I stood by the window, watching Cast pace on the driveway with his phone pressed against his ear. He'd mentioned something about handling business, things he'd neglected for too long. Now that he was rested, he needed to start paying attention to things again before everything started falling apart. But I knew better. The thought of him talking to Selena was worming its way into my head. It shouldn't bother me, but it did. And I hated that. Linc slid his arms around my waist, pulling me into him. I leaned back against his chest. "He's not leaving," he murmured against my ear. "Yeah... That's not what I'm scared of," I confessed. "I know," Linc answered. "As soon as I'm Alpha, I'll command her to stay away from him. Then, she won't have a choice." I turned to face him, surprised by the certainty in his voice. "Is it really that simple?" He sighed. "With the women in my family… yes." I studied him as unease started creeping in. "You talk about your family like that a lot," I
Linc paced by the door. "I'll be back before the meeting," he said, keys in hand. "Just need to grab some things from the apartment. Clothes, paperwork. You going to be okay here?" "I'll be fine," I answered, knowing he was concerned about leaving me here with Cast. I traced the stubble along his jaw, feeling him relax under my touch. "Stop worrying about that. You know where I stand. I chose you."His smiled. "I know," he said softly, his hand resting on mine for a moment before he pulled away. "I'll be back soon.""Do you have a suit I can borow?" Cast asked from the living room. Linc chuckled under his breath. "Yeah, man, I'll bring something for you. I can't have you show up in a T-shirt and jeans." Then he was gone, and I was left standing in the silence, aware of the charged atmosphere settling in the house. Cast was in the other room. I felt his presence, the familiar feeling of it tugging at me. Like a thread I couldn't sever no matter how hard I tried.I walked into the li
LINC - I stood frozen in the doorway. Exhaustion and a strange feeling as I was driving away clouded my thoughts. Seeing them like that, resting against each other, was all it took. It didn't matter how innocent it was. The anger overtook all my senses instantly. Fucking instantly.Lila's head snapped up when she noticed me. "Linc," she said, pushing away from Cast. "It's not what you think."I couldn't respond. My body was too weak to trust with words. But the jealousy, the burn of everything I'd been trying to hold back, broke through. Cast moved back slowly, his hands lifted in a passive way that only made me angrier. He could feel the shift in the room. He knew I wasn't in a good place.I barely looked at her. "Forgot my keys. Seems like I missed something else, too."Cast didn't react or rise to meet the challenge. He didn't want this fight. I knew that. But I was too far gone. The control I thought I'd mastered slipped. I stepped toward him, ignoring Lila."What's going on?"
The room was packed, every pair of eyes locked on us as we entered. At the far end, Selena sat beside a man I didn't recognize. I almost didn't recognize her either. She looked pale and thin. Her usual sharpness had dulled.Linc leaned in close to my ear. "That's Astin," he whispered. "My brother."I froze. That was the one he was challenging? He had dark hair, much like Linc. It would be easy to assume they were brothers if I didn't already know he was adopted. He scanned the room with a detached indifference, but there was something else. Something dangerous in the way he held himself. His presence made my skin crawl. He exuded an almost evil energy, like he could snap his fingers and tear everything apart without a second thought.He was everything Linc wasn't. Calculated. Heartless.I swallowed hard, pulling my eyes away from him and back to Selena. She hadn't seen me yet. Her attention was focused entirely on the man beside her. Her adopted brother. The connection between them w
The drive back to Linc's house felt longer than usual, every second stretching into what felt like hours. I knew he needed medical attention, but he'd refused to go to the hospital. He was slumped against the seat, holding his ribs, eyes barely open. I kept glancing at him. The bruises and cuts made it hard to look away. Each bump in the road made him grunt, and it took everything I had not to scream at him to let me help.We reached the house, and I rushed to his side, helping him out of the car. He staggered, his weight pressing down on me as he tried to catch his breath. "You're not doing this alone," I warned, already slipping an arm around his waist. He leaned into me, taking that step without argument, and I guided him through the door.The house greeted us with an eerie silence. I helped him sit on the couch before grabbing a clean towel and water. "This might sting," I warned as I pressed the wet towel against a deep gash on his cheek.He flinched but didn't pull away. "I've h
CAST -Selena was sitting across me in what I guess was my bedroom at Linc and Lila's place. I couldn't exactly leave. Not with Linc barely functioning. I needed to stay here to protect Lila and my baby. And Selena. I couldn't look at her without getting upset about all the damage and chaos.She had her legs pulled up to her chest, her arms wrapped tightly around them. I wanted to help, to say something that would make this easier, but I had no idea what to say.I crossed the room and kneeled in front of her. "Selena."She didn't move, didn't even look up. Her body trembled, her breath coming fast. She was having a panic attack. It was clearly a panic attack. I couldn't keep standing there doing nothing. "Talk to me," I urged.She finally looked up. "I don't know how."I could've pulled her into my arms then. Instead, I held back, waiting for her to speak. "You have to try," I told her. "We can't stay stuck like this. If we are going to move forward, we can't."She shuddered. "I've
CAST -I'd already cum multiple times, but that felt like hours ago. My body was beyond the point of exhaustion, every nerve burning with overstimulation.But Selena kept going. She rode me like it was all that mattered, her thighs tightening around me as she moved. Every thrust, every roll of her hips pulled me back into the moment, back into her. Until there was nothing left but sensation. Nothing else mattered. Just her. Just us.There was still an us. After everything, there was still an us. Her eyes stayed on me, never wavering, and I was gone. Lost in her. I forgot everything. Forgot who I was, where I was. It was just feeling her body against mine, her on top of me, keeping me tethered to reality. Her reality. I grabbed her hips, digging my fingers into her skin as she pushed harder. My body trembled beneath her as the ache grew almost unbearable. Each second dragged me further under, pulling me away from thought and the world outside this moment. I was sinking into her,
LINC - The pain came in waves, surging through my body with each breath. Every bruise, every broken bone reminded me of how badly I'd been outplayed. I sat there, hunched over on the couch, wondering how I could've been so blind. I should've seen Astin and Selena coming. I should've known they were plotting something. But I didn't. Instead, I dragged Lila into this mess, and there was no going back. I'd already marked her. I should have waited until after the meeting like I'd wanted to. But I rushed, and here we were. She was stuck with a failure.A loser. I shifted, groaning as the sharp sting from my broken rib reminded me of just how much I'd screwed up. My face throbbed from the hits I'd taken, each cut and bruise a mark of my failure. I'd thought I could fix everything. That I could fight back and win. But now, sitting here, injured and humiliated, I wasn't so sure. And Lila had been right there with me, forced to watch it all unfold. She sat beside me, dabbing a wet clot
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