8. Are Your Ready For It?
Stone stood in the quiet of the kitchen, looking out over the expanse of his backyard and into the forest beyond.
He’d been up for hours now, and still couldn’t seem to wrap his head fully around all that had transpired. Everything seemed to be mixed in a tangled web of destiny and danger that grew in intensity with each passing minute.
And in the midst of all this chaos, his desire to claim Ella—to solidify their connection in the most profound way their world knew, remained unfulfilled.
It was a longing that pulsed at the back of his mind, a silent song of connection and commitment that had gone unanswered in the cacophony of their lives.
He exhaled slowly through his nose and closed his eyes.
“You’re brooding,” Clementine observed, her voice cutting through his reverie with ease.
He offered a wry smile, the corners of his mouth twitching in a semblance of amusement. “Is it that obvious?”
“To me, it is. What’s on your mind, Stone?” Her question was gentle, an offering of support rather than an intrusion.
He was grateful for that. His sister always had a way of bringing him out of his shell so he could see things from another perspective.
“It’s... everything,” he confessed, the words heavy on his tongue. “The attacks, the prophecy—hell, the kids’ safety. And now, a dream I had last night—only it felt like more than a typical dream.” He hesitated, the imagery and vibe of the dream still vivid in his mind—symbols that seemed to call out to him.
The whole thing was a puzzle piece he couldn’t yet place.
“How so?” Clem asked, stepping away from the Luna Scrolls to lean against the kitchen island.
He thought on that for a moment before offering, “In the dream, I thought I heard Doug speaking to me.” Stone’s voice dropped to a whisper, as if saying it louder might disturb the delicate balance of reality and memory. “He was talking about finding the essence of something—about the path we’re on. Then, this morning, you mention this Essence as part of the prophecy. I think it might be something we heard about last night. It has a different name, but… It’s just?—”
Too coincidental.
And the Universe is rarely so lazy.
Stone didn’t bother to voice that last part.
Clementine’s expression softened, a blend of sorrow and surprise flooding across her features.
“Doug?” she echoed, her voice tinged with a mixture of emotions. The mention of her late husband, their former Alpha, always stirred deep waters. “What did he say?”
Stone shook his head slightly, trying to grasp the elusive threads of the dream. “It wasn’t clear—just impressions mostly. But it felt... important. Like there’s something we’re missing, something crucial to understanding all of this.” He gestured vaguely, encompassing the swirling chaos that their lives had become.
Clementine tilted her head slightly, her gaze thoughtful. “If Doug’s reaching out from beyond, even in a dream, then it’s for a reason. We’ll find the answers, Stone. We always do. What did Ella have to say?”
Stone frowned. “I haven’t had the chance to tell her yet.”
His sister narrowed her gaze, a slight frown tugging on her lips.
“Don’t look at me like that. It’s no big deal. I just didn’t get time this morning,” Stone said, shaking his head. The last thing he needed was for Clem to start worrying. “I’ve been thinking about it and I’ve decided I need to check out the ritual site Marta mentioned. Maybe there’s something there that connects to my dream. There were strange symbols and an altar. I need to see if they match.”
“You might be right. I can stay with the kids,” Clementine offered immediately. “Go. Find what we need to know.”
Stone nodded, a silent thank you in his gaze.
As he turned to grab his keys from the counter, Asher and Avery entered the kitchen, their presence a reminder of the stakes at hand.
“Where are you going?” Asher asked, eyeing Stone with an observant look that reminded him so much of Ella.
“Just need to follow up on a lead,” Stone replied, keeping his voice even. “Clem’s in charge. You guys okay with that?”
Avery gave a small, determined nod, her resilience shining through. “We’ll be fine. Just... be careful, okay?”
Stone felt a sense of relief and nodded. “Always am.”
With a final glance at Clementine, he left, the weight of his mission pressing down on him.
