Masuk~SCARLETT~I wake up slowly, like my body isn’t sure it wants to return to itself.For a long moment, I don’t move. I just breathe. The room smells faintly like cedar and something warm and familiar, Dimitri. The sheets are soft beneath my fingers, heavier than the ones at my own place, like they were made to keep the world out.My chest tightens.I remember flashes.Isabella’s voice.The way my blood roared in my ears.The moment my control slipped through my fingers like water.I sit up abruptly.The movement sends a spike of dizziness through my head, and I have to steady myself against the mattress. My heart is already racing, my wolf stirring beneath my skin, alert and irritable.Easy, I whisper inwardly.She doesn’t answer immediately.That scares me more than if she had snarled.I swing my legs over the side of the bed, grounding myself in the physical sensation of cool floor beneath my feet. The room is quiet, no voices, no footsteps, no pressure. Dimitri must have left early
~DIMITRI~Scarlett’s body trembles against mine long after the danger has passed.Her breathing is uneven, shallow, like she’s afraid the moment she lets it steady, everything she’s holding back will spill out. I keep my arms around her, firm but gentle, anchoring her to the present.She smells like fear.And blood.Not hers.That alone tells me this wasn’t just a loss of control.I lift my head slowly, eyes cutting toward Isabella. She’s backed away now, pale, shaken, one hand clutching her arm where Scarlett’s claws nearly found flesh.Nearly.Alexander stands between us, not defensively, not aggressively but like a barrier that exists solely to keep things from escalating again. His posture is rigid, every muscle locked down tight.He’s furious.Not at Scarlett.At Isabella.“You should leave,” I say calmly.Isabella’s eyes flick to Alexander. “I didn’t…”“Now,” I repeat.She hesitates only a second longer before turning and walking away, heels clicking faster than before. Fear cli
~SCARLETT~The morning feels wrong before anything actually goes wrong.I can’t explain it better than that.It’s not a headache. Not anxiety. Just a pressure beneath my skin, like something pacing back and forth, waiting. My wolf is awake earlier than usual, her presence sharp, coiled tight around my ribs.She doesn’t growl.She watches.I try to ignore it.Work usually helps. The café has become my anchor, its smells, its routine, the small comfort of knowing where everything belongs. Louis greets me with his usual grin, and for a moment, the tightness in my chest eases.Until it comes back.Stronger.I feel her before I see her.That’s the strangest part.My body reacts first, heart stuttering, spine going rigid, breath catching like I’ve been plunged into cold water. I turn slowly, dread curling in my stomach.She stands near the window, sunlight catching in her dark hair, posture elegant and composed like she belongs everywhere she goes.I don’t know her.But something inside me
~ALEXANDER~ Patience is a discipline. I’ve mastered battle strategies, corporate takeovers, pack politics but patience? That’s always been the blade that cuts me deepest. Scarlett laughs from across the street, her head tilted slightly as she listens to something Dimitri says. The sound carries farther than it should. Or maybe I’m just listening too hard. I don’t step forward. I don’t interrupt. I promised myself I wouldn’t. But every instinct in my body is screaming that I’m losing her. Not violently. Not suddenly. But gently. And that’s worse. She didn’t reject me with anger. She didn’t push me away with cruelty. She simply asked me to let her live. To let her breathe. I told her I would. What I didn’t tell her was how much that promise was costing me. “She's chosen him.” Brian’s voice is calm, but there’s an edge beneath it. He stands beside me, arms crossed, eyes sharp as he watches the same scene I am. “She hasn’t chosen anyone,” I say quietly. Brian exhales. “A
~SCARLETT~I used to think independence meant being alone.Now I’m learning it means choosing where I stand, even when people want to decide that for me.My mornings have settled into a rhythm. I wake up in my small house most days, sunlight spilling through the thin curtains, the quiet almost comforting. Other days, I wake up in Dimitri’s mansion, surrounded by people who feel like family even though they aren’t bound by blood or pack.Chase makes breakfast like he’s feeding a small army. Cleo trains me until my muscles scream and then laughs when I complain. The humans Dimitri trained, strong, disciplined, almost wolf-like in the way they move, treat me with respect. With warmth.And Dimitri… Dimitri is always there.Not hovering. Not controlling.Just present.We aren’t officially anything yet, but it feels like we’re walking along the edge of something real. Something fragile. Something I don’t want to break by rushing.To say I was happy about that was an understatement.I still
~DIMITRI~I watched her from across the room, silently measuring the light that fell across her hair, the way her fingers moved over the training mat as she sparred with Cleo. Every precise strike, every controlled pivot, told me more about her than words ever could. Scarlett was growing into herself, stronger, smarter, more confident and part of me wanted to just freeze time and live in this perfect moment forever.But I couldn’t. Not with Alexander lurking like a storm cloud, not with the subtle tension that hung over us like a thin veil, threatening to tear apart everything we were building.I let out a low breath, reminding myself: patience was still required. I wasn’t going to scare her. I wasn’t going to rush her. That was the promise I had made. That was the reason she was letting me stay close.And yet… the pull in my chest told me otherwise. Every time Alexander’s presence loomed, whether real or imagined, my pulse tightened. My instincts screamed at me, my wolf beneath my sk







