Page 24

Andros

We searched all morning. From the citadel walls to the edge of the ridge trails, through the pine-choked woods and frostbitten slopes. Half the Blood Night guard was tearing the land apart for her, and it wasn’t enough.

I barked orders until my voice was hoarse, threatened the gate commander twice, nearly ripped a stablehand’s throat out when he stuttered something about not noticing a missing horse.

By midday, I was losing my mind.

She was gone—a ghost on the wind, faster and bolder than I’d expected. And I should’ve expected it. I should’ve known she’d try something like this the second I turned my back.

I kicked over the supply crates at the last outpost we searched, fury chewing through me like acid.

Then it hit me. Like a blade driven through the back of my skull. The bond flared and shattered.

I staggered, grabbing the side of the outpost wall as the pain punched through my spine.

My knees buckled. I saw her— no, felt her —screaming.

Writhing. Her body convulsing with it, the sound of her voice raw and wild and real in my head.

Her pain poured through the bond, white-hot and endless.

She couldn’t block it this time. Not with the third rune breaking.

“Fuck,” I hissed, gasping.

Garrick was at my side in seconds, eyes wide. “Alpha?”

“She’s close.” My voice came out rough, ragged. “She’s breaking.”

The pain dulled, but it didn’t fade. Not fully. It throbbed beneath my skin like an echo of her scream. I tasted blood in my mouth and didn’t remember biting my tongue.

I grabbed a horse, didn’t wait for a saddle. Just rode.

Through snow and shadow and wind that cut like knives, I followed her.

I didn’t need a trail. Her scent was stronger now—richer, sharper.

Not masked by rune magic or the stink of fear.

It curled through the forest like smoke, and my wolf knew.

He pulled at my insides like a tether, snarling, hungry, ready to run.

By nightfall, I found the cave.

I dismounted, silent.

Snow crunched beneath my boots as I stepped closer.

She was curled up by the fire, small and shaking, her cloak thrown half off, skin slick with sweat.

Her hair clung to her face, lips pale and parted.

Her scent hit me like a hammer—unfiltered, wild.

Her wolf was near the surface, I could feel it, breathing in rhythm with mine.

My steps were slow. Deliberate. Controlled.

But inside, everything in me was unraveling.

She was going to run to the witch. Let her carve her skin again. Let her silence the very part of her that had finally clawed its way to life.

“You were running,” I said, voice low. “To the witch. So she could carve your fucking skin again.”

Her head snapped up.

She grabbed a rock—pathetic little thing—and threw it at me with trembling fingers. It landed at my feet with a dull thud.

I stared down at it. Then looked at her.

“Really?” I asked, voice cold. “That’s all you’ve got?”

She grabbed another rock—larger this time—and hurled it at my head with all the fire she could summon. I caught it mid-air with one hand. The force barely stung. My fingers closed around it, and I crushed it against the cave wall. Stone split, shards falling at my feet.

Her eyes widened.

She tried to mask it, but the firelight betrayed her. I saw the sweat glistening on her brow, the trembling in her shoulders, the too-shallow breaths. Her body was turning against her, and she knew it.

“Don’t you fucking come near me,” she rasped, voice cracking like ice.

“Or what?”

I stepped forward.

She didn’t move. Couldn’t. She was already burning up, and I could smell it now—raw and sweet, thick in the back of my throat.

Not the polished scent of a broken omega.

No. This was wild, instinctual, real. Her wolf was close, prowling just under the skin, dragging her into the very state she’d spent her whole life trying to erase.

“You tried to kill her,” I said, my voice low but shaking with anger. “Tried to bind her in chains, bury her in pain. And now look—she came out to play.”

I crouched in front of her and she flinched.

“Guess what, stray ,” I growled. “My wolf wants to play with her.”

Her breath hitched.

I grabbed her chin—not hard, just enough to make her look at me. Her eyes met mine, wide and furious, and still burning with that same defiance I’d been choking on since the day I dragged her out of that village.

“You can hate me all you want,” I whispered, my mouth close to hers. “Curse me. Fight me. But by the time this night is over, you’ll be on all fours in front of me.”

She spat in my face.

I wiped the spit from my cheek with the back of my hand, slow and deliberate. My jaw clenched. I let the silence stretch, heavy with the crackling of the dying fire and her shallow, angry breaths.

She was shaking. And still— still —she looked at me like she’d rather die than bend.

Good .

I leaned in, voice low, curling around her like smoke. “You think spitting in my face makes you strong?” I said. “You think I’ll let that slide, after everything? After the way you played with the bond. After you tried to run back to that wich.”