Stone drove as faras the roads would take him, the landscape transitioning from the familiar to the uncharted as he neared the ritual site Marta had spoken of. With civilization’s concrete grasp firmly behind him, he pulled over. The dense forest ahead would be impassable by any vehicle.
Here, he reached out through the pack connection, seeking Marta’s guidance.
Her presence, although not physically with him, was immediate and reassuring in his mind, guiding him toward the hidden path only his wolf form could traverse. There, he could follow her scent.
Quickly, he undressed, folding his clothes and placing them on the driver’s seat.
Then, transforming with a smooth ease born of necessity and nature, Stone’s senses exploded in a cacophony of scents and sounds as the world became even more vibrant and detailed.
As a wolf, his connection to the earth and its secrets was magnified, and he moved with purpose through the underbrush, guided by instincts—and sharpened by his dream.
It didn’t take him long to arrive at the location. Marta and the rest of her team were no longer there, but they hadn’t been gone all that long.
For some reason, a wave of relief washed over him. While he wasn’t averse to having Marta and others at the site, the fact that he could connect with it alone somehow felt… right.
To his amazement, Stone found it just as it had appeared in his dream—a small clearing marked by ancient symbols. Their meanings were obscured by time yet pulsated with a power that tugged at the very core of his being.
“Seek the essence... under the eye of Selene... where shadows and light converge...”
Doug’s words echoed through the recesses of Stone’s mind.
The symbols on the ground mirrored those from his dream, a confirmation that set his heart racing and his mind reeling with questions.
How was this possible?
The air around him felt charged, the very earth beneath his paws humming with an unseen energy.
Still in his wolf form, Stone circled the site, his enhanced senses picking up traces of magic, remnants of rituals long past—and those recent. It was the distinct, unmistakable scent of the supernatural.
The symbols, seen through the acute perception of his animal form, seemed to glow faintly, etched into the earth and across the altar. It was as if the site itself was alive, whispering secrets meant only for those who truly listened.
Or even had the ability to, he supposed.
The longer Stone lingered, the more he felt an inexplicable pull toward the symbols. They felt like a call to action that resonated with every fiber of his being.
Just as Stone was about to leave, a familiar scent caught his attention, signaling Ella’s approach. How she had managed to sneak up on him was either a testament to her shielding abilities as Alpha—or the fact that he had been so in his own head as he studied the site.
Remaining in his wolf form, he watched as she entered the clearing as her white wolf, her presence somehow fitting perfectly into the ancient, mystical scene before him.
Her arrival was unannounced, yet her timing felt like another piece of the puzzle falling into place. Like a perfectly orchestrated moment in time.
Wow, this place…she said, connecting through the bond.
Ella paused at the edge of the clearing, her eyes scanning the area.
It really is, he responded, waiting for her to make her final assessment.
She stepped forward cautiously, her gaze finally landing on the symbols that marked the ground and the altar.
The power radiating off these symbols is intense, she said in his mind. Do you feel it, too?
I do. In some ways, I think it was calling to me,he offered.
Under the canopy of the dense forest, the afternoon sun filtered through the leaves, casting a dappled light upon the clearing.
Stone shifted into his human form so he could see her expression when he told her about his dream. He wanted to see her—needed to see her.
Ella also shifted, and as she approached him, her presence was a calming force that tamped down the rising panic inside him. Yet, seeing her this way—naked and proud—it made the wolf inside him howl to claim her.
Here—now.
“Calling to you? Did you sense trouble?” Ella asked, her voice laced with concern as she once again took in the ancient symbols and ritual space that surrounded them.
Stone hesitated, the magnitude of his dream pressing heavily on his mind, despite his other instincts that demanded it be set aside.
“It wasn’t trouble—not exactly,” he began, searching for the words to bridge the gap between his visceral experience and the reality they both faced. “Last night, I had a dream—a vivid one. It was unlike anything I’ve ever experienced, Ella. It was almost like a memory.”
