The Last Forbidden Bond

He lifted my chin with his middle finger. "God, you're adorable when you're delusional. This isn't a negotiation, Selene. This is pack law. Your wolf will learn to accept me." My vision blurred. I realized, distantly, that I was crying. "I dare you," I groaned. "I won't make you break me." "I won't have to. Your father will do it for me." Killian's hand moved to the small of my back, pressing me against him in a way that looked intimate from the outside but felt like being trapped. "The Rite is in six months. Winter Solstice. I'd start preparing yourself mentally if I were you. I hear the process is quite painful when the wolf resists." Something inside me snapped. I shoved him with rrrrenough force that he stumbled backward, and several people gasped. The music didn't stop, but it faltered. The entire ballroom had gone quiet, everyone turning to stare at us. At me. "Selene..." Killian's voice was low. "What do you think you're doing?" "I'm leaving." My voice was shaking but a

He was very handsome. But his eyes were extraordinary. Dark brown, almost black, and intelligent in a way that made me feel immediately exposed. Like he could see through my soul. My wolf woke up, like someone had hit a switch. "You must be Silas," I said. He studied me for a long moment, before leaning closer. I extended my hand, the way humans did. "Mrs. Rodriguez said we'd be co-teaching tonight?" He looked at my hand like it might bite him. Then, reluctantly, he took it. The moment our palms touched, the world shattered. I ripped my hand away and stumbled backward, gasping, barely managing to force my wolf down before I shifted right there in the middle of the community center. My vision blurred gold at the edges. My hands were shaking. Silas had dropped his coffee cup. The moment our hands touched, his knees had buckled like someone had cut his strings. The cup hit the linoleum and exploded, hot coffee spreading in a dark bloom across the floor toward where child

"Oh mine, are you okay?""Someone call 911!""Do not touch them! They might have spinal injuries," a woman shouted from the sidewalk."I have got dispatch on the line," a man replied frantically."Did you see that? That truck came out of nowhere."Selene's face was buried against my shoulder, her body trembling. Her fingers dug into my shirt like claws."Selene," I said gently.She lifted her head, and for just a split-second, her eyes flashed gold. Then she blinked and they were normal again. Dark brown, wide with shock.My entire nervous system was screaming. What the fuck. What the actual fuck. Eyes do not change colors. I am seeing things. A stress hallucination. An adrenaline dump causing visual distortion. Except I know what I saw. I KNOW what I saw. Bioluminescence exists in deep-sea creatures, fireflies, certain fungi, but not in mammalian eyes. Which means either I am losing my mind or she is not human.I cut off the thought before I could finish it. This was not the time for

I stood frozen against the damp brick wall of the alley. The cold moisture seeped entirely through my shirt, but I could barely feel it over the frantic drumming of my heart. The three wolves completely blocked the only exit. They were massive, defying every known biological law I had ever studied in my academic career. The largest one, a creature of shimmering silver and gray fur, took another deliberate step forward. Its amber eyes locked onto mine. There was a terrifying, undeniable intelligence in that gaze. It was not the blank, instinctive stare of a wild animal. It was a conscious, evaluating look that pinned me in place. I held my breath. I pressed my palms flat against the rough brick surface behind me. I waited for the teeth. I waited for the inevitable end of my life. Then, without a single sound, the silver wolf turned its massive head. It let out a low huff of air and simply walked away. The other two followed immediately. They melted back into the heavy shadows of the a

I stared at my mother, gently rubbing my bruised wrist where the silver collar had burned my skin just moments before. The room was suffocatingly quiet. Then my eyes moved to the wet floor where the glass had shattered into countless sharp pieces. The water was flowing into the expensive carpet, turning the pale fabric dark."But what does that mean, Mom?" I asked, my voice breaking under the weight of my confusion. "You are a human. Father married you. He chose you, and you live here with us. Why is it so impossible for me to do the exact same thing?"My mother shook her head frantically. She took a step back from me, her face entirely pale with terror."It is different," my mother whispered, her voice trembling with absolute fear. "You will never understand why this could never work the same way for us as it worked for your father and me. You do not understand the rules they play by, Selene. There are some terrible things that happen to people who disobey the pack rules by marrying