I stood in the kitchen, shaking as I scrambled the eggs, trying to keep my mind from spiraling. It was so normal, cooking breakfast like I always did. But nothing about today was normal. Not with what was coming hanging over us like a shadow I couldn't escape.Cast sat at the table, watching me in silence. I placed the plate in front of him, my hands trembling slightly as I did. He smiled weakly. He picked up the fork, but I could tell he wasn't hungry. Neither of us were. Still, he ate a few bites, like he was trying to hold on to this last shred of normalcy before everything shattered.I sat across from him, staring at my untouched plate. "It's time," he said mumbled.I froze, my fork halfway to my mouth, unable to move. I knew this was coming, but hearing it made my stomach twist painfully. I set the fork down."I don't… I don't know if I can do this," I whispered as I looked up at him. His eyes were filled with the same pain I felt. For a moment, I thought maybe, just maybe, we
I woke up first. We'd slept, clinging to one another the rest of the day and night. We clung to one another like we could physically hold the bond intact still. Like it wouldn't break if we didn't let go. Everything around me was the same. The same bedroom, the same bed, the same man lying beside me.But something wasn't right. The stillness felt strange. Everything felt strange. I lay there blinking at the ceiling, trying to figure out what exactly had changed. His arm was still around my waist, and the bed still smelled like him, but something between us was different. It just wasn't the same. The pull that always drew me closer to him, that electric spark, had dulled. It hadn't disappeared entirely. I still loved him, but the intensity was gone. Like a thread that had frayed at the edges.I glanced over at Cast still asleep beside me, his chest rising and falling steadily. He looked peaceful, but the bond between us... it felt broken. I could feel the gap, the hollow space wh
CAST - I stood in the hallway, staring at the bathroom door she had slammed shut behind her. Everything was falling apart faster than I could keep up with.Less than a day had passed since I'd rejected her, and it already felt like something inside me had been ripped away. I could feel this constant pain in my chest, the void left by the bond that used to be there. Now, it was gone.And it was my fault.All my damn fault.She had pulled away from me like I was poison. I couldn't blame her. Hell, I wanted to pull away from myself. The way she'd flinched when I tried to kiss her, like I was about to burn her. It felt like the final confirmation of everything I feared. She didn't want me anymore, not in the way she used to. Not in the way that mattered.And why should she? I'd ripped her apart. I'd rejected her.I couldn't shake the image of her face, the way she whispered, "I'm sorry," and rested her head on mine. Like that could fix anything. I barely looked at her when I muttered,
I didn't mean for it to happen. One second, I was cooking, trying to hold myself together, and the next, Cast was in front of me, his hands on my waist, his lips on mine. It felt different, but I kissed him back because I needed to feel something. Anything. My heart was torn between the man I loved and the mess we'd made, and I wasn't sure where to turn.Then the doorbell rang.Cast pulled back. I glanced toward the door, my hands shaking as I untangled myself from him. Cast sighed, his shoulders slumping like he knew what was coming. I didn't want to open the door, didn't want to see who was waiting on the other side, but I had to.When I opened it, Linc was standing there. He didn't wait for an invitation, just walked in like he belonged. Without thinking, I hugged him. I hugged him before I could stop myself.And he held me back. Tight.I froze, realizing what I was doing, but part of me didn't want to let go. Linc had this way of making everything seem like it would be okay. Lik
Linc had been here for a while now. Cast had been quiet, standing across the room just watching us. I knew what he was thinking, what this all looked like. But I also knew that he was trying to stay out of it.Trying to give me space.It didn't help.I didn't want space. I didn't want decisions or reality creeping in. But they were here with every breath I took, every thought I tried to avoid.Linc stood up. He walked over to the sink, washed the plate and fork, and put them away. "I should probably get going," he said as he turned back to me.I didn't want him to leave. I didn't understand why, but the thought of him walking out made me feel sick.Cast must have noticed. "I can leave if you two need more time."Cast offered to leave, like I was choosing someone else. Someone who wasn't him in our house. Then it hit me. This wasn't Cast's house. It was mine. He'd made that clear multiple times, but I wasn't listening. Not until now. I had the choice. I had the power here, not him.I
We walked along the trail behind Linc's house, spiraling deeper into the woods. I had no idea how long we'd been walking. I kept my eyes on the ground, focused on the steady rhythm of our footsteps. It was easier than thinking about everything else.Linc stayed close but didn't crowd me. After a while, he reached out and took my hand. I let him. I didn't pull away or flinch like I kept doing with Cast now. We kept walking hand in hand."Do you regret it?" he asked. "What happened in the office?"My heart started beating faster as the memories began flooding back. His focus had been entirely on me. Nothing like sex had always been before. Where it felt like something to endure, something I had to do because it was expected. But real. He hadn't let me retreat into myself. He had made sure I experienced everything.Over and over.I shook my head. "No, I don't regret it."I felt him exhale, but he still looked uncertain. "I thought maybe it made things worse for you. I wasn't thinking c
LINC - I couldn't believe I said it. "Let me mark you." It came out before I could stop it. I'd lost all sense of control. My heart was still racing, my arms still around her, and I knew I'd crossed a line. She was so fragile, still reeling from everything with Cast. This wasn't the time to push her. I knew that, but I did it anyway. I couldn't hold it back. It had slipped out, and now everything inside me needed her to say yes. What the hell was I thinking? I wasn't used to this. Losing control, saying things without thinking them through first. I always knew what to say and what to do. I prided myself on that. But with her, I couldn't seem to keep it together. She brought out something in me I didn't understand. Something reckless, something almost desperate. I wasn't used to being off-balance. And now, I had thrown the question at her. I waited, my heart pounding in my ears, too fast, too loud. She didn't say no. She didn't push me away, and that made the panic worse.
