I frowned. That made no sense. My wolf had known. Dalton’s too. The bond had sparked the second we were near her even if dulled by that witchcraft.
She shifted slightly, not looking away. “I just… guessed. The way you were acting. Like fools.”
I narrowed my eyes. “And yet you still didn’t do anything to claim me. To claim us. Are you thinking of rejecting us?”
I had to ask it, even if my heart was clenching at the thought, and sure as hell I wasn’t going to accept a rejection.
“Please tell me he’s wrong, my love,” Dalton whispered and I wanted to claw my ears off.
The sappy one. Did he think he could charm her so easily after he fucked up?!
“I don’t know. I need to wait… see what Summer feels after my birthday,” she said coldly,
pinning me with her furious gaze.
“Can you at least explain the pendant? Or pretending to be a guy? Hiding like a damn spy?!”
Something flickered in her gaze. Not anger. Not shame.
Pain.
“I’m not a spy. It’s just who I am, who I need to be. I’ve always lived like that,” she said, voice sharper now. “Raised as a boy. Hidden. Because of a vision. Our pack’s Beta female saw what would happen if anyone found out I was a girl, a golden wolf like my mother.”
Her throat bobbed, but she kept her shoulders squared.
“I was going to be used. As a breeder. Imprisoned. Tortured. Passed around until I broke or died. My family saw it. All of it. So they did what they had to. I did what I had to.”
The silence that followed was worse than any shout.
I stared at her.
Really stared.
And for the first time since I walked into this room, I didn’t feel angry.
I felt sick.
Because I believed her.
And the thought of anyone laying their hands on her like that-using her, breaking her-
I wanted blood.
I wanted the whole fucking world to burn.
But more than that… I wanted her safe.
With me.
With us.
And the worst part?
She still looked like she didn’t believe that was possible.
Not even now.
Not even after everything.
The things Dalton and I shared during dinner made more fucking sense now.
I knew who was going to use her. Who thought they could take what was mine.
And I was going to shatter their heads, rip their throats out, and burn their bodies to the ground.
Dalton stepped closer, slowly, one hand out like he was approaching a wounded animal. “Kai
We’re not going to hurt you.”
She flinched.
That tiny movement stabbed through my chest like a blade.
“Hey,” I said, softer than I have ever spoken before. “You don’t have to be afraid of us.”
But she didn’t answer. Just stared down at her own hands like they betrayed her. Like her
power was the enemy.
Dalton looked at me, and I saw it in his eyes.
She didn’t trust us.
Not yet.
And for the first time in my life-I was willing to wait.
Willing to prove her wrong.
But gods help anyone who dared come between us again.
Because I had one mission now.
Protect her. Win her. And burn the world down if I had to.
KAI POV
Okay, the truth was out. Well, sort of. I dropped a grenade on the two shirtless, extremely hot, and extremely pissed-off alphas in front of me-and they dropped one right back.
So I guessed we were even.
Right?
Not even close.
My entire body still hummed with the leftover pulse of lightning, my fingertips buzzing, Summer was pacing inside me like a caged beast, tail lashing, growling low. She wanted out. She wanted them. She wanted everything, and I was still trying to figure out if that made her unhinged or just honest.
“I’m going to sleep now,” I muttered, exhausted and not bothering to hide it, turning my back to the testosterone parade. “Cause hell knows what’s going to happen next.”
I didn’t wait for a reply. My legs moved automatically toward my bed, the soft light drapes swaying with the movement of air, everything too quiet and too loud at once. The adrenaline hadn’t left my system, just settled into a tight knot at the base of my spine. My bed was the only thing I could think about. Soft. Safe. Familiar.
But just as I reached for the edge of the canopy, a throat cleared behind me.
I froze.
Dalton.
“I know it’s… it’s a lot to ask,” he started, and his voice was different now. Lower, Raw. Like someone had stripped him down and hadn’t given him the time to recover. “But… could I sleep with you? Just sleep, I swear. I’m struggling to contain my wolf right now…”
I didn’t turn. Not right away. My fingers curled around the wooden bedpost as I fought the ridiculous shiver climbing my spine. Sleep with me? After everything?
Summer growled-not in warning. In approval.
Of course she wanted them in bed. She was already purring like a pleased lioness. But me? I wasn’t so sure.
Before I could say anything, a low rumble vibrated through the air. “Little mouse,” Derrick growled. That voice did things to me. Terrible, wonderful things. “If he’s sleeping with you, so am I. No way in hell I’ll leave him next to you unprotected.”
I turned slowly, biting the inside of my cheek.
“Unprotected?” I echoed, arching a brow. “From what, exactly?”
Derrick stalked forward, his smirk lazy, eyes golden with a predator’s gleam. “From himself. From you. From me.”
“Sounds like I’m the real threat here,” I muttered, folding my arms.
“Damn right,” Dalton murmured, finally stepping closer too. His eyes looked too honest. Too wrecked. “You terrify me.”
The confession hit like a punch. Summer stilled. Even she didn’t expect that.
I blinked. “I… what?”
“You terrify me,” he repeated, voice almost too soft for a room this tense. “Not because you’re dangerous. But because you make me feel things I didn’t think I could feel. And my wolf-he wants you. Badly. But you… you don’t trust us. Yet. And I get it, hell, I deserve it, but with the knowledge of someone, lurking Goddess knows where, willing to do things to you… I can’t Kai, I can’t settle down and be… be a good boy.”
I couldn’t believe he said it.
Silence fell again. I hated it.
So I broke it.
“Alright,” I said with a sigh, yanking the heavy curtain aside and flopping onto the mattress.” You want to sleep here? Fine. But I swear to every deity listening, if I wake up pinned between your bodies like some kind of hot werewolf sandwich, I’m electrocuting both of you.”
Dalton huffed a laugh. Derrick grinned. And they followed me onto the bed.
The mattress dipped under their weight, the space between us sizzling with the kind of tension you couldn’t fake. My skin was too aware. My heart beat too fast. And Summer? She was practically wagging her tail.
“I’m taking the left,” Dalton muttered.
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