The Devil She Need

NIKOLAI

They say nothing shakes an Alpha. But the moment I saw her bleed light, I knew that was a fucking lie.

Smoke licked the shattered walls like it had a taste for memory. I brushed the rubble off my coat, fingers still shaking, not from fear, but from the echo of her power. That shrine wasn't just broken. It was branded. Split straight down the middle like judgment had been passed.

Isaac limped to his feet, blood trailing from his temple, painting a crimson vein down his jaw. His eyes glinted gold beneath the grime, furious, shaken, but too proud to show either.

"She could've killed us all," he spat, voice hoarse with smoke. "You still want to keep her breathing?"

"She's not just a wolf," Yelena said from beside the altar, crouched low like she was listening to the stone itself. "She burned lunar ether into the shrine. That wasn't instinct. That was divine."

I turned to her slowly, brows furrowed. "A wolf-less omega with lunar ether? That's not divine. That's bullshit."

She didn't flinch. Didn't even blink. Just traced a pale finger along the splintered altar where the granite had fractured.

"She marked it. The sigil's there. No wolf has done this in centuries, Nikolai."

My boots thudded heavy against the floor as I stepped closer, eyes locked on the broken rune scorched into the stone. It pulsed faintly like it still remembered her touch.

"You telling me she's carrying a wolf that marked sacred ground?"

"I'm telling you," Yelena rose to her feet, "her wolf fought to protect her. Even in sleep. That's not normal. That's not even natural."

Isaac cursed under his breath, still hunched over. "So, what is she then? A ticking time bomb with a witty mouth?"

"There are whispers. A Platina-rare lineage—where the body becomes the vessel and the wolf shields it until it's strong enough to awaken. Her wolf isn't dead. It's waiting. Hiding her. Guarding her."

"Why the fuck is it asleep?"

"Could be anything. Suppressed for too long. Malnourished. Abused. Or worse—she chose to bury it. We don't know what she's endured. But that girl—she's bleeding power. And that power is eating her alive."

I looked down at her again. Pale. Unmoving. Brow tight like even in unconsciousness, she was fighting something I couldn't see. The thin sheen of sweat made her skin glow like she was dipped in silver.

I turned back to Yelena. "How do we wake the wolf?"

"There are three ways. One, her mate. If they mark her and complete the bond."

I already hated where this was going.

"Two, the Alpha's command. But that's a risk. The body may reject the shift if it's too weak. If the wolf doesn't recognize the Alpha... it could kill her."

"And the third?"

Yelena hesitated. Just for a second. But I caught it.

"A ritual," she said finally. "Lost to time. Untested. Pulled from broken celestial scrolls we shouldn't even have. It's dangerous. Violent. It would drag the wolf to the surface, whether the body can handle it or not."

"And if she can't?"

"She dies," Yelena whispered.

Silence followed like a blanket soaked in blood.

"She turns eighteen under the next full moon," Yelena added quietly. "If the wolf isn't out by then, it'll rip her apart from the inside. The magic she carries isn't meant to be bottled up. She'll self-destruct."

I didn't answer right away. Just stared.

At the cracked shrine.

At the blood drying on Isaac's temple.

At the unconscious girl who burned stone.

Finally, I spoke. "Then we've got a week."

I turned to Isaac. "Find her mate."

Yelena moved faster than a heartbeat. "You can't."

I narrowed my eyes. "Why not?"

"Because a Platina wolf doesn't follow the rules. They shift at eleven. Young. Unstable. Their mate-call is instant, even if the wolf is dormant. If hers didn't come after seven years..."

She didn't finish. Didn't need to.

Isaac's voice cut the silence. "Dead?"

Yelena's gaze turned hollow. "Or she never had one. It's rare, but it happens. Some wolves are born outside the system. Maybe her power outruns the laws we know."

I hated riddles.

"Say it plain," I snapped.

"She's been silenced too long, Alpha. Seven years without letting the wolf out? That doesn't just break a bond, it breaks the soul. And next time..."

"It'd be lethal," I muttered, the words tasting like steel.

She nodded. "She could reduce this entire wing to rubble."

I let out a slow breath, tasting the ash in the air. My hands flexed at my sides, jaw grinding against something primal. I've led wars. I've watched empires rot. But that cursed, broken thing on the floor? She'd shaken me in less than forty-eight hours. Even in unconsciousness, she made the world bend.

I glanced down at the talisman around my neck. Cold now. Lifeless. But still thrumming.

Still tethered to HER.

"Alpha?" Yelena pulled me back to reality.

I turned to her. "That leaves us with two choices."

She shook her head. "One. The Alpha's call."

Isaac lifted a brow. "Why not the ritual?"

"Because it's a myth. I have never seen it performed. And if it goes wrong, she dies. If it goes really wrong? We all die. This is uncharted. The stars aren't watching us tonight."

They both looked at me.

My spine stiffened. "I'm NOT her Alpha."

Isaac gave me a look. "She's on your lands. Under your protection. That makes you her Alpha."

"And what if the wolf doesn't recognize me, hm? Didn't you say that's a risk too, Yelena?"

"Yes. But... she obeyed your command. Didn't she?"

I stilled.