“We’ll need to go to my pack’s land,” Linc said, his hand resting on mine. “The moon isn’t full, so we’ll need to be there for it to work.” He hesitated for a moment. “Plus, I want to take you somewhere special.”“Special?”He nodded. “It’s a place I used to go when I needed to calm down. It’s a bit of a mess now, but it meant a lot to me growing up.” I agreed, and we left the pond behind, heading deeper into the woods. The further we walked, the quieter everything became. The trees were thicker here. Everything was overgrown and untouched. It was subtle, but I could feel the shift in the air as we neared the border of his pack’s land. After a while, we entered a clearing. In the center stood the remains of an old house, or at least what was left. The roof had caved in, and thick vines tangled through the crumbling stone walls. Arches that once framed the structure now leaned to the side. The stone was weathered and broken. Despite its decay, the place had a kind of beauty.Like nat
Gaia lunged at him. Ian didn't move. He braced himself, standing firm as her massive form slammed into him. The force of it sent a shockwave through the ground. He held his position, absorbing the impact, pushing her back with raw strength alone. His white fur bristled. Gaia struck again, snapping at his throat, but he dodged, twisting at the last second to drive her off balance. She hit the dirt hard, paws digging into the earth as she pushed herself back up in an instant. Her entire body shook, not from exhaustion but from pure, unchecked aggression. Ian snarled, lowering his stance, but he didn't strike back. He didn't need to. He was blocking her, stopping her, keeping her from finishing what she had started. Something shifted in Gaia. Her breaths came hard, her body still wound too tight, but the moment stretched longer, stretched too long. Then, finally, she stopped. Ian didn't move, waiting, making sure she was really done. I didn't wait. The second she hesitated, I forced
DECLAN -The trees blurred past as Gaia ran, powerful and sure beneath me. I gripped her fur tighter, not because I was afraid but because I had never felt anything like this. The wind cut sharp against my skin, my pulse pounded in my ears, and my body moved in sync with hers like we were built for this. Everything in me buzzed with adrenaline, with the rush of speed, the sheer force of her muscles coiling and flexing beneath me. Then I saw it. A shadow slipped between the trees, fast and silent, keeping pace with us. Suki. Not now. Not like this. I silently begged her to stay back, to leave this moment alone, to not push this any further than it had already gone. But she didn't. Her wolf stayed just on the edges of my vision, always there, always lingering, never letting me forget what was still tangled inside me. The pull. The connection that refused to break, no matter how much I willed it to disappear. Then Gaia saw her. Her muscles coiled. A ripple of tension passed through
DECLAN -I made it back to the house just as Gaia came tearing out the front door, furious. She was barely holding herself together. The second she saw me, she yanked her shirt over her head. My brain barely caught up. I froze as every muscle in my body seemed to ripple at once. I was still reeling from being near Suki. From the way she looked at me. From the way my body reacted even when my mind told me I belonged to Gaia. The confusion pulled me in opposite directions, turning every second into a battle. And now Gaia was storming toward me, tearing off her clothes, taking up every bit of space in my mind. "Damn, Gaia." I snapped my head to the side, forcing myself to look anywhere but at her. She stalked closer, bare feet kicking up dust. I frowned. Why the hell were her shoes off? She had stormed out of the house so fast that she hadn't even thought to put them on. That wasn't like her. She grabbed my chin and jerked my head forward. "We... werr 'dults. We... need to stop act
DECLAN - Suki stretched out on the rock beside me, legs extended, fingers tapping idly against the stone. She wasn't in a rush, and that only made everything worse for me."Why are you upset?"I stared at the dirt, exhaling hard. "You don't want to know.""Please. You rejected me. Nothing else you say can be worse than that."That shouldn't have hit as hard as it did. My hands tightened against my knees, but I kept my voice even. "Yeah... Sorry for that too."She shrugged like it didn't matter. "You did what you had to do. That doesn't mean I can't tease you about it."She smiled, not mean, not teasing, but something about it still made it impossible to ignore. I didn't push. Couldn't. Not right now.Some of the pressure in my shoulders eased. "You're handling it better than I thought.""What, did you expect me to run off crying?" She kicked a loose rock down the slope. "I don't do the whole helpless thing."I huffed. "I know. Takes a lot of strength to live out here on purpose all t
