Chapter Fifteen
Lucian
T he moment it happens, I feel it.
Not through a bond - there isn’t one. Yet. But through t he kind of instinct that predates logic and has no interest in permission.
My canines ache. My spine tightens.
I exhale slowly, evenly, keeping it contained.
But something low and feral scrapes at the back of my throat.
Kai stumbles a step back from the wall like he's just been tasered. “She’s - fuck , she’s doing it.”
“She’s so strong,” Theo says quietly. “She’s trying so hard to do it all by herself.”
Ash doesn’t speak. He’s braced like a weapon - knuckles pale, jaw locked, eyes glued to the steel door like he’s trying not to break it down.
I know the feeling.
Kai is jittery, pacing again. “I can feel her,” he pants. “I can - shit , she’s loud. Is she..? I think she’s -”
“Do not finish that sentence,” I warn him.
He stops pacing long enough to glare at me.
“Don’t act like you don’t smell it, Vale. You’re not magically above us just because you're standing there like some kind of sex-proof gargoyle.”
“I do,” I say, tone flat. “But I’m not leaking pheromones like a teenager in rut. You need to get a grip.”
“Alright, alright,” Theo interjects, holding up his hands like a peace offering. “Let’s not tear each other apart. Deep breaths. Maybe a cold shower, some group meditation. Anyone want a juice box?”
Ash snorts. Kai doesn’t.
My teeth press tighter.
They’re too loud. Too present. Too in the way.
I lean against the far wall and cross my arms.
Mistake number one: letting them come along.
Mistake number two: not slamming the panic room shut behind me and pretending I’d never met them.
And yet, here I am. Babysitting three emotionally volatile alphas outside a room currently occupied by the sexiest logistical disaster I’ve ever laid eyes on.
I’ve seen her before - too many times.
First time was a coffee shop in the Lower District - camera in hand, hair in a messy knot, face full of stubborn focus. She looked like someone about to fistfight a pastry.
She smelled like nothing. Neutral. Boring. Invisible.
Beta.
Not worth noticing - but I noticed her anyway.
And then, I couldn't stop noticing her.
Every week, there she was. Crossing streets I didn’t mean to drive down. Popping up at places I didn’t mean to be.
I chalked it up to coincidence.
But coincidences don’t make your instincts sing like a war drum, and now, inside that room, she’s burning.
Her thighs trembling. Her breath breaking.
Soaked. Dripping. Calling out.
Maybe my name. Maybe someone else’s. It doesn’t matter.
Because she’s mine .
“How the fuck is this hitting so hard?” Kai groans, dragging a hand down his face. “She’s behind a steel door!”
“She’s strong,” Theo murmurs, dreamy-eyed. “That much we know.”
Ash finally speaks. “Unregistered.”
Theo nods grimly. “Unclaimed.”
“Dangerous,” Ash adds.
“Idiotic,” I correct.
“Aw,” Kai sighs, “you say that like it’s not the hottest thing you’ve ever seen.”
“She walked into central alpha territory without a claim or a reliable suppressant schedule,” I grind out. “That’s not hot - that’s asking to get disappeared by the fucking OMB.”
“Or,” Theo says gently, “she was hiding. For a reason.”
A silence falls. The heavy kind. The kind that knows the truth.
I glance at the sealed door. My fingers twitch.
“I don’t trust any of you,” I mutter.
Kai raises a brow. “Er, rude.”
“With her ,” I snap. “I don’t trust any of you with her. ”
“Yeah, well, maybe I don't trust any of you , either,” he bites back.
Theo sighs. “So what? You want to sleep outside her door in full alpha guard mode until she cools off?”
“Honestly,” Kai mutters, “not the worst idea. We could rotate shifts. Maybe build a pillow fort.”
“We stay in this house until she stabilizes,” I say. “Until she chooses.”
“And if she doesn’t?” Ash asks.
“She will.”
“Confident,” Theo hums.
I meet his eyes, unblinking.
“This city is mine. She came here for a reason.”
A long beat.