Heat crawled under my collarbone.

Obeyed.

On the jet. In here. When the world cracked and she could've ripped us apart—she didn't.

Isaac ran a hand through his dark curls. "She definitely obeyed. You told her to relax and she—"

"Threw us into the fucking walls," I snapped, finishing it through clenched teeth.

I turned my back on them. Planted both palms on the cold granite slab and let my head hang between my shoulders. Stone. Real. Solid. Something that didn't lie or burn or scream. Unlike this girl.

"If I do this..." My voice rasped. Raw. "Will she..."

"She will tether," Yelena said before I could finish. "Her wolf will feel yours. She won't seek another."

I bit the inside of my cheek until blood filled my mouth. My hands curled into fists against the slab.

"That makes her a liability."

Isaac stepped in closer. "Or a weapon. We're not ready for the Convergence. She could turn the tide."

Yelena added, "She's our only chance. We can't afford detours."

My control snapped.

"I have a MATE! I can't betray—"

"You're not betraying anyone," Yelena cut in, firm. "This isn't a bond of the heart. It's survival."

Isaac folded his arms. "You're not marking her. Not mating her. You're anchoring her, Nik."

"It's still a bond, an irreversible one at that," I growled, pacing now, fighting the heat building in my chest. "And I don't want one with a pathetic fucking omega—"

"She is not an omega," Yelena snapped, sharper than I've ever heard her. "She's weak because she's dying. But Platina blood doesn't submit."

My jaw locked.

I shoved a hand through my hair, voice quieter now. "I'll speak to my mate first. Then we decide."

Yelena dipped her head. "Of course."

Isaac pointed to the body behind me. "And her? We letting her stay collapsed there for another hour?"

Yelena moved quickly, crouching again, hand hovering over her. "We can't touch her. The power hasn't settled yet."

"What more could happen?" Isaac muttered, hand reaching out.

The second his fingers neared her shoulder, the talisman at my throat burned.

I was on him in a blink, slamming my grip around his wrist. "Don't."

He yanked back. "What the hell—?"

"She's still burning. One touch, and who knows what might detonate next. Keep your hands. To yourself."

Isaac looked between me and the girl. "She's asleep."

I pointed to the throb in my temple. "You feel that? That's her. Still burning. Still in here."

Yelena watched me quietly. "The talisman reacts to her."

I didn't answer. 

Because the real truth? The one I wasn't saying?

It wasn't just the talisman reacting anymore.

It was me.

And then—A sound. A whimper.

My instincts snapped like a blade unsheathed.

I looked down. Her face was contorted, drawn tight in pain. Eyelashes clumped with tears, dirt caked along her cheekbones like war paint. She was trembling, not from cold, but from whatever the hell she was living into.

Isaac stiffened beside me, jaw locked. "What now?"

"She's hurting," Yelena cut in, eyes darting between us like a hawk closing in. Then she turned fully to me. "Get her on the slab."

I didn't move.

"She obeys you," she added, already rushing for her bag. "She'll obey your touch."

My molars ground together. I swore under my breath—something primal and vicious—and dropped to one knee.

My fingers hovered near her. The talisman was dead cold. Good. I didn't need another trigger. My skin brushed hers, soft, damp, and burning from within, but there was no spark. No flare of energy. 

I slid one arm under her knees, the other behind her neck. She barely weighed anything. Like ash caught in the wind. I carried her to the slab, her head rolling into the crook of my arm.

I laid her down. And I didn't fucking breathe.

"Hold her still," Yelena ordered, vial in hand.

I held her. Caged her between my arms.

She drew a blue vial from her case and injected it cleanly.

The girl fucking moaned—soft, broken. Her body curled forward. Into me. And I felt her breath kiss my neck. It was warm. Real.

Too fucking real.

I dropped her the second it touched my skin, heart slamming like a war drum.

Yelena didn't flinch. She draped a blanket over the girl's shaking form. "There might be... another way."

I stepped forward, shadows collecting behind my heels. "What other way?"

She straightened, emerald eyes locked on mine like a dare. "Since she obeys your command... You can force her to choose a mate. And complete the bond."

Silence cracked the room like thunder.

Isaac's voice cut in. "Wouldn't that send her into a frenzy?"

Yelena didn't look away from me.

"Not necessarily. Alpha's command will override her instinct."

Something in me fucking flinched.

"Find me another way," I growled. "Make calls. Scour the pack. I want every elder, every blood shaman, every goddamn whisperer in this country on this."

Isaac nodded, fingers already flying across his screen.

"No one speaks of this. Not to their mates. Not to their shadows. This wing stays locked down. Strip access. I don't care who has to be silenced."

"And her?" Yelena asked. "Where will she stay?"

I didn't hesitate.

"My quarters. Quarantine. No light. No scent trails. Nothing."

And then—It hit me.

The scent.

Rich. Wild. Laced with fire and winter.

Three months I'd gone without it.

Three months that felt like three hundred fucking years.

I turned to Isaac. "Make the arrangements."

I didn't wait for the answer. Didn't care if he followed.

Yelena called after me. "One week, Alpha. Make your decision."

I didn't look back.

Because my mate had arrived.

And I needed him more than ever.