Chapter 05

They were here. The three of them. Right in front of me. Staring at me as if they could devour me right then and there.

The lounge was otherwise empty. Dean swirled a glass of liquor between his fingers; the sound of the ice clinking against the glass felt like thunder in my ears. I trembled, my eyes filling with tears, and I took a step back as the air fled from my lungs.

Excitement mixing with fear made everything feel so much more intense and… fun? Ariel whined inside me, pushing forward, struggling to break through, to rub herself against them. She didn't want to run; she wanted to be marked.

Ryan drew the air into his lungs, savoring my desperation, and smiled at the same moment I pressed my legs together. I moaned. The sound came out low and broken, but I knew they had heard it.

Their scent was making me dizzy. My knees buckled, the tray plummeted toward the floor, and I almost collapsed along with the bottles that hit the ground with a sharp crash. Liam, however, was faster; he moved in and caught me, gripping me by the waist. His touch was like pure fire searing through the thin fabric of my dress.

"You’re trembling," Ryan noted as he approached me. He studied me for a moment, his golden eyes glowing in the dim light.

I blinked in disbelief. I pressed my eyes shut and rubbed them, trying to convince myself that I was still dreaming—that Ariel was still playing a trick on me—but it wasn't that. They were here. They truly were. Touching me. My skin burning at their contact.

Before I could formulate a single sentence, or even run away from them, the lounge curtain was brutally yanked open. Ricardo burst in. He glanced at me, then at the floor soaked in expensive liquor, and I watched his face turn as red as a pepper.

"What the f*** is this?!" Ricardo screamed, lunging toward me. "On top of being a useless brat who can't carry a tray, now you’re rubbing up against the customers? Do you have any idea how much those bottles cost, you b****?"

He reached out to grab me by the hair, his face distorted with rage. I winced, bracing for the painful yank, but it never came.

In the blink of an eye, the air in the lounge froze. The sound that erupted from Liam’s throat wasn't human: it was an ancestral growl that made the remaining glasses vibrate.

Ricardo didn't even have time to react. Dean dropped his glass and, with a movement my eyes could barely follow, pinned my boss against the wooden wall, seizing him by the throat. Ricardo’s feet left the floor.

"Repeat what you called her," Dean hissed, his voice heavy with murderous fury. "Repeat it, and I swear I will rip your tongue out right now."

"I-I... she's my employee..." Ricardo tried to stammer, his face turning purple, his legs dangling in the air.

"She is nothing to you," Ryan spoke, approaching with a calm that was far more terrifying than Ricardo’s screams. "She is ours. And you should thank us for not destroying this entire place just for the fact that you breathed the same air as her."

Liam pressed me tighter against his body, ignoring the man dying against the wall. He turned me to face him, forcing me to look into his eyes.

"We’re leaving," he ordered. It wasn't a request.

They dragged me out of the lounge, one on each side, like an ominous guard. We crossed the nightclub under everyone's gaze, but no one dared to interfere. The fear they emanated was palpable. In the parking lot, the fine rain hit my face, but I barely felt the cold. I only felt them.

They threw me into the back seat of the black SUV and locked the doors. The silence inside the car was suffocating, broken only by my short breaths.

"Why did you run?" Ryan growled, looming in front of me. "Did you really think the world was big enough to hide from us?"

Tears burned my eyes, but I swallowed them. I couldn't tell the truth. I couldn't confess that every step I took away from them was out of love. If I admitted it, I would be sealing their fate.

"I don't want you!" I shouted, my voice cracking against the sound of the rain. "I hate this world; I hate what you are! Leave me alone, go back to the pack, and forget me!"

The silence that followed was cutting. Liam squeezed my wrist so hard that I let out a whimper.

"Liar," Liam hissed, his face pressed close to mine. "Your wolf is begging for us. I can smell your arousal." His finger slid up my bare thigh. "If I touch your p***y, it’ll be soaking wet, won't it?"

I pushed Liam’s hand away—or tried to. It was like trying to move a mountain of ice and fire. His touch on my thigh left me raw.