DECLAN - Mom knocked once before stepping inside, moving like she expected this to be a fight. Maybe she did. Maybe it was."Your dads worked out a deal with Jaed."I stayed where I was, back against the headboard, arms locked around Gaia. Keeping her here. Keeping her mine. "Doesn't matter. Nothing is changing."She did her best to ignore my attitude. "Gaia can still stay until her birthday."I scoffed. "You heard what I said. She was staying regardless of all the bullshit."Gaia sat up fast, then shoved off the bed completely. "Don't talk to your mother like that."Heat crawled up my spine fast. A burn that made my stomach wrench. Being called out pissed me off. Being called out by someone below me? Made my teeth ache.And I hated that I felt like that.Mom just watched, waiting. No reaction, no expression, no wasted effort. My breath felt thicker, slower, body bracing for something I wasn't even sure of. I forced my attention back to her instead of the fire sparking hot under my s
DECLAN - Jaed turned on his heel and stormed out, steps heavy enough to shake the floor. The door slammed hard enough to rattle the frame. Gaia moved fast, pushing out of the room after him without looking back. My body still burned, everything wound so tight I thought I might snap in half. There was no way in hell I was walking out there right now, not like this. I sat on the edge of the bed, planted my feet, and dragged both hands through my hair before forcing them down. If I kept doing that, it would only make everything worse. I needed to get it together. I needed to think about something else. Anything else. My breathing was too hard, too uneven. My pulse pounded in my ears. My entire body ached, my skin too hot, my blood thick and heavy. Every inch of me still screamed for her, for more, for everything I had been seconds away from having. I stared at the ceiling and tried to focus. No good. Every thought ran straight back to her. To the way she had felt pressed against m
DECLAN - By the end of the lesson, most of them had the alphabet down. It wasn't perfect, but it was a start. More than that, it was proof that this was happening. That Gaia was becoming part of us, not just some outsider with no way to connect.As the room emptied out, I felt her before she even touched me. Gaia slid her arms around my waist from behind, pressing herself against my back."You're incredible," she signed against my chest, looking up at me.I swallowed. Hard. "Come on," I muttered, taking her hand and pulling her toward my room.The second the door shut behind us, she was on me. She dragged me down to meet her lips. I didn't hesitate. I kissed her hard, ignoring the dull ache still lingering in my ribs. My shoulder moved without protest, and most of the cuts had already faded into thin scars. I knew I should still be careful, but touching her made everything else disappear. The soreness, the exhaustion, the remnants of pain all vanished the second she was in my arms.S
I found Cast and Linc in the office, going over some pack reports. Linc leaned back in his chair while Cast was half-standing, flipping through pages with a scowl. They barely looked up when I walked in, but I didn't care. I had something to say, and they were going to listen."We're starting ASL classes," I said, crossing my arms. "Everyone is required to attend. That includes both of you."Linc's brow lifted slightly, and Cast set the papers down with an exasperated sigh. "You're giving us orders now?" Cast asked, folding his arms over his chest."Yes."They exchanged a look. Linc sighed first. "Declan, you don't get to just..."I cut him off. "I do. And I am. This should've happened the second we knew Gaia was deaf. Jaed made sure every single person in his pack knew how to communicate with her before they moved there. But here? We're still scribbling on notepads like it's the Dark Ages."Linc's jaw tightened. Cast clenched his teeth, looking more annoyed than guilty. But I wasn't
Life felt strange now. Not bad. Just different.The routine of school was gone, replaced by the quiet predictability of home. I woke up early, trained with Dad Cast and some of the others, then spent the rest of the day doing whatever needed to be done around the packhouse. The only difference now? I was healing far faster than I should have been.The gashes along my ribs had already started closing. My shoulder still ached, but nowhere near what it should have been given the damage Suki had done. Even the deep bruising felt more like old aches instead of fresh wounds. It was fast. Too fast.Gaia noticed it first. She was there when I peeled off my shirt after training, her eyes narrowing as she reached out, fingers barely brushing over the nearly-healed claw marks."That’s not normal," she signed, eyes flicking up to mine.I already knew that. "I heal fast now that I'm an adult alpha?""Not this fast," she countered . "Do you think,"I exhaled. "It’s you."She nodded slowly. "We heal