Saraphine POV (Darius’s clear Authority)
1309 Words
The next morning my hands shook so badly that the glass coffee pot slipped and shattered on the hardwood floor. Hot coffee burned through my shirt.
“You okay there, Seraphine?” one of the men called.
“I’m okay,” I muttered.
Laughter and crude jokes followed as I cleaned the mess. When I returned, Jax’s voice cut through the room. “Anyone seen Leo this morning?”
Negative responses all around.
“Sierra Seraphine Stone, weren’t you with Leo last night?” Darius’s cold voice stopped me cold.
I turned to face him. “Yes, I was.”
The weight of every gaze pressed on me. Darius’s emerald stare felt heavier than all of them combined.
“I left…” I trailed off, knowing lying to him was dangerous.
One man chuckled. “What, he got what he wanted and kicked you out?”
“I don’t want to talk about it,” I whispered, lowering my head.
Laughter exploded. Jax murmured something about people disappearing. Fear spiked in my chest.
Another man made a vulgar comment about what I could do with my mouth later. Darius said nothing.
I turned to leave.
“I didn’t give you permission to go anywhere,” Darius barked. “Where is Leo?”
“We went to the forest,” I said quietly.
“Why?”
“Because we… we went to have sex.”
His eyes grew even colder. “Turn around. Look me in the eye.”
I did. Fear and anger warred inside me.
“You’re not speaking,” he said.
“We went to have s*x,” I repeated. “I didn’t want anyone to hear us.”
He smiled, but there was no warmth. “Because you’re a good girl?”
“Yes.”
Disgust filled his face. “Get out of my sight.”
I escaped as quickly as I could, wondering why my sleeping with Leo bothered him so much.
With the rest of the pack finishing their shift, I stood facing the cabins, several feet of space between us. I had stripped out of my clothes, but for the last ten minutes I had done nothing but stare at the back of my eyelids as the evening chill sank deeper into my bones.
We have to do this. Please.
Silence.
I know you’re afraid. I am too, but this is the only way to finish our revenge. We have to shift.
Nothing. Not even a flicker of response from my wolf.
“You’re holding up the pack run, Seraphine Stone,” Darius called out from behind me, his voice carrying clear authority.
I gritted my teeth. Ignoring him, I focused inward again.
Please. If we don’t shift, things will get worse.
A wave of helplessness washed over me. I didn’t know what Darius would do if I refused, but I knew exactly what the pack would do. And right now, finishing what I started with Jax mattered more than anything.
All day the pack’s eyes had followed me. After the humiliation at breakfast, I had hidden inside the farmhouse, scrubbing floors and cooking meals I barely touched. I told myself it was duty. In truth, I was terrified to step outside.
Darius hadn’t ordered me out. He had stayed in the lounge watching television while I worked. We had avoided each other perfectly.
Now there was nowhere left to hide.
A faint flicker of emotion finally came from my wolf. She sent me an image, a dark brown wolf burrowing under a heavy blanket, trying desperately to hide.
I know you’re afraid. I am too. But we have to do this for Mom and Dad. We have to make them pay.
Another image followed: the same brown wolf running freely through a lush, green forest far from Stone Ridge. Joy radiated from her. Freedom. Safety. Happiness she had never known here.
Tears filled my eyes. That was what I wanted for both of us. But first, Jax had to die.
We can’t run away now. We’re too close. We have to stay and fight.
No more images came, but I felt her listening. I opened myself completely, showing her my fear, my exhaustion, and how alone I felt.
I don’t want to be alone anymore.
Her presence surrounded me, warm and tentative.
I showed her my deepest desire: that same brown wolf running, but not alone, running with a real pack. With family.
More tears slipped down my cheeks. I knew how bad tonight’s run would be. I would be hurting my wolf, but I couldn’t stop now.
“If you’ve changed your mind,” Darius said, his tone deceptively friendly, “that’s okay. We can go for a walk instead.”
I didn’t respond to him.
We can’t tell him where Eden is. He would hurt her. She’s suffered enough.
My wolf sent a memory, Eden’s mismatched eyes, one blue and one green, both filled with torment. The abuse she had endured from Jared and the others.
We can’t tell him. Ever.
My shift began slowly. Dark fur sprouted across my skin. Bones broke and reformed at a painful, deliberate pace. Submissives were never fast. Tonight, I was even slower.
When I finally opened my eyes, the world was sharper. Scents flooded me, sage, pine, and the unpleasant odor of unwashed packmates.
But one scent stood out above all others.
Behind me was the man I hated… yet he smelled better than anything I had ever encountered. Wild forest, leather, and raw power.
I turned.
Darius was still in human form, powerfully naked. As a wolf, the sight affected me differently. My submissive instincts screamed at me to lower my head, to submit, to run.
I lowered my gaze, already trembling. My fear bled into the air.
The pack watched me with dark, eager eyes.
Darius’s paws appeared in front of me as he shifted. A deep howl cut through the night, asserting his dominance.
I spun, instincts urging flight, but caught myself. It was just a howl. Nothing more.
Yet.
His massive dark brown wolf brushed against my smaller form, circling me slowly. He inhaled deeply, as if savoring my scent. Then he stalked away, leaving me behind.
I should stay near the front with him. Instead, I took a step back.
The pack’s eyes gleamed with malice. Jax bared his teeth.
Terror exploded in my chest. I wheeled around and ran for my cabin.
Paws thundered behind me. I slammed into the door. Wood splintered. I sprinted inside, mentally screaming at my wolf to shift back.
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