Maddox POVThe floor beneath me is cold, and I can still taste blood in my mouth. My own from the hits, maybe some of Dagen's from when my wolf shot forward and bit him, some is Veyra's from when I claimed her.I drag myself to my feet, chest heaving, hands clenched at my sides. My wolf is still snarling under my skin, smug and satisfied, but I want to tear him out. Rip him apart for what he just did. For what I just did.The room stinks of blood, sweat, and the bond. It’s thick in the air now, too heavy to ignore. I don’t look at Veyra. I can’t. If I do, I’ll see what I already know, that she didn’t want this. That I didn’t either.Dagen is breathing hard, eyes locked on me like he’s one second from shifting again. Rael stands between us, teeth bared, not to protect me but to hold the line.Vane doesn’t move. He stands at the back, arms folded, silent, eyes tracking every twitch of my muscles. Waiting.I spit blood onto the floor, wipe my mouth, and speak through gritted teeth. “We t
Maddox POVMy footsteps echo through the corridor as I move, and my wolf claws beneath my skin the entire way.This isn’t supposed to happen.I don’t claim mates. I don’t keep them. I use them, break them, and discard them like the broken pieces they become. That’s what I did with the last one. That’s what I’ve always done. Even when the bond snapped into place, I didn’t give in. I broke it. I severed it and burned it out of myself. But this one won’t go. It won’t fade. It clings to me like fire under my skin, constant and alive, no matter how hard I try to push it back.I don’t go to my room. I don’t want the silence. I head for the control hall, where the monitors still track the trials in progress. The room is dimly lit, the air tense with quiet focus. I ignore the screens showing the other Omegas fighting for survival. I don’t care about them right now.“Put her room back on,” I say to the Beta by the console. “Veyra’s.”He reaches for the controls immediately, but I stop him with
Veyra POVThe claim mark burns like fire against my neck. It pulses with every beat of my heart, deeper and sharper than pain. I hate Maddox more than I ever hated Dagen. I had Maddox more than everyone. I didn’t think that was possible.That is a lie, if I am honest. I hate Kieran more. I hate Lyra more. Kieran rejected me and gutted me in the process, and Lyra smiled as they stripped everything I had away. But Maddox? He is quickly catching up.Dagen tried to break me. Maddox succeeded. He didn't just try to control me, he bit me. He claimed me when he knew what it would do. He knew what it would awaken in me. He knew the bond would shift and that my Heat would worsen. When an Alpha marks you, your body stops resisting the Heat. It feeds it, intensifies it, and digs in like claws.He chose to do that. He chose to make this worse.Now I am caught in something I cannot fight. My body feels wrong. The burn in my skin, the ache in my gut, the bond pulling tight every time I breathe, non
Veyra POVWhen I walk into the room, I know instantly that something is wrong. The air changes. Conversations stop. I can feel every Omega in the room glance in my direction, but their attention means nothing compared to the way the air tightens in my lungs.They are here. All of them. Maddox. Dagen. Rael. Vane.Their scents are already thick in the room, overwhelming and familiar. My wolf surges toward the sensation with such force that I nearly stumble. I dig my nails into my palms and focus on the far end of the hall where the Alphas sit at their raised table, watching everything.Dagen’s eyes find mine first. His gaze is sharp, unreadable, but I can feel the bond reacting to his attention. Then Rael looks up from his drink. His mouth twitches like he’s amused, but his eyes flash gold for a moment. Vane doesn’t look away, and I feel the press of his stare like heat along my spine. Maddox doesn’t meet my eyes, but he’s sitting at the edge of the table, his shoulders tense.I force m
Maddox POVThe scent of her is everywhere. It clings to the air, heavier than before, thick with Heat and the unmistakable sting of pain. I try to ignore it. Try to act like it’s background noise, like it’s nothing more than what it is for every Omega in this cursed place.But it isn’t.She’s seated not far from us, across the dining hall with the rest of the Omegas. I can’t see her face clearly, but I don’t need to. My wolf is clawing at me from the inside, howling with frustration and need. He feels her. Feels her pain. Feels the heat twisting through her and the bond that burns like an open wound between us because we haven’t mated. Because I claimed her and didn’t complete it.I sit forward slightly, pressing my elbows to the table, trying to focus on the food in front of me, but everything tastes wrong. My mouth is dry, and my skin feels too tight. The collar didn’t stop the bond from growing. Now that we’re in the same room, breathing the same air, it’s back in full force. Worse
