Chapter 7

~Annalyn POV~

He didn't stop. "Then I'll fuck him out of you."

He lifted me, tossed me onto the bed, and climbed over me like a predator.

His mouth was everywhere...my throat, my breasts, my belly. I arched beneath him, desperate and burning. His tongue flicked over my nipple until I cried out. Then he moved lower, lower...

When his mouth found me, I shattered and I screamed. Ezra's name but Lucas didn't care.

He pushed two fingers into me while he sucked on my clit, growling against my skin like he was in pain. I came hard, gripping the sheets, thighs shaking. But he wasn't done, he rose up. Unzipped his pants to freed himself then paused.

"You say you don't know who you belong to," he said. "Let your body decide."

He slid into me, deep, slow. And something in me screamed. Not from pain, from recognition.

The wolf rose, she opened her eyes. And for the first time, I saw her...white fur, silver eyes, hunger dripping from her mouth.

Lucas saw it too, he gasped. "Your wolf... she's waking." He thrust harder, deeper.

The bed slammed against the wall, our bodies moved together like we were one. I felt the bond tighten, twist, dig into my bones.

Then... Pain occur, sharp, radiating. My neck burned as Lucas bit me, and I screamed.

The claiming mark seared through my skin, lighting every nerve on fire. I came again, harder than before. My back arched, and my vision went white.

When I opened my eyes, he was staring down at me. His mark glowing on my neck, my nails bleeding from clawing the mattress.

"You're mine," he said. "No matter what he did."

I couldn't speak because deep inside me...the wolf whispered: He isn't the only one.

The mark on my neck still burned. A dull, persistent ache that pulsed with every heartbeat. I sat on the edge of the bed, Lucas's scent all over my skin, the sheets tangled around my legs. My body ached in places I didn't know could ache, but it wasn't pain. Not really, it was aftermath.

Lucas stood at the window, bare-chested, jeans low on his hips. His hand was clenched around the edge of the wooden sill, knuckles white. The sun had just begun to rise, spilling pale orange light over his back.

Neither of us had spoken since the claiming, so I broke the silence first.

"Is it done?"

He didn't turn around. "Yes, you're marked."

"And the others?"

His grip tightened. "Ezra won't stop! And Calix...he still wants you, Matteo too."

My chest tightened. "Then what happens now?"

Lucas turned, finally meeting my eyes. "We end this."

But before I could ask what that meant, the door burst open.

Ezra walked in like he owned the house. Like the fight from last night had never happened. He was shirtless again, loose black pants hanging dangerously low on his hips. He smelled like danger and burnt cedar, and power. Like too much power.

Lucas growled, already stepping in front of me. "You don't get to walk in here."

Ezra raised an eyebrow. "You marked her, congratulations! And yet... she still burns for me."

I flinched and Lucas snarled.

Ezra stepped further into the room. "I'm not here to fight, I'm here to offer a solution."

"A solution?" I asked, standing.

His eyes found mine, and something flickered in them like hunger, perhaps possession.

"I propose a ritual," Ezra said, voice like velvet wrapping around a dagger. "One that binds all of us. You, me, Lucas. And the others."

My stomach flipped. "What kind of ritual?"

"A union," he said simply. "Three alphas, one female. One mark shared across all and the bond split but whole. The power balanced!"

Lucas shook his head. "That's forbidden!"

Ezra smirked. "Everything about her is forbidden. You know it, I know it. The moment she turned eighteen and that heat hit her like a curse... none of this was ever going to be normal."

My throat tightened. "And if I say no?"

"Then the bond will tear you apart," he said softly. "Your wolf won't survive being pulled in four directions. One claiming mark isn't enough, it only makes the others more violent."

He was right, I felt it already. The mark Lucas left on me wasn't sealing anything, it was provoking more hunger, more chaos, more ache.

Ezra stepped closer. He didn't touch me, but I felt him like a heatwave.

"This ritual will bind your heat to all of us. Fully, equally, no more fighting, no more resisting. Just... surrender."

Lucas's fists clenched. "You want her body, that's all! Just say it!"

Ezra's gaze darkened. "I want everything."

He turned to me. "The ritual takes place at the full moon, three nights from now. Midnight at the mountain. Come willingly, or not at all. But know this..."

He leaned in, his breath ghosting over my lips. "If you come, you will never belong to just one man again. You will be claimed by all, and we won't stop until your body breaks under us."

My knees almost gave out, then he left.

The silence in the room was suffocating. Lucas sat on the bed, his expression unreadable.

"I can't share you," he said.

"You might have to," I whispered. "Or I'll die."

He stood again, pulling me into his arms. "Then I'll fight them all! I'll kill them, one by one."

I looked up at him. "Even Matteo?"

He didn't answer. Even he knew some lines couldn't be crossed, some feelings couldn't be erased.

That night, I couldn't sleep. My body was calm, but my wolf was pacing inside me, restless. Hungry. I walked out to the balcony in Lucas's robe and stood in the cool air. Below, under the moonlight, someone stood in the trees watching me.

Not Lucas, not Ezra, it was Calix. Naked!

His eyes glowing silver, and when he spoke, the words entered my mind like silk.

"You're already mine, you just don't know it yet."