady, though the frustration was bubbling just beneath the surface.“How did you break free from the chains?”Zarek leaned away from the counter, crossing his arms as if he were trying to block out my question."Zarek," I gritted.He avoided my eyes, the same way he always did when something wa
"Do you ever stop being stupid?" My stepmother's Varda voice rang out from across the room as she delivered a sharp kick to my side while I was scrubbing the floor. I let out a small wince, the pain searing through me as I collapsed to my knees again. Ignoring her, I resumed cleaning, not wanting to provoke any further trouble. If I claimed to understand why she was hitting me this time, it would be a lie. She often did this for her own twisted amusement. "You are just a petty thief, just like that damn whore mother of yours," she spat, punctuating her words with another painful kick to my side. A small scream escaped me, and tears blurred my vision from the impact."Mother, stop!" Lorraine, her daughter, begged as she rushed to her mother's side, desperately trying to stop the abuse. Her mother wanted to hit me more. But Lorraine quickly ran to me, helping me to my feet, and we fled the scene together, not wanting to endure more of Varda’s cruelty. She was my mother's best friend and
I woke abruptly, gasping for breath, sweat running down my forehead as I struggled to control my heart. I had just had a nightmare, a terrifying one. I ran my fingers through my hair in frustration, but then I realized—it wasn’t just a nightmare. Everything I had experienced was real. My heart pounded as questions flooded my mind, but the most pressing one was: where the heck am I? I looked around the room, but I didn’t recognize it.The room was big, grand, and fancy—nothing like what I had back home. That only raised more questions. What had happened to me that day? Why was I here? Just then, the door flew open, catching my attention. Two men walked in, and they froze as soon as they saw me awake. I did the same. Our eyes locked for a moment, and just like before, my wolf began to stir, but this time she was more agitated. Their scent was oddly familiar, and when my wolf whispered “Mates…” again, the truth hit me.My eyes widened in shock. They were the wolves from that night—the on
I gasped and quickly clamped my arms over my bare chest, trying to cover myself. Why the hell did he just barge in without knocking? I couldn't wrap my mind around it. His eyes darkened as they roamed over my body, lingering in a way that made my skin tingle. I had always been complimented on my beauty, but the way he was looking at me now was different—intense. Yet, in a strange way, it made me feel desired.He took a step toward me, and I gulped, instinctively stepping back. The expression on his face made my heart race. “I wonder why Father is treating you so kindly? You trespassed into our territory, and yet he shows you so much hospitality,” Axel said bitterly. I couldn’t help but wonder, what did he have against me? We hadn’t even met before, so what was his problem? Zarek didn’t seem to like me much either, but Axel was a complete asshole.“What is your problem with me anyway?” I asked, my voice trembling as I summoned all the courage I had. “I didn’t do anything wrong.”Before
ZAREK'S POVDinner had been a quiet affair for years in our family; I was used to it, and so was Axel.But as I walked into the dining room, Lunnette scent me like a sledgehammer to the back of my head. I stood at the doorway, gripping the frame stiffly, trying to free my fingers so it didn't crush through the wood. "Aren't you going in?" my brother asked. I took in a deep breath that almost made it seem worse and stalked into the dining room. Once we were all seated, I looked to her and stilled. She looked beautiful, her pale blonde hair looking almost white; she seemed a little too pale with a slight flush to her cheeks. She looked up at me, and I looked away immediately. "I've decided to take Lunnette as my mate." My father mumbled. For the second time, I think, I sat there, stunned and frozen in disbelief as his voice echoed in the room, in my ears, but though I could hear him,it seemed to take me time to grasp what he was saying.My eyes locked on my father asI gripped the edg
AXEL'S POVI gripped Zarek’s arm tighter than I probably should have, practically dragging him out of the packhouse before he could do something truly reckless. His muscles were tense, his breath coming in shallow bursts.He was barely keeping his wolf from snapping. I knew that feeling too well.An omega? He was taking that omega as his mate of all women?The door slammed shut behind us, cutting off the murmur of voices and gasps from inside.The tension followed us through the doors.I crossed my arms, my gaze following him as he paced back and forth."He’s right, Zarek," I finally said."We rejected her. She’s free to choose, and so is he."A snarl tore from his throat as he hissed."Don’t you dare say that to me." He roared, and I sighed; he wasn't making this easy on me. Hell, I was stunned too, and trying to wrap my head around our father&rs