Maddox POV“She’s fighting it, far more than any other omega would be capable of” Dagen says, arms crossed as he watches her from the corner of his eye. “But not for long. Her wolf is already pushing forward. That room’s about to turn feral if we don’t do something.”“She’d never let me close enough,” I repeat.Rael turns toward me, brow furrowed. “Then talk to her. You’re the reason she’s like this. You might be the only one who can stop it now.”I glance across the room again. Her breathing is shallow. Her hands won’t let go of the table. Every line of her body is drawn tight with restraint, and still, she stays silent. That stubborn, defiant streak of hers is the only thing keeping her upright right now, and it’s killing her.“Delay the trial,” Vane says suddenly. “Give her a few hours.”“No,” I say immediately. “We can’t. If we delay it now, we draw attention. We’ll lose the audience. We’ll lose the structure. Everyone will think she’s being favored.”“She is being favored,” Dagen
Veyra POVI hate this, I hate how good it feels to be touched and how quickly my body stops trembling as soon as Maddox pulls me closer to him. My wolf is still pressing hard against my ribs, she's whining and pacing, desperate for more than just the comfort of being held.She's clawing at me from the inside, pushing toward him with a hunger I don't want to acknowledge.The burn in the claim mark on my neck is beginning to ease slightly now. It's not vanished completely but it's dull enough that I can breathe again. My skin isn't searing anymore, and my bones no longer feel like they're grinding against each other from the pressure of the bond.I hate that his touch fixes it, I that part of me that needs this, like it's survival.He shifts me slightly in his grip, one arm wrapped firmly around my waist, his hand splayed across my ribs, holding me flush against his chest. His breath ghosts against my throat, warm and steady. Then his lips brush just beneath my ear. It isn’t a kiss. Not
Veyra POVI should pull away, but I don’t. My fingers curl against his shirt, clutching hard as if I’m bracing for another wave of Heat. His presence eases the edge of it, but it’s still burning, slow and punishing. I hate how much I need him near to stay upright.Maddox exhales against my throat, long and ragged. “We can’t keep doing this.”“You mean pretending we aren’t breaking?”“No. Pretending we aren’t bonded.”The silence that follows is full of things neither of us will say. I don’t move. Neither does he. We’re trapped in this moment, locked by the bond and the burn and the fact that, even now, I’d rather die in his arms than beg for mercy on my knees.But if he ever thinks that means I’ll forgive him, he’s wrong. This isn’t surrender. It’s survival.His hands move slowly along my body, stroking the curve of my waist, the dip of my spine, tracing lines of heat wherever he touches. It soothes the ache blooming under my skin, dulling the worst of the burn at my mark, but it also
Vane POVPushing back my own doubts and worries, I sink into her slowly, guiding her down onto me with careful hands, but her body moves faster than I do. She's too hot, too slick, too desperate. Her breath catches the moment I fill her, and I swear I feel her wolf stir before I’ve even started to thrust.She buries her face in my neck, shaking. Her fingers dig into my shoulders like she’s clinging to the last piece of herself.I hold her and wrap my arms around her back to keep her chest against mine as I move inside her, deep, slow, and steady. I don’t want to hurt her, don’t want to add pain to what she’s already drowning in. Her body’s exhausted, worn down from too much agony and not enough time.But go, she still feels perfect. Every part of her fits me like we’ve done this a thousand times before. My hips roll, lifting to meet her, and her body clenches down around me with a soft, broken moan.“I didn’t want it like this,” I murmur against her temple. I was just getting to the p
VANE POVThis isn’t right, none of it at all. She's curled in Rael's lap, limp and burning. Her skin is flushed and her breathing is coming in shallow gasps. Her wolf has gone again, entirely. The bond failed, and his knot barely deflated before she was writhing and crying out, worse than before.Now though, they're looking at me. Like I’m the next fucking solution.“No,” I snap, stepping back. “We need to stop this.”“She’s dying,” Dagen growls. “We stop and she dies for sure.”“She’s dying anyway!” I shoot back. “All you’re doing, what you already did... is dragging it out. She gets a moment of peace, maybe even hope, and then the fire comes back stronger. You’re not saving her. You’re thrusting her closer to death.”Rael looks like he wants to argue, but he doesn’t. He’s still holding her, staring at nothing, as if he’s trying to understand what he just felt leave him.“She begged me,” he says softly. “She begged me to claim her.”“And it didn’t work,” I spit. “What makes you think
Rael POVShe’s still limp in my arms, barely conscious, but she still moves with me. Still rises and falls with the rhythm of my hips. Her body knows what it needs, even if she can’t speak it clearly. I hold her steady, trying to stay in control, but I can already feel my restraint fraying.“Rael,” she whispers, so faint I almost miss it. Something about her voice has my wolf surging forward more, clinging onto her.I look down. Her eyes are open, barely, but she’s looking right at me.“Don’t speak,” I murmur. “Just breathe. Save your energy”Her fingers claw weakly at my chest. “Please. You have to claim me.”I go still.