Ella’s expression softened, a mixture of curiosity and apprehension in her eyes. “A dream? What was it about?”
If she felt the same pull to him as he stood before her without a stitch of clothing on, she hid it well. A part of him was disappointed by that. He wished he wasn’t the only one feeling the intensity of this pull.
He took a deep breath, the details of the dream as clear in his mind as if he’d just awoken.
“I heard Doug’s voice,” Stone confessed, the mention of the former Alpha bringing a solemn weight to their conversation. “He was guiding me, talking about finding the essence of something significant. And then, this alter and these symbols,” he gestured around them, “they were there in my dream, just as they are now.”
Ella stepped closer. “Doug’s voice? That’s... that doesn’t sound like just a dream, Stone. It sounds like a message.”
Stone nodded, the validation of his own feelings in Ella’s words bolstering his resolve. “I think so too. All morning I was thinking about what Marta said about this place and I felt drawn here. As if I was meant to see these symbols—to try to understand their significance. Only, I’m just as confused now as I was earlier.”
Ella reached out, her hand brushing against his arm, grounding him—but her touch also excited him in ways he needed to shake off or things were about to get very awkward.
“You believe it’s connected to everything we’re facing?” she asked, her eyes never leaving his.
“Yes,” Stone replied, the connection between his dream, the symbols, and their current predicament becoming clearer the more he shared. He only wished he knew why. “There’s something here, something deeply intertwined with the message from Doug. I think—it sounds weird, but I think the Essence from the Luna Scrolls might be the Breath of Selene.” His voice drifted off, as he thought about all of the possibilities.
“I agree. I had the same thought earlier today,” Ella said, surprising him.
She turned to face him fully, her body mere inches from his own. He could feel the heat radiating from her and it spoke to him like a song that desperately needed to be sung.
All thoughts and worries that had been held in his mind drifted away—leaving only this moment. This place in time with his mate.
It felt sacred.
And before he could stop himself, he bent forward, raking his fingertips across her cheek. Her eyes drifted closed and he pressed his lips to hers, needing to taste her. Only a little.
The world around them seemed to pause—every sense heightened in a way that felt both exhilarating and entirely natural.
The connection between them deepened, the pull of their wolves intermingling with their human desires, creating a maelstrom of need that was becoming impossible to ignore.
To his astonishment, Ella responded with a fervor that matched his own, her hands finding their way to his shoulders, grounding him and urging him closer all at once.
He pressed his body to hers, letting his growing arousal be known as he ground it against her hip.
A soft moan escaped her lips and she dug her fingertips deeper into his skin.
The symbols, the prophecy, and the danger that loomed on the horizon—all of it melted away, leaving only the raw, undeniable, heady need to be with each other in the most primal way.
And he knew then, without a shadow of a doubt, she felt it, too.
As they broke the kiss, breathless and with hearts racing, they stood at the precipice of giving in to the compulsion that had been building between them since the moment they met. The air around them was thick with anticipation, each glance, each touch, sparking a fire that threatened to consume them both.
The forest seemed to even hold its breath—the ritual site a silent witness to the undeniable connection that pulsed and thrummed with life.
Ella, her eyes dark with desire and something more profound, something that spoke of their soul-deep recognition and an unbreakable bond, whispered his name like an oath.
His name on her lips was both a question and an answer, the last piece of resistance crumbling under the weight of their mutual attraction—their need to unite.
His wolf was ready—so ready to take what was rightfully his.
Yet, even as they stood on the edge, the reality of their responsibilities, the looming threats, and the gravity of their choices hung in the air like a specter. The significance of this moment, of their potential union, was not lost on either of them.
He could see that in her eyes.
Sex between them wouldn’t just be a physical act—it would seal a bond that transcended the physical realm. It was a commitment that would tie their spirits together in a way that was irreversible.
And as Ella reached out, taking his aching cock in her hand, he was so ready for it.