Page 62 of Taken By The Wolves

“We don’t want to force you,” I say, trying to leash the wild edge clawing its way into my throat. “But we can’t leave you unclaimed, not with the danger that’s coming. If you want to stay… this is the only way.”

She trembles. Her eyes open, and she looks at each of us like we might hold the answer she can’t find inside herself.

“What do you think, Scarlet?” Reed asks. “About everything we’ve told you. About us… this life… what we’re asking of you?”

“I…” Her voice cracks. Tears well in her eyes, and my heart lurches in my chest. Goddess, I can’t claim her like this.

Reed kneels in front of her, brushing his fingers along her thigh. She doesn’t pull away. We flank her, surrounding her, but not boxing her in.

“We’re not here to take,” Reed says. “This isn’t about marking territory or sealing fate. It’s about choosing you because you’ve already changed us. You’ve crawled under our skin, Scarlet. You’ve settled into the empty spaces we didn’t even know we had.”

“You’re what we want,” I add, my hand still on her face. “What we need. But you have to want us, too. All of us.”

She swallows hard. Her fingers tremble as she reaches for Reed’s. “I don’t know how it happened,” she murmurs, “but I feel you all. Here.” She touches her chest. “And here.” Her temple.

I lean closer. “Do you want us to claim you?”

Her frustration sparks like a match. “How am I supposed to know? Your world isn’t mine.”

“It can be,” Finn says quietly. “Our world exists within yours. The claim isn’t an ending. It’s a beginning. A new skin you grow into.”

“And danger,” she says, eyes flashing.

“Danger exists everywhere,” I say. “But at least with us, you’ll never face it alone.”

“You’re asking me to commit to you… like marriage?”

“More than marriage,” I say proudly. “This is a lifelong bond. You will never want to leave us... never have reason to be dissatisfied. We will give you everything you need. You will become part of us as we will become a part of you.”

My wolf paces inside me. The moment is close. Scarlet’s scent is thick with uncertainty… but it’s laced with want, too.

Finn steps closer. “We wanted to wait for you to come to us. To ask. But we can’t wait any longer. Our wolves are tearing us apart. Every second we don’t claim you is another where we’re craving what we can’t survive without.”

Her legs shake a little, and not from the cold.

I lift her chin, so she looks up at me. “If you say no, we’ll take you back to your car. We’ll let you drive away. But if you want us, then lie back. Give yourself to us, and we will take you… completely.”

My wolf growls at the mental image of her leaving, fury making my fingertips ache as my claws strain.

There’s silence. Her hands relax and she looks at each of us like she’s searching for proof that we mean what we say.

Then slowly she lets go of the bed and leans back first onto her elbows, pausing for a second, her body trembling,and then she reclines fully. I exhale in a rush. With her hair spread around her and her pale white skin reflecting the full moon, she looks like an altar sacrifice.

That’s all it takes.

I move first. Climbing behind her, I pull her into my lap, into my chest, into my heart. I kiss her like I’ve waited lifetimes. Finn groans like a starving man. Reed brushes his lips over her throat.

I find the place.

The spot where wolf meets mate. Where the bite will take.

“This is how it starts,” I murmur. “This is how we claim you.”

She shivers in my arms.

“Will it hurt?”

Reed’s voice is low and sure. “Only for a second. Then… only pleasure.”