Chapter 3

LIAM

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Not today.

The plea echoed through my skull, almost drowning the thuds of the boots hammering the concrete behind me.

As they drew closer, I urged Nyratha to grant me more speed.

Every ounce of strength she had poured into my legs, but it wasn’t enough.

Nyratha was never enough.

Not by werewolf standards. Even as a child, she’d never run as fast as the others. 

I remembered the races—children laughing as they shifted halfway, sprinting across the park grounds while I stumbled after them. 

Or was it when I tumbled down a flight of stairs at seven, my knees peeling. My mother had barely spared a glance. “Get up, Liam. It heals in a second. You have a wolf.”

Second became hours, and hours turned into days. By then everyone had stopped pretending nothing was wrong. Had stopped hiding their disappointment.

A month later, I was sent away. Far from the pack. Far from wolves. Far from a place I called home.

My grandfather was oddly born without a wolf, so he never questioned it. So Nyratha’s weakness came to never matter, to me atleast.

Until tonight.

Tonight… I needed her to be stronger than she’d ever been.

Branched whipped my body as I vaulted another hedge, blurring past buildings of whatever faculty this was.

“We’re turning?’ Nyratha stirred. “This direction—you’re running back to Roger?”

My stomach lurched. Fuck.

But my legs wouldn’t stop. The wolves behind me were already gaining—already drawing close enough.

I could only pray to the moon goddess that Roger had already returned to his hostel.

A sharp blind turn around a corner sent me slamming into a wall.

No.

Walls weren’t warm. They didn’t have a heartbeat.

When a hand shot out to stop me, my chest squeezed tight. For a terrifying second, my mind drifted to Roger.

But it took longer for my gaze to reach his face, and when it did, it was Fredrinn.

Relief crashed over me so hard I forgot Fredrinn was the last person I wanted to run into. I barely registered the dark blood splattered across his clothes, or the terrifying crimson glow in his eyes.

Fredrinn froze, his gaze locking onto my face, then his gaze flicked past my shoulders, narrowing.

The cloaked figure stopped dead in their track.

Fredrinn stared them down, his chin jutting, shoulders squared.

Unlike me, not an atom of fear radiated off him. Rather, he gave an aura so lethal that a metallic taste bubbled at the back of my throat.

For an air-stilled moment, no one moved. Then slowly, the men retreated.

Fredrinn’s heavy gaze dropped to me. “Did they hurt you, Nyratha?” His voice vibrated with a dark undertone.

Panic still pulsed in my veins. I didn’t give fuck why he called me by my wolf name even when I never told him.

I shook my head. “Please…just get me out of here.”

He grabbed me by the wrist, firm yet delicate. As he pulled me towards the parking lot, my gaze lingered on where our hands connected.

Fredrinn never touched me. 

After that night, he made sure our skins never touched.

The silence inside the car shouldn’t have been suffocating. If only  Fredrinn didn’t keep staring at me. Not the subtle glances he usually stole, but the ‘ I want you to know I am staring at you’ kind of stare 

But I ignored it…ignored how the intensity made my skin throb with heat, how it made Nyratha even more quiet that when he had picked me up last night. 

“Do you know what a host means?” I finally broke the quiet.

“It means you’re carrying a wolf that isn’t yours,” Fredrinn’s voice came out flat.

My head whipped to him. “Then why did they call me that?” My voice thinned. “I was born with Nyratha.”

‘What does he mean you’re not my wolf?’ I asked Nyratha. 

‘I…don’t know,’ she said, ‘I’ve always lived inside you.’ 

I narrowed my gaze at him. “I awakened like every other wolf, there’s no way I’m a host.”

Once, then twice, he tapped his fingers against the steering wheel before the corner of his lips lifted with the faintest hint of a smile.

“Seriously, Liam.” 

Something about how my name rolled off his tongue, far different from how he usually pronounced it.

“Did you honestly think a man could be born with a female wolf?”

