“You feel it, don’t you?”
Charles’s low voice vibrates through the room as I shift uneasily under his gaze.
I glance up, heat burning through me, pressing against my nerves like a warning.
“Yes,” I whisper, though it’s more than just heat.
My wolf thrums in my chest, restless, angry, ready.
“I feel it everywhere.”
Jude is standing near the doorway, arms crossed, watching us both.
His calm presence feels like ice against my skin, but even that sends shivers through me.
“Good,” he says quietly.
“That’s the beginning.”
My stomach twists.
Beginning?
I want to push, to fight, to run—and yet, every part of me tightens with anticipation, my body alert in a way that makes my pulse pound.
I can feel Charles’s heat like a weight around me, his dominance pressing on me even without touch.
“You’re too tense,” Charles murmurs, taking a slow step toward me.
The air between us is heavy.
I bite my lip.
“Relax.”
“I’m not your toy,” I snap, my voice stronger than I feel.
But my body betrays me.
Heat pools low, pressing against my core, my muscles aching from the pressure of wanting and needing control.
My wolf stirs impatiently inside me, nudging against my ribs.
Charles doesn’t flinch.
Instead, his eyes darken.
“You think I want to toy with you?” he asks, voice low and dangerous.
“I’m keeping you alive while you learn who you are.”
Jude steps closer, smooth and silent.
“And I’m keeping you from doing something you’ll regret.”
I exhale sharply, frustration bubbling over.
“I don’t want to be restrained.
I don’t want to be trained.
I just—” My voice catches.
Heat flares through me, wild and demanding, and I press my legs together instinctively, trying to hold it back.
Charles stops a few inches from me.
His presence alone is enough to make me tremble, even as I glare at him.
“You’re fighting me, and yet your body leans in,” he observes.
“You can’t hide what your wolf wants.”
I jerk away slightly, heart hammering.
“I don’t want this.
Not like this.”
“You don’t get to choose how desire hits,” Charles says, and the growl under his words makes my knees weak.
“But you do get to decide what you do with it.”
Jude watches silently, eyes sharp.
It’s about channeling it.”
I swallow hard, heat flaring hotter with each word.
My wolf whines softly, frustrated, impatient, testing the limits of the room.
Every brush of Charles’s shoulder as he moves past me, every glance Jude gives, twists something inside me that I can’t ignore.
“Stand still,” Charles says finally, placing his hand just near my waist—not touching, not yet—but close enough that the air between us feels electric.
My skin tingles under his proximity, my breath shallow.
“You’re… not going to touch me,” I whisper, though my voice is shaky.
“Not yet,” he replies, lips a hair from my ear.
“But I’m teaching you control.”
Jude’s hand hovers just behind my back, a safety net I didn’t ask for but suddenly needed.
“Don’t fight it,” he says quietly.
“Let it teach you, don’t let it rule you.”
I close my eyes, trying to steady my racing pulse.
The heat under my skin presses at my restraint, pushing, whispering, begging.
Charles’s gaze burns into me, patience edged with dominance.
Jude’s calm, measured attention balances the tension, like ice on fire.
I inhale slowly.
“Okay,” I whisper, voice barely audible.
“I’ll try.”
“Good,” Jude says.
His voice is soft but firm, and I feel the tension in my shoulders ease fractionally.
Charles steps closer, the heat radiating from him now undeniable.
“Feel it, Jessica,” he murmurs.
“Your wolf is strong.
Let it awaken.”
My eyes snap open.
“I… I can’t—” My voice falters as a sudden surge pulses through me.
Heat rolls in waves, pressing, insisting, making my muscles ache.
My wolf stirs violently inside me, demanding attention, demanding release.
Charles leans close again, close enough that his breath brushes my temple.
“You can.
You just have to let it.”
I bite my lip.
I want to push, I want to fight, but my body isn’t listening.
My pulse pounds in my ears, and every nerve feels alive, desperate, ready.
Jude’s hand brushes lightly against my back—not pushing, not holding, just guiding—and I shiver.
“You’re responding,” Jude observes calmly.
“Not because of me or him, but because of yourself.”
“Yes,” I whisper.
“I… I feel it.”
Charles smiles, a slow, dark curve.
“Good.
That’s the start.”
A sudden crash echoes from the hallway. Get faster updates on g.com.
My heart leaps.
Both men snap to alert.
My wolf hisses low, sensing danger.
Jude steps toward the door.
“Someone’s coming.”
I take a step back, trying to regain focus.
Heat still lingers under my skin, but now it’s sharpened into awareness, a tool instead of just hunger.
The door bursts open.
A breathless messenger stumbles in.
“Alphas!
The elders… they know.
They’ve begun preparations for a counter-ritual!”
My stomach drops.
My wolf growls, pulling at my nerves like a live wire.
“They… they want to stop me,” I whisper.
Charles’s hand tightens near my waist—not touching, but protective.
“No one touches what’s mine,” he growls low.
Jude’s eyes narrow.
“They will try.
And this…” He looks at me, calm and piercing, “is only the beginning.”
I swallow, chest tight, aware of the heat still rolling through me, aware of Charles and Jude on either side, aware of the wolf inside me, sharpening, alert, hungry.
I feel my strength starting to bloom, fierce and dangerous.
“They can’t take me,” I whisper, almost to myself.
Charles’s dark gaze meets mine.
“Not while I’m here.”
Jude stands close, silent, calculating.
“Not while I’m here either.”
And just like that, the air changes.
The room feels smaller, the heat between us coiling tighter, dangerous, electric.
Outside, the halls echo with alarms, whispers of the elders moving, plotting.
My wolf is screaming for action.
My body aches to move, to fight, to claim power.
I take a deep breath, feeling the tension, the desire, the dominance pressing around me from both sides.
I know the path ahead will not be gentle.
But I am ready.
Because they are not the only ones who are rising tonight.
I am.
And the elders have no idea what they’ve just awakened.