LOGINANOKAI’S POV.
The three brothers surrounded us, all of them staring down at me as I realized what I had just gotten myself into. Because of my words, I was now in trouble with four alphas, the most dangerous and most feared all around me, ready to pounce on me. I gulped, trying to take a step back, only to be met by the wall, “I..i think you have it.. The words died on my lips as one of them stepped closer, fisting my hair in his hand as he sniffed me, a low growl escaping his lips. I was still trying to process him when I heard another, “Move, brother. Let me have a taste.” I opened my mouth to refute the words only for a new set of lips to crash on mine, fierce and hard. He didn’t taste like his brother. No, his mouth tasted like strawberries, probably one from the platter of food. He kissed like he was hungry, like I was a meal promised to him and he was now finally having a taste. His fingers tightened around my neck as he lifted me further, pressing his lips more into mine, his tongue going deeper into my mouth. I tried to resist, only for him to bite down on my lower lip and push in deeper, his grip tightening around my neck. Pain shot through me, tangled with pleasure, and together with a moan that I had not intended to come out. No… No.. Anokai. “I want more of that, sweet orchid. Let me hear them.” He muttered in between the kiss, running his tongue over my lower lip before sliding it back into my mouth. Ohh, goddess. This was bliss. I melted immediately in his arms, all my rational thoughts filtering out again. Who knew being someone’s prey tasted this good? Suddenly, he pulled away, leaving one kiss on my swollen lips as he stared at me. His face was perfection in an artistic form. He was beautiful, and not in the masculine way. His deep, gorgeous black eyes stared into mine, strands of his hair falling to his face. “Don’t be greedy, Nikolai.” I heard someone snarl, cutting my thoughts out, but he didn’t care. His lips met mine again, this time drawing blood. My eyes fluttered closed, feeling myself get lightheaded as another hard body slid behind him. I wanted to fight it, find some way to push them away and run, but my body wasn't cooperating with me, and I could feel my willpower crumbling as the seconds passed. I felt a new pair of hands run down my sides as if they were getting a feel of the fabric of my top. “Mm—this..this…” I tried again, but the hand around my neck clenched in a warning that had my body going lax once more. The hands explored, moving all over my body as they inched my shirt up. Their touch was cold to my skin, and as the pads of their fingers found the strap of my bra, I found myself sandwiched between two of them. I whimpered into the kiss, desperate for air I wasn't granted. My thoughts were getting clouded, and before I knew it, I was anticipating their next move. The one who was kissing me pulled away, helping his brother undo my bra and discard it to the side. Part of me registered that I was half naked and should stop it, yet I didn’t want to. The hands squeezed at my breasts, kneading and molding the soft flesh as lips pressed against the side of my neck, teeth nipping and biting the skin. I couldn't tell who was touching me anymore, couldn’t tell whose hands were at what place. But it was all good. Too good. But just as suddenly as everything had started, it stopped. The one in front was ripped away from me, and I blinked my eyes open long enough to take in one that hadn't been touching me. “Move,” he grunted, and the hands that were kneading my chest stopped. This one was gorgeous, hazel eyes boring into mine with such an intensity that only he managed to muster. He moved his hands to the back of my thighs before I could complain, hoisting me up as he carried me over to the bed. He threw me onto it, and my back hit the mattress with a low thud. I tried to stand up, but they were quicker, the four of them surrounding me, “Where do you think you’re going, sweet orchid?” Nikolai said, already at the edge of the bed. “You belong to us now. For the entire night.” A small sense of panic filled me, inching farther away from them only for one of them to come behind me, pinning my hands behind my back and licking a long stripe of my neck. I clenched my thigh, heat rushing through me at the intensity of it before arching my back forward. I wanted it, but I still didn’t want to. The other two were at my sides immediately, rolling up my top and shoving the bunched-up fabric into my mouth. My nipples were hit with cold air, and I shivered, melting against the grip that held me down tightly as two hands pinched my nipples, rolling the sensitive bud between their fingers. Another pair of hands slid up my thighs, squeezing them before spreading them wide as they settled between my legs. I moaned around my top, letting my eyes flutter close and my head fall back against a shoulder as two mouths went around my nipples, wet heat shooting a sharp sense of pleasure up my spine. Tongues flicked them, teeth scraping and biting. Claiming. The grips on my thighs slid higher, closer and closer to the flimsy underwear the lady in red gave me. I was too far gone in all the sensations until I felt someone's finger press against my entrance, the pressure unmoving and teasing. I whined, my hips bucking up a bit before my legs clamped around hand, holding it in place. The touch was foreign and new, and the unfamiliar feeling had my heart hammering against my chest. All the sensations stopped, and my face flushed in embarrassment as I opened my eyes. I took a moment to glance down at myself, taking in the sight of my bare chest and how my panties were rolled down my legs, pooling at my ankles. I met the eyes of the one who was touching me down there, deep lines creasing his forehead as he stared at me, “Sweet orchid, are you a virgin?”ANOKAIThree months had passed since the ritual, and most mornings I woke up before any of them did.That morning was the same.I lay there for a while just listening to four different kinds of breathing around me, feeling the bond hum quietly underneath everything the way it always did now, steady and warm, nothing pulling or aching or twisting the way it used to.Nikolai stirred first, the way he always did, his arm tightening around me without him fully waking, and I let myself stay there a few more minutes before easing out from under it. The packhouse was different now too.Not in any way you could point to exactly, the walls were the same walls, the halls were the same halls, but the air in it had changed. People didn’t flinch when the brothers walked past anymore. Maids didn’t go quiet and shrink against walls.There was laughter in the kitchens some mornings, actual laughter, and the first time I’d heard it I’d stood in the hallway for a long moment just listening because I ha
