Chapter 7

_Emma's POV

The room was still. I was already standing. I did not remember deciding to stand but my body was upright now and I was facing her.

The woman in front of me looked calm at first. She was too calm like I was still the same weak human she had pushed to the ground only moments ago.

But something inside me was no longer paying attention to her. Something in my chest was awake. It pressed against my ribs in slow waves, as if it was testing the space inside me and waiting for me to respond.

The air around me felt heavier than it should have. It felt like it was closing in from every direction, pressing against my skin and making it harder to breathe.

My breathing turned uneven. My fingers curled at my sides without me meaning to. And then I heard it inside my head.

“Hit her back.”

I froze.

My eyes flicked around the room quickly but no one had spoken. The pack members were still in place. They were silent and watching me as if they were waiting for something I did not understand.

The woman tilted her head slightly. She was studying me carefully.

“What are you…” she started.

Her voice faded halfway through the sentence. Because something in me shifted. It was small at first and barely noticeable. But my body reacted before my thoughts could catch up. My breath tightened, my fingers curled at my sides and my feet moved without permission.

I stepped forward and I pushed her hard.

The moment my hands touched her, I felt it. A strange burst of strength I had never felt before. It was not like normal force. It felt borrowed, like it had come from somewhere deeper than my own body.

The woman stumbled back a step and the room reacted instantly. Gasps broke the silence and I felt eyes widen all around me. The air was suddenly full of tension.

I stared down at my hands. They were shaking slightly now but it was not from fear. It was because I knew I had done that. And yet it did not feel like only me.

The woman slowly straightened. The calm expression she had worn moments ago was gone. Her eyes darkened as they locked onto mine.

“Well,” she said softly, her voice colder now. “That was interesting.”

I took a small step back without realizing it. My heart was beating too fast now. It was too loud like it was trying to escape my chest. The voice inside me did not stop.

“Do it again.”

My breath caught. No. This was not me. This was not real. But the pressure inside me grew stronger like something was pressing upward and trying to take control.

The woman stepped forward again. “You are going to regret that,” she said softly.

I swallowed hard. “I don’t want any trouble,” I said, even though my voice shook slightly.

She laughed once. “You are already in it.”

The air around us shifted again. It was growing heavier. Her expression changed in an instant. The calm mask shattered and her anger snapped into something worse.

One moment she was standing there and the next, she was coming straight at me. My body reacted too slowly. My thoughts screamed at me to step back, to run, to do anything but my feet felt frozen to the ground. Time seemed to stretch. Every second dragged on like it did not want to end.

And then, a deep voice cut through everything.

“ENOUGH.”

The word hit the air like a force. Everything froze. Even the woman stopped mid-motion. Her body was locked in place as if the command itself had pressed down on her.

Around me, people reacted without thinking. Some stepped back. Others lowered their heads. No one spoke. No one dared to move. And then I turned.

Ryker stood at the entrance.

The moment I saw him, something inside me reacted again. He did not look calm like before. This was different.

His eyes were darker and completely focused. There was nothing relaxed about him now. He looked like someone who had just stepped out of restraint and was no longer interested in holding anything back.

He took one step forward. And the entire room seemed to follow that movement, like the space itself bent toward him.

The woman straightened at once. Her earlier anger was still there but now it was buried under something else. Hesitation perhaps.

Ryker did not look at her first. His eyes went straight to me. That look made something tighten in my chest. I did not understand why it affected me so strongly, only that it did. It felt like he was reading something in me I had not yet learned to see myself.

He stayed silent for a moment longer. Then his gaze shifted away from me and his voice dropped lower.

“Linda.”

The name hit the room like a crack of thunder. So that was her name. The woman flinched. It seemed as if she was afraid of him.

Ryker finally looked at her fully now. “What do you think you are doing?” he asked.

Linda lifted her chin. “She started it,” she said quickly. “She touched me first.”

A few people murmured but no one stepped forward to defend me.

Ryker’s expression did not change. “That is not what I asked.”

Silence fell again. I stood still, watching him. Something about the way he said her name made everything feel different. Like this was not just a fight between women. It was something bigger.

Linda clenched her jaw. “She is human,” she said. “She does not belong here. She does not understand what she is doing.”

Ryker finally turned slightly toward her. The air changed again. “You do not decide that.”

Linda’s eyes widened slightly. For the first time, she looked unsure. Ryker took one step forward.

“I told you what would happen if you touched her,” he said quietly.

Linda’s face tightened. “I was only....”

“You disobeyed me.”

The words cut her off completely.

Linda looked at him like she wanted to argue. Her lips parted slightly as if the words were already on their way out. But they never came.

Ryker held her gaze for a moment longer. Then he spoke. “Leave.”

Linda’s control broke instantly. Her hands curled into fists at her sides. Her shoulders stiffened as her anger rose. For a second, I thought she might argue anyway. But then her eyes flicked to me. And what I saw there was pure hatred. Then she turned away abruptly and walked out without another word.

Ryker finally looked at me again. This time his expression had changed slightly. Like I was something he was trying to understand before it became a problem.

I swallowed. My voice came out quieter than I wanted. “I didn’t do anything."

And even as I said those words, I knew they weren’t entirely true.

Ryker stepped closer. I forced myself to stay still. He stopped right in front of me. He was close enough that everything else in the room faded away.

His eyes moved over my face for a second...then lower....like he was searching for something.

“What did you feel?” he asked.

I frowned slightly. “What do you mean?”

“Just now. When she pushed you.”

My throat tightened. “I don’t know,” I said honestly.

Because I really didn’t. Something had happened inside me. Something I could not explain which scared me more than her.

Ryker studied me for a long moment. Then he spoke again. “That wasn’t normal.”

My stomach tightened. “I already figured that out,” I said softly.

For a second, something like concern passed through his eyes. But it was gone quickly. He turned slightly toward the others.

“The show is over. Get back to work,” he said.

No one argued. They simply nodded and began leaving one by one. The tension slowly faded as footsteps echoed through the hall, until eventually the door closed and the room became quiet again.

“You should not be here alone,” he said.

I let out a short laugh but it had no humor in it. “I am starting to realize that.”

He did not respond to that. Instead, he looked at me one more time. Then he spoke again.

“Stay close.”

I blinked. “What?”

His gaze stayed fixed on mine. “Until I understand what is happening,” he said.

The words sent a strange feeling through me. “What is happening?” I repeated.

But Ryker did not answer. He only looked away, as if he had already said more than he intended to.

And as I stood there, trying to understand what had just happened, I felt that strange presence inside my chest again.

The same feeling that had appeared when Linda attacked me. It was still there. Still awake. Still waiting.

But this time…

I had the strange feeling that it was not watching the danger around me.

It was watching him.