"Get out!" I screamed, my voice hoarse with desperation. "I already told you I want nothing to do with you. What do you think? That you can just show up and take me like I'm an object? I chose to leave! I chose this life!"

"You didn't choose anything," Dean said from the front, turning to face me. His eyes were dark, his beast thumping against the glass of his own soul. "You ran because you’re a coward. You ran from what you feel; you ran from our bond."

"I ran because I can't stand to look at you!" I lied, and every word felt like a nail being driven into my heart. "Go back to the pack. Find Lunas who want what you have to offer."

I expected them to fight with me. I expected that, faced with my rejection, they would turn against me. I needed them to hate ME so that they could walk away.

But Ryan stepped into the car, closing the door and cornering me against the leather seat. He didn't look at the others with anger; he looked at me with a possessiveness that made me tremble.

"Do you think we’re like other Alphas?" Ryan whispered, his hand sliding up my neck, his thumb pressing against my racing pulse. "Do you think you’re going to hurt our egos by saying all these senseless things, darling? We see how hurt and angry you are, but at the same time, your treacherous body shows just how much you crave this."

Liam kissed my neck.

"We can put out your fire, love," he whispered. "We can give you everything you want if you come with us. We’ll give you exactly what you need."

His finger pressed against a spot on my panties.

Gasping, I tried to close my legs, but Liam’s finger was already there, pressing the wet fabric against the most sensitive point of my body. An electric shock surged through my spine, and I threw my head back, hitting Ryan’s shoulder.

"No..." The protest came out as a shameful moan. "I don’t want to... stop."

"Your words say no, but your scent?" Ryan slid his nose along my jawline, inhaling deeply. "Your scent is flooding this car, sweetheart. You’re begging for us."

I felt the tears streaming down, hot and salty. It was humiliating. I had spent months running away, building a wall of ice around my heart, and it only took five minutes with them for everything to melt.

"You don't understand," I sobbed, my voice trembling. "I don't want to be your ruin..."

"The only ruin here will be yours if you keep trying to fight three Alphas who have waited a lifetime for you," Dean said from the front, his voice echoing with pure authority.

Liam increased the pressure of his finger, moving it in a slow circle that stole my breath. The heat between my legs was unbearable—a burning that begged for something much more solid than just a finger over my clothes.

It was the heat beginning. It was punishing me. It shouldn't be this early. It shouldn't be now.

Goddess, what is happening?

"What do you want, love?" Liam whispered into my ear, his tongue brushing my earlobe. "Do you want us to stop and leave you here on the side of the road, dying from this heat that’s tearing you apart inside? Or do you want us to show you why three is better than one?"

I gripped the car’s upholstery, my nails digging into the leather. Ariel was in ecstasy; the wolf in me saw no danger, only the safe harbor she had sought for so long.

"I hate you," I murmured, but my body leaned into Liam’s touch.

"We know," Ryan smiled—a predatory, beautiful smile—while his hand descended from my neck to my breast, squeezing it through the short dress. "But you’re going to love us until dawn."

Dean turned onto a dirt road, where the trees seemed to close over the car like a tunnel. There was no light, no sound besides the rain and our heavy breathing inside the vehicle. When he stopped the car and the engine went silent, the click of the door locks shattered the stillness.

Liam didn't wait. With a sudden movement, he ripped the side of my thin panties, exposing my intimacy to the cold air of the car before covering it with his warm, calloused palm.

"Goddess, you’re soaked," he growled, his voice now entirely animalistic.

In the dark, the eyes of all three glowed an intense gold. They weren't just looking at me; they were marking me with their gaze.

"Ryan, hold her hands," Dean ordered, stepping out of the driver's seat and opening the back door, entering the cramped space with me.

"What are you going to do?" I asked, panic and desire fighting for control.

Dean grabbed my ankle and pulled me to the center of the seat, while Ryan pinned my wrists above my head with a single hand.

Liam pulled my face toward his, forcing me to look into the wild, golden glow of his eyes.

"Pray, little wolf," he whispered against my lips, as I felt the weight of all three of them over me. "Because until the sun rises, you’re going to find out that three Alphas don't just share a mate... they consume her completely."