Page 6 of Jace's Mate

“Don’t you dare give in to those urges, Anikka!We arecivilized!This is acity, not some backwater pack!Youcannotlet that bestial nature of yours show!”

His panic scraped at her composure, stoking the anger that pulsed alongside her confusion.

Eyes clenched shut, Anikka focused inward.She summoned every ounce of discipline she’d cultivated over the years, every moment spent hiding what she didn’t understand.

She breathed.

In.Out.

And she hummed.Quietly, in her mind.A familiar tune—one of the only comforts from her stolen childhood.

“It’s another tequila sunrise…”

The prickling slowed.

“Staring slowly ‘cross the sky…”

The flare of power in her chest dimmed.

“He was just a hired hand…”

Her fingernails lifted from the wood, one by one.

The monster—that thing inside her—settled back into its den, no longer clawing its way to the surface.

Anikka drew in a deep breath.

“Take another shot of courage…”

Slowly, she breathed in.Then out.One by one, her fingers loosened their death grip on the back of the chair, her nails lifting from the cheap wood with reluctant finality.

“It’s another tequila sunrise…”

The monster receded.The power crawling under her skin—feral, untamed, hungry—slipped back into its cage.

She’d won.

For now.

When Anikka opened her eyes, her heart sank.

Uncle Wilton was staring at her.So were his two bodyguards.

Their expressions startled her.Not anger.Not disgust.

Fascination.

Was that...admiration flickering in the taller guard’s eyes?

Heat flushed her cheeks.The shame wasn’t just from being watched—it was from being seen.Seen in the midst of her battle.Seen trembling, bent over, barely in control.

And yet, beneath the confusion, something else stirred.A faint, pulsing sense of triumph.That had been the strongest surge she’d ever felt—and she’d mastered it.

Anikka straightened her spine, rolling her shoulders back.She was still breathing hard, but she felt grounded again.

The monster hadn’t taken her.

Whatever strange force lived beneath her skin—whatever boiling, electric sensation wrapped around her spine and pushed her toward madness—she had bent it to her will.