Thalia’s POV
I pushed past Dion and walked out of my cabin, trying to look as unbothered as possible.
“He’s no one important.”
”Oh yeah?
But you were moaning out his name so melodiously?”
So melodiously?
Oh goddess, was I seriously that loud?
“I’ve warned you to stop lurking around my cabin,” I snapped, turning to glare at him.
“I wasn’t lurking.
Your loud moans literally drew me here.
You weren’t even trying to be quiet.”
My cheeks flushed red when he said those words.
“I don’t care what you heard or saw; don’t lurk around my cabin or barge into my room without knocking!”
”But I knocked… you just kept moaning, so I—”
”Enough,” I cut him off.
I absolutely did not want to hear the word ‘moaning’ come out of his mouth ever again.
“Just stay away from my cabin.”
I stormed off.
After that night, the dreams didn’t stop.
In fact, they got way worse.
Sometimes it’d be just Caspian, other times it would be just Adonis.
But most of the time, it would be both of them, and then Dion would join in, too.
I couldn’t control these dreams.
I didn’t understand why I was having them.
They didn’t just happen at night either.
Anytime I closed my eyes, I’d have flashes of all of them in the same room with me, and there was nothing gentle or calm about those thoughts.
I knew my heat cycle was only days away, but this was beyond that.
It was like I could feel all their emotions anytime we were together in those dreams.
The way they touched me, kissed me, fucked me.
It all felt too real, too intense.
I spent hours flipping through dusty, old books in the pack archives looking for an explanation, but I couldn’t find any reasonable answer.
I guess I kind of understood why I still saw Adonis; my wolf was still inside him, so no matter how much I hated him, we were still tied together.
Caspian was my second chance mate, so it made sense that my body craved his touch.
So that left Dion.
I knew there was a connection between us, a weird kind of pull we both couldn’t explain, but that didn’t justify seeing him in my dirtiest fantasies.
I desperately needed to purge him from my head.
“It’s called a moon festival for a reason; you’re supposed to be in the mood for festivities,” Eric remarked beside me, snapping me out of my thoughts.
“Oh, I’m so sorry.
I just spaced out for a second.
What were you saying?”
Eric and I had been spending a lot of time together lately.
It was obvious he was attracted to me, and frankly, I didn’t mind the distraction.
He was a genuinely nice guy and always respectful.
“No, it’s fine… You don’t have to apologize for anything,” he said, gently rubbing my hand.
When he did that, I didn’t get that intense, tingling feeling I always got whenever I touched Dion, Adonis, or Caspian.
I completely deluded myself into thinking that the lack of sparks was actually a good thing.
It felt safe”Why don’t we head back?” he offered.
“You seem pretty exhausted.”
I looked around, and everyone else was either dancing, drinking, or making out under the moonlight.
I really was exhausted from the activities of the day, and I could honestly use the rest.
“Yeah.
Okay, let’s go.”
We both walked out of the square and made our way to my cabin.
“Are you sure you wouldn’t rather just go back to your own place?
It’s getting pretty late,” I stopped in front of my door.
“I just want to make sure you get inside safely.”
”Well,” I pointed to my door with a small smile.
“I’m here, and I’m safe.”
Eric didn’t move.
He stood in front of me, his gaze dropping to my lips.
I chuckled nervously, already feeling uncomfortable.
“I should go in.” I opened the door just wide enough for me to slip through, but when I was about to close it, Eric jammed the door with his foot.
I looked up at him, completely confused.
“What are you doing?”
He pushed the door open and slipped into my cabin.
“You’ve been playing hard to get, Thalia…and no one likes a tease.” He grumbled.
His funny, calm, and respectful personality all disappeared before my very eyes.
I watched as his aura changed to that of a predator.
His eyes darkened, and he licked his lips as if salivating over a meal.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing, Eric?
You’re scaring me.” I moved back, but he only grabbed my arm and pulled me towards him.
“Let go of me!” I yelled and threw him a punch, but he caught my arm mid-air.
“I want a taste too.
If Dion can have a taste, then why can’t I?” He spun us around and pushed me against a wall.
“You come outside pretending to be a goody-goody, but we all know you’ve been fucking the Alpha.
So, I want a taste too.
It’s not like he has marked you.”
His mouth came down violently on my collarbone, licking me as he tried to raise my gown.
“You smell so fucking good…” he growled into my neck, “no wonder our Alpha can’t get enough.” He kept his weight on me, starting to unzip his pants while continuing to press his lips against my neck.
My skin began to crawl.
“Get off me!” I thrashed, trying to knee him in the groin, but his weight crushed my body.
He was too strong.
They were always stronger.
“No!
No!
Let go of me!” I shrieked, but he didn’t let go; he didn’t even care how loud I screamed.
The little strength I had eventually began to give out.
Every struggle grew weaker, and my vision began to blur.
For one terrifying second, I stopped fighting.
Then something warm splashed across my face and hands, followed by a choked gurgle which ripped from Eric’s throat above me.
I gasped as his body shook violently.
I stared in horror as long, razor-sharp claws, claws that belonged to me, buried themselves deep in his throat.
Blood poured between my fingers as he collapsed beside me.
I just lay there staring up at the ceiling, trying to make sense of what the fuck had just happened.
I couldn’t breathe or move.
The whole room fell silent, and even the music from the village square suddenly went off.
It felt like the whole world stopped at that moment.
The feeling of warm liquid soaking my clothes made me release a ghastly scream.
I didn’t know how loud I screamed, but it was definitely loud enough to attract someone.
The bedroom door burst open, and Dion charged in with a murderous look on his face.
But when he looked down at the sight before him, his eyebrows lifted in total shock before falling back down immediately.
He finally looked up, and our eyes met.
Slowly, his gaze shifted from the corpse beside me…
to my hands, and to the blood dripping from my claws.
“What have you done?” he gasped.
I wailed out in pain, too scared to allow myself to realize what I had done.
I had just killed a man.