RAEL POVNo one’s happy about this. Not about Dagen fucking her. Not about him biting her. Not about the way he’s clinging to her like she’s the last thing keeping him breathing.And definitely not about what comes next.She’s delirious with pain. Driven purely by heat, desperation, and the instinct to survive. That doesn’t mean she wants this. That doesn’t mean she can consent to it. Her wolf is barely present. Her body is in agony. But Dagen’s right about one thing, if we don’t try, she dies. Then we're just monsters who watched her burn from the inside out.There’s a chance she dies anyway. Even if we agree, she could still die, th
Dagen POVShe’s barely holding on, but she still nods. Still gives me that final, broken little whisper of permission “Make it stop.”That’s all I need. I strip fast, my jaw tight, breath short, barely hanging on as my wolf surges beneath my skin. The scent of her is everywhere, sweet and wild and burning through me like a drug I can’t fight. It hits me the moment I pull my shirt over my head, the moment I shove my pants to the floor and crawl back onto the bed where she lies stretched out, weak and trembling, her legs already parted for me like she’s waiting for salvation.I grab her thighs, drag her down to the edge of the bed, and settle between them. My cock is painfully hard, slick already, throbbing with the pressure building in me. When I press the head against her entrance and feel her heat, slic
Veyra POVSomething shifts in him.The careful movements give way to something deeper, firmer. Each thrust grows more deliberate, more insistent, like instinct is pulling him out of the restraint he's clung to. I feel it in the tension of his muscles, in the way his fingers press harder against my hips, holding me in place like he’s afraid I’ll vanish.I know I should be afraid. I know what rogues are... what they become when instinct takes over, but I don’t pull away.Instead, I arch into him.My breath comes faster, not from panic but from need, sharp and staggering. The pain that once consumed me has been replaced with something I didn’t expect. Pleasure. Rich and overwhelming, like it’s blooming through every nerve ending. My wolf leans into his without hesitation, drawn to the strength he’s offering, to the rare and careful way he’s giving it.He groans low in his chest as he sinks deeper, filling me completely with each thrust. The rhythm isn’t brutal, he never becomes careless,
Veyra POVHe doesn’t move like I expect him to.There’s no wild snarl, no rip of fabric, no hands dragging me down into the dirt. Just a pause. A slow exhale. One of his hands brushes against my waist, then stills as if he’s giving me a chance to change my mind. When I don’t, his fingers drift toward the hem of my shirt, curling beneath it with deliberate care.The fabric is stiff with dried sweat and blood. It clings to me in places, but he’s patient, peeling it upward, inch by inch, until my stomach is bare. My skin prickles under the touch of air, but it’s his silence that unsettles me more.He’s not grinning or gloating. He’s looking at me like I’m something fragile. Something breakable.My voice is rough, wary. “You’re not doing this like a rogue.”He doesn’t answer. Just eases the shirt higher, over my ribs, past my bruised arms. I wince when he lifts it off my head, and his touch softens instantly, like he noticed. Like he cared. He folds the ruined shirt and sets it aside, as
Veyra POVI crawl to the pile of items and grab the meat, shoving it into my mouth without caring how it tastes. It won't save me. Even I know that. I thought I was ready to die, but now that it's closer, I'm not.It's not the pain, not the burning heat under my skin, not the way my body refuses to move. It's the thought of dying that scares me. I was ready. Now, I want to live. But living means asking one of the Alphas to knot me.My pride won't let me. But maybe... if one of them offers again, if they suggest it, if they give me even a fraction of an excuse... maybe then I can say yes. I can take what I need and go back to surviving this trial on my own terms.I can't move. My body's done. My wolf is slipping further away, curling back into herself, and the last of my strength is gone. I know I'm exposed. I'm lying out in the open. Anyone can see me. The scent of the other Omega's body is going to draw the rogues soon, maybe even a boar or another predator. Still, I can't do anythin