Back at the pack headquarters, tension radiated through every room.
Aria didn’t sleep. She couldn’t. She felt every pull of the matebond: Lucas’s desperate claim, Adrian’s protective possessiveness, Dominic’s stormy need. She was standing at the center of a triangle that threatened to consume her.
Lucas appeared again at the pack boundary — this time at nightfall — calling to her silently through the matebond.
Her wolf ached. Her heart screamed. Her body wanted to run.
But Adrian and Dominic didn’t let her. They cornered her in the training hall.
“You’re not leaving,” Adrian said, voice low and dangerous. “Not tonight. Not ever unless you choose freely. And not to him without knowing what’s really happening.”
Lucas’s scent bled through the walls — raw, emotional, burning with need.