The question struck harder than the chase was.

My lips parted, but nothing came out. 

Nyratha had been the answer to every question. She was my weakness, the reason why I was different.

I hated it.

But…

If the burden I had carried for years didn’t belong to me… then what did?

I stared blankly at my hands folded so tight the skin around them had gone pale.

As the drive continued, it grew muffled. I barely registered the car stopping. Barely remembered opening the door, nor did I notice myself entering the apartment building.

The elevator door hissed closed, and only then did Fredrinn speak again.

“I thought you were warned not to go to that part of campus at night?” His voice was tinged with something dark. “What were you doing there?”

The stupid dating app, Roger— everything spun through my mind.

I’d rather die than admit that I was catfished in this twenty-first century.

“I…” My neck shrank. “I was meeting a friend.”

Fredrinn’s eyes hung over me, still burning that fiery red. My brows pulled together. They should’ve gone back to normal by now.

“Just a friend?” His gaze narrowed.

“Yep.” I cleared my throat, forcing a smile. “Very good friend. We knew each other back in high school.”

An awkward silence swallowed the four corners of the elevator as Fredrinn slowly bobbed his head.

Then without a warning whatsoever, he moved. A sharp tilt that devoured every inch of space between us.

His nose brushed the air near me. “Then why is a really good friend trying to have sex with you?”

I stilled, my breath caught. I lifted my sleeves and sniffed. Beneath the sweat and adrenaline reeked  Roger’s arousal pheromones.

That prick.

“Oh…” My voice barely came out. “I didn’t kn—”

Across from me Fredrinn’s expression changed, his eyes burning even brighter.

Before I could even dream of finishing my words, Fredrinn surged forward until my back slammed into the cold metallic walls.

Fredrinn loomed over me like a dark, suffocating tower.

“Vareth vael na shai, Nyratha.(why did you allow yourself be taken, Nyratha?)”

For a heartbeat, it sounded almost like Spanish. But no, the cadence was different, stronger.  The words rolled off his tongue in a rhythm that felt rough and melodic all at once, each syllable burning itself into my ears like an ancient whisper.

“Thae kor ven arum vael. (Another male’s scent drenches you).”

Nyratha, who had been silent, stirred in my chest. 

“English, please,” I said, trying to escape.

Fredrinn caged me in, casting a shadow that snatched my breath.

“Keeping silent, I see.” His lips curved into a bitter smile.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” My voice cracked.

I felt Nyratha curl, still trying to shrink her presence.

Fredrinn lifted one hand, inching closer to my chin. My heart thrashed against my ribs as I braced myself for impact.

Then the elevator door hissed open, and a girl stepped in. Like the spell on him was broken, he pulled away, while I straightened, fiddling with my sleeves.

The space did nothing to my racing heart. Not when his eyes never left me. Not even when we reached his floor and made our way to his apartment.

When I stepped in, I thought I was safe.

But I was wrong.

The door had barely clicked shut when Fredrinn seized me, spinning me until my back met the hardwood.

Fredrinn stood close again. Close enough that I could feel the heat burning off him.

Intending to push him away, I shoved my hands against his chest. Before I could, one of his hands traveled down, pinning my waist. 

“Fred—”

I should’ve pushed him away. He had a Luna. The mate bond was gone. He wasn’t mine. Nothing ever was.

Yet when his legs eased between mine, parting enough to steal every inch of space between my thighs, a foolish part of me still hoped his lips would brush mine…if only for a second.

Fredrinn rested his forehead against mine; those crimson eyes burned with something like longing. “Vael Nyratha…esh batel. (I missed you.”)

I still had no idea what he meant. Still, Nyratha stirred violently inside of me; a pulse of heat surged through me. 

It raced beneath my skin until it settled on my wrist; the skin there erupted in a searing burn.

The apartment spun, and the last thing I saw before the world went black was Fredrinn’s eyes widening, confusion washing over his features.