ANOKAIThe grounds had never held this many people.I stood at the top of the steps in front of the packhouse and looked out at all of it, the merged territories laid out below in the firelight, faces from Shadowcrest mixed in with faces from packs that had been enemies a few weeks ago, all of them gathered in the same open space because the new alpha king had called for it and nobody refused that call anymore.Torches lined the edges of the crowd. The night was warm for once, no full moon hanging over us this time, just ordinary stars and ordinary dark, and somehow that made it feel like something was finally allowed to be simple.The brothers stood with me. Emiriel on one side, then Nikolai, then Malachi, then Rowan, all of them dressed the way they had been for the selection, formal and dark and impossibly imposing, and I stood in the middle of them in a dress the same midnight blue as that night, and I could feel every eye on the grounds find us and stay there.The priestess waite
ANOKAII woke up and the first thing I noticed was that the ceiling was made of wood. I knew that ceiling. Shadowcrest, the healer’s hut. My body felt heavy, like I’d been sleeping for years but I felt the anxiety slowly releasing the hold it had on my body.I turned my head, they were there. All four of them, sitting in chairs, standing by the wall. They looked like hell, tired, and worried.Emiriel saw my eyes open first, he was at my side in a second. His hand wrapped around mine. It was warm. Solid.“Anokai,” he said. His voice cracked.“Hey,” I managed. My throat was dry. Rowan came over. He didn’t say anything, he put a hand on my forehead, like he was checking for fever. His touch was rough but gentle.“Six days,” Malachi said from near the window. He pushed his glasses up. “You scared the life out of us.”Nicholas just watched me. His silver eyes didn’t blink. They told me what happened, how they found me in the glade after everything went dark, how they brought me back. The
ANOKAII’m here. The voice was quiet and certain and completely real, sitting in the hollow space inside me that had been empty for days, and I held very still inside myself the way you held still when something wild came close and you didn’t want to scare it away.Why, I thought,why now, why haven’t you been here, where have you been while all of this was happening to me?There was a pause, and then her voice came again, slower, like she was choosing how to explain something complicated. Restricted.She said it simply, and the meaning came with it, not just the word but the understanding underneath it, the way the curse that lived in the brothers was the same thing that lived in me, the same power transferred through the bond, and it put limits on her the same way it put limits on them.She could only come when the danger was absolute. When there was nothing else left. Every other time, if she came freely, if I could call her at will the way other wolves called theirs, the power woul
ANOKAIThe pain wasn’t the kind that left marks. That was the thing about what Orana did, it didn’t touch my skin or my bones, it went somewhere deeper and more private than that, reached into the space behind my eyes where my wolf lived and pulled at her like trying to drag something out of water that didn’t want to come, and every session left me feeling like I’d been wrung out from the inside.She’d been at it for a full day. The routine had shaped itself without anyone announcing it. Orana would come in and sit across from me and put her hands up and say something low and rhythmic under her breath and then the pulling would start, that intrusive searching feeling behind my eyes, pressing into the space where my wolf had been, and I’d sit through it and feel nothing give and eventually she’d stop and leave me alone for a while before coming back to try again.My wolf wasn’t just quiet anymore.She was gone. The voice I’d been hearing in fragments and at desperate moments for months
EMIRIELShe was nowhere to be found . Basil said the words and I heard them and my brain did the thing it had been doing for five days which was try to find a way to make the information mean something different from what it meant, try to find a version of it that didn’t land the way it landed.There was no other version.Every single one of her things was packed out. Nothing left. No note, no trace, no indication of when she’d decided to go or where she’d gone to, just an empty house that looked like someone had erased the evidence of themselves from it deliberately and carefully.Orana hadn’t come back after the night of the attack. The realization spread through me cold and slow as I sat there going through the timeline, placing everything in order, looking for where I’d missed it.She’d been in that corridor when we were leaving. She’d stood there looking worried and capable and exactly like someone who was trying to help, and we’d been exhausted and scared and desperate enough to
ANOKAI’S POV.The car that picked me from the pack house finally stopped in front of a large building, and my heart stopped with it. There were other cars outside, large, expensive-looking cars. When the alphas had told me other alphas would be present, I had thought maybe neighboring alphas, but w
ANOKAI’S POV.I was angry. No, I was livid.There was nothing proper about my situation. This is unacceptable. This is power abuse. Wicked, monstrous beasts doing as they please. For a whole day, I have been locked inside a gigantic room, unable to leave or go anywhere other than the four corners
ANOKAI’S POVThe four of them were on different chairs, cross-legged and eyes boring into mine like vultures. The room was dimly lit as I met Nikolai’s eyes and looked down at his lips. Embarrassment flooded my cheeks as I recalled my dream. Why was I exactly dreaming of them and the things they d
ANOKAI’S POV“You’re scared of losing control,” I said, the realization hitting me with sudden clarity.Rowan’s expression shifted, something flickering in his eyes. “How is that related?”I moved closer to them, not all the way back, but enough that I didn’t have to shout. “Because this takes the