Then Kai, quiet for once: “You’ve been watching her.”
“I’ve seen her,” I admit.
Theo narrows his eyes. “How many times?”
“That’s irrelevant.”
Kai whistles low. “You’re down astronomically bad.”
“She felt... wrong, ” I mutter. “Like static under my skin. Like a threat.”
Theo tilts his head. “And now?”
I stare at the door, and I feel her.
Her need bleeds through like heat through glass. Her cries echo in the back of my mind.
“She still feels like a threat,” I murmur. “But one I want to wrap my hands around.”
Kai sighs. “God, that’s so hot.”
I glare at him. “Talk to me like that again, and I’m sending you back to the car.”
“ Yes, Alpha, ” he grins.
I growl in warning as Theo pinches the bridge of his nose.
“We need a plan.”
“She’s in peak,” I say. “We give her time. Let her burn it out.”
Kai groans. “And do what? Knit? Play charades? One wrong move and we’re gonna rut right through the drywall.”
“Speak for yourself,” I snap. “ I’m in control.”
“Good for you,” Kai mutters. “I’m two seconds away from humping your antique console table.”
Theo glances at him. “You’re not going into rut already, surely.”
“I’m not made of stone, asshole. She’s scenting like sex and sunshine and maybe a little goddamn cinnamon behind that fucking door.”
Ash shifts, jaw tight.
“It’s not just you. I can feel it starting to tug. Like it’s… circling.”
“It’s her heat,” Theo nods. “And if we really all are compatible…”
Kai stares at him. “Great. So we’re four ticking time bombs in a pressure cooker.”
“ No,” Theo starts, but Kai interrupts him.
“ We’re a goddamn four-man sex grenade!”
“ No ,” I interrupt coldly. “We’re adults . We. Stay. In. Control.”
“Oh sure,” Kai mutters. “Tell that to my dick.”
“Maybe keep it in your fucking pants and we won’t have a problem,” I bite.
Kai shrugs. “No promises, boss man.”
I round on him immediately, and Kai raises his hands in easy surrender.
“Hey, I didn’t say I was going in there. I just mean... the biological sabotage is real.” He frowns. “But - do you really think she’ll last another few days in this state? What if she doesn’t?”
Theo answers before I can. “She will.”
Ash steps slightly closer to the door. “And if she doesn’t want to do this alone?”
“She made her position clear,” I say. “Right now, she wants space.”
“Yeah, well, instincts don’t give a shit what she says she wants,” Kai mutters.
“She needs control,” Theo says. “So we let her have it.”
Kai blows out a breath. “You bastards are no fun.”
“She doesn’t want us,” Theo reiterates, quiet but firm. “Not right now. And until she says otherwise, we give her that.”
“And what if she calls for one of us?” Kai asks, too casual. “If she begs ?”
“Then we talk. Together ,” Theo emphasizes. “We don’t act alone.”
Ash narrows his eyes. “You want to run a committee on rut?”
“ No ,” Theo rolls his eyes. “But I’d rather be sure we don’t rip each other’s throats out if she moans the wrong name. We have to hold the line. We don’t touch her, we don’t mark her, and we don’t so much as breathe on her unless she gives us a direct fucking invite.”
Kai mutters something about rules killing the mood, and Ash glares hard enough to ignite bone.
“She’s not a mood,” Theo says. “She’s a person. A person in crisis. And we don’t get to be monsters.”
“Speak for yourself,” Kai says lightly, but his grin is forced.
“Let’s be very fucking clear,” I say, voice like ice. “If one of you goes in that room, I will put you through a wall.”
That quiets the room, and Theo nods once. “Agreed.”
Ash grunts. “Fine.”
Kai sighs, loud and dramatic. “Alright, alright. Keep your leashes on. I’ll be good.”
He pauses.
“For now.”
None of us laugh. Because even with all the banter, the truth is sharp beneath it:
We’re already fraying.
She’s pulling us all like a current we can’t escape, and if she so much as whimpers one of our names -
We’re going to burn .