LOGINRONANBelow me, boots pounds against tile as soldiers flood the building, weapons click.The sanctuary transforms from a Rut centre to a war zone in a few seconds.“Seal the exit!” A top soldier yells. “Thermal sweep the upper levels,check the vents!” The last command slams into me filling me with fear.My instincts scream at me. “Move, run and hide.” But my body stays frozen.My fingers ache with the need to go back and help Ethan up, the jagged steel in the entrance of the vents has peeled the skin from my palm.Cold drizzled rains from the sky, outside the world has changed. They medics are shouting, a Red Pulse lockdown.Floodlight blaze across the sanctuary perimeter.Vehicles hum as their engine rumble low and hungry.Then the back door of a heavy tactical transport hiss open, my breath catches, I smell it before I see it.Two guards come out of the building, dragging a body, a massive, heavy, unconscious, broken , Ethan.My chest tightens as tears fall from my eyes.His head ha
RONAN The flash of gold eyes hits mine, the door swings open as he huffs his chest heaving, slow and unstoppable.Not the blue eyes that once softened when he whispered my name, fingers tangled in my hair or his breath warm against my throat.This gold burns with hunger and possessiveness, for a second we stare at each other.Close enough to touch, close enough to break each other's hearts.My lungs forget how to work, my heart stutters painfully against my ribs.A heavy metallic thud slams against the building.The floor jolts beneath my knees like an earthquake, then the light over my head flicker once, twice and darkness swallows everything, completely, and absolutely.The hum of electricity fades into a dying whining, Ventilation system cough and falls silent. I can't see my hands, can't see the door, can't see him too.But I feel him, the heat of him burns like a storm brewing in the room. Then “No!” He roars as he runs into the room and tries to grab me while I scramble out o
RONAN The locker room doesn't just shake as Mina pills me into it, metal creaks somewhere on the floor, dust falls from the roof, settling on my hair, shoulders, and my trembling hands.I press myself deeper into the farthest corner of the supply closet. The scent of industrial bleach burns my scent from being too potent, but does not hide the scent of fear wafting off me.I pull my knees tight to my chest and wrap my hands around myself, trying to make myself smaller.I'm safe except for the thin steel door in front of me.That's not Kieran out there, “fuck, I should have listened to Ethan,” I shot a text to him.HELP, EXTRACTION NEEDED FROM THIS WORKPLACE.Thud, thud I hear stomping through the building like a natural disaster.Then his voice comes out. “Whose scent is that?” the mirror over at the sink shatters with a sharp jagged crack through the middle.I squeeze my eyes shut, God he sounds exactly the same, but stronger, deeper and more dangerous, but still him.“THE SCENT!” h
KIERAN The scent I smelled in the hallway seemed like hallucinations more than the real thing now. One second, it's there, then it's gone. I stand in the middle of the hallway, my chest heaving, my claws a bit extended, every muscle locked tight, the employees frozen around me staring at me like a lion roaring at them.Betas kneeling as my scent makes them aroused, nulls not really feeling anything, and pressed up against the way like one wrong inhale might get them killed.But I didn't imagine it or him, but the logical part of my brain says he is a few miles away from me at the neutral zone.Fenrir snarls inside my skull, restless and pacing like an angry beast.Find him, Kieran.The manager steps forward cautiously, hands raised as if approaching a bomb that wants to go off.“Commander ....your suite is ready,” Her voice trembling. She knows what would happen if this goes badly.I retract my claws slowly, the metallic scarpe, but my body still feels hot and unstable, I need to be
KIERAN Two hours agoThe glass cup filled with whiskey shatters in my hand, crushed by me.The sound explodes through my office like a gunshot, and whiskey splashes across the floor in a golden arc, mixing with blood streaming down by palms.I stare at it detached and unimpressed, I don't feel the sting of shards because something blanking my capacity to feel pain.I feel hot, hungry, and aroused. Something is wrong.I drag the scent of jasmine that fills my office, it burns all the way down, like I'm inhaling fire, heat fills my body most the south part especially.The heat is spreading, my muscles tighten, my heartbeat is kicking harder, faster and faster, the lighting in my office starts blaring, bleeding into the edges of my vision as red fills them.Three years of this hell. Since the year he left, my ruts stopped being biological cycles. They are no longer manageable, more temporary, and unpredictable now.Fenrir doesn't want release. He wants him, his scent, a ghost with jas
RONAN My body jerks upright in bed, as my lungs burn, and my heartbeat is so fast, it feels like it might punch out of my skin.My hand is locked around Ethan’s, fingers piercing through my skin.For a second, I don't know where I am. All I see are headlights, all i hear are tires screaming and bones crushingThen the room comes back into focus, the cracked ceiling, the thin blanket twisted around the leg.“Home, I'm home." I mutter fervently, Ethan doesn't pull his hand away.He just sits beside the bed and shoulders relaxed, his eyes fixed on my face before he asks.“Bad dream again?” He asks quietly, his voice very calm, I swallow hard and nod.“Why are you beside my bed?” I ask him at the same time.Embarrassment crawls up my spine, I hate waking up like a child after a nightmare shaking and gasping, while the world keeps moving.I drag a hand down my face, “I'm fine,” I say to him, which is a lie. we both know it, but neither of us calls each other out on it.Silence settles b
RonanI wake up choking, as if someone held my lungs and just decided to let go, my body jerks against the bed, muscles tensing in sharp and ugly pulls.“Easy, easy,” a voice says close. Hands grip my shoulders, firm, grounding. “You're safe. Don’t move.”I smell Kieran's scent all over me before
RHEAThe cornfield maze closes as I walk back. He knows, fuckkk he knows.Well, that doesn't matter, I have the ring I'm betrothed to him, and nothing can change that. I feel it before I hear it, as the harvest moon starts shining for the night, the big red moon hanging above the maze, looking as
RHEAThe morning after the festival tastes sour in my mouth.I wake up furious after all the failed attempts at bonding or building something with Kieran.Suitcases are lined up outside the corridor of our rooms , dragging trunks and garment bags towards the academy transports.The winter Solstice
Ronan I felt it the moment the cornfield settled, as I ran out of the cornfield after the creepy look Rhea gave me, so I saw the hum of excitement still buzzing, students laughing, some kissing , music filling the air, saturated with instincts. Drawing a slow deep breath through my nose, too ma