Her lips parted, but she said nothing. Her eyes flicked to the cave mouth—there was nowhere to run. And we both knew it.

“You want to know what happens now?” I whispered against her temple. “First, I’ll take that mouth you love to curse me with and see what else it can do when it’s not busy spitting.”

Her chest rose sharply. Sweat beaded along her collarbone.

“Then I’ll strip you bare,” I went on, voice thickening, darker, “make you crawl across this cave floor and beg for what you swore you’d never want.”

Her pulse pounded at her throat, and I could smell it—fear, fury, and something sweeter rising beneath it. The scent of surrender she hated.

“I’ll make you come on my fingers first,” I said. “Then on my tongue. Then I’ll bend you over, sink my teeth into that pretty neck, and knot you until the fire inside you is nothing but ashes.”

Her breathing broke, sharp and hitched—and still she glared at me through the haze of heat building in her body.

“Go fuck yourself,” she spat, voice raw.

“Too late,” I smiled. “I found something better to fuck.”

She tried to push me away. Weak, sluggish movements that barely brushed my chest. I caught her wrists with one hand, pinned them above her head, and watched the flicker of panic return—flicker, but not flare.

She was burning too hot now. The fear was still there, but it was tangled in something else. Something primal.

Her body trembled beneath me, sweat clinging to her skin despite the cold air pouring in from the cave mouth. Her scent was thick now, feral and rising. She was fighting a war inside herself—and losing.

“I can smell it,” I said against her throat. “The heat. You tried to starve it, kill it, carve it out. But you can’t stop it now, can you?”

She shook her head once. A lie. I tightened my grip.

“Say it.”

“No.”

“You’re burning up, Lexa. And I’m the only one who can put it out.”

“Go to hell.”

I slid my free hand down, pressed my fingers to the curve of her hip, just above where her legs clenched shut.

She gasped. Her whole body arched, the wolf inside her clawing up her spine, howling beneath her skin.

“I’ll make you feel everything you tried to forget,” I said, lips brushing her ear. “I’ll ruin you for every cold, lonely night you spent pretending you weren’t one of us. I’ll drag your wolf out and make her mine, too.”

Her head thrashed against the furs. “I hate you.”

“Good,” I growled, nose brushing her jaw. “Hate me on your knees. Hate me while you’re begging.”

“I won’t beg.”

“You will. You will, Lexa. Before I even knot you, you’ll be soaked and shaking and begging me to finish what your wolf started.”

Her whole body jerked, a helpless sound tearing from her throat.

The bond pulsed—hot, tangled, real. She was falling.

Her hands stopped resisting. Her wrists went slack in my grip. Her legs trembled once, then shifted. Not wide, not yet—but enough.

She turned her face away, teeth clenched, eyes wet from pain and exhaustion and fury.

I watched the way her head lowered, that small, shuddering motion—defeat drawn in breath and bone. She didn’t say the words, but her body had. Every tremble, every twitch, every shallow breath dragged through clenched teeth.

She was done.

I released her wrists slowly, letting them fall to the furs like something broken. She didn’t pull away. Didn’t move.

Her eyes stayed shut.

I moved over her with deliberate control, the beast in me prowling just beneath the surface. He had waited long enough. I could feel his claws scraping the edges of my thoughts, urging me to take, to claim, to end this. But I didn’t lunge. I didn’t rush.

I needed her to feel every moment.

My hand slid down her thigh, slow, careful. She was burning under the layers, her body slick with sweat despite the cold cave air. Her scent hit harder now—wild honey, crushed pine, and something darker beneath it. Her heat was cresting. She wouldn’t last much longer.

“You smell like you were made for this,” I said, letting my lips trail down her throat, catching the sharp beat of her pulse. “You were never meant to be a stray, Lexa. You were meant to be mine .”

Her breath hitched again, but she didn’t speak.

“You’ve fought me for weeks. Lied. Ran. But look at you now.” I hovered just above her lips, heat bleeding between us. “Sweating. Shaking. Opening.”

“I’m not—” she started, voice cracking.

“Don’t lie. Not now.” My fingers slid up her inner thigh, brushing against soaked fabric. “Not when your body’s screaming for me.”

She whimpered—barely a sound—but it shot straight through me.

“I’ll ruin you slowly,” I whispered, breath against her lips. “I’ll kiss you until you sob. Make you say my name like a prayer. And when I’m inside you, when my knot swells—”

She jerked, gasping.

“—you’ll forget every reason you ever had to run.”