Dagen POVI'm having to hold myself back, she's already weak, and the way Maddox is handling her has my wolf pacing and ready to attack. He should at least be a bit gentle with her. A bit soft and tender instead he was nothing but brutal, even the rogue showed her some compassion. The only reason I haven't is because I can feel her wolf, the bond, and I can tell the fire has burnt out. It's stopped, but now we have no idea if it's actually worked, or if the moment his knot goes it comes back. She's peaceful now, her head rests on his shoulder.I didn't think he would agree, and to be fair he wouldn't have, the only reason he did this was because she acted like she didn't want him. Maddox is a jealous fool, and his pride gets in the way. He wasn't wrong, she said it purely to make him give in and it worked. I stay quiet, watching and waiting. Maddox hasn't even looked at her once since he finished. He's still knotted to her and it's been nearly an hour. He's still holding her but it
MADDOX POV She’s lying, she has to be.She says it so easily though, spitting the words through cracked lips like they don’t cost her anything. Like she's speaking the truth.Let me burn. I’d rather that than have you touch me.My jaw tightens. My grip on her sharpens. Her skin is scorching against mine, her body limp and shaking, but her voice, her voice cuts through everything.“You’ll fuck them,” I growl, “Dagen, Rael, and Vane. But not me?”She doesn’t flinch. Doesn’t blink. Her eyes are glassy but steady.“I’d rather die clean,” she whispers, “than let you leave your mark on me and my soul.”Every word is like a slap across the face. My wolf snarls, furious and loud, clawing at my chest like he wants to rip through me and show her what happens to those who reject us. I try to shove it down. I try to ignore it. She’s baiting me, trying to provoke a reaction. She wants to goad me into breaking the line I swore I wouldn't cross, and it’s working.“You’re trying to make me lose cont
MADDOX POVI keep my eyes on the screen, watching the final trial contestants crawl through the mud and pain we designed for them. This is how it’s meant to be. Unforgiving, distant and clean. The second we interfere, the trial loses its purpose.She should’ve died in the pit. Then with the rogue. She should’ve died after that. Every time she survived, it chipped away at the foundation of what we built. And now the cracks are showing.They brought her back. Saved her. And now they are trying to hold her together like she’s worth something. I feel her through the bond, whether I want to or not. Her heat claws at me like fire under my ribs. There’s agony in it. Chaos. Her wolf is tearing apart inside her, and even from here, I can feel it unraveling.She’s dying, and it’s slow and ugly.Worse than that, I keep feeling it. Pleasure. Sharp and too real. They’re mating her. One after the other. They’ve each claimed her, and still she burns. Every knot, every bond, none of it has worked. Th
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