CHAPTER 39
1009 Words
ADINNA’S POV
The air shifts, thick and electric, almost alive.
One moment, everything around me was still, and the next, sound and color burst back into life, as if someone just pressed play on the world.
I blink, dazed, trying to make sense of what just happened. The music pounds again, lights flash, laughter echoes around the ballroom, but it all feels wrong and distant as if I’m watching it through glass.
For a moment, I think I imagined the stillness, silence, strange flickering of light, and the voice that whispered mate. But they are right in front of me.
Hunter, Jace, Salem, and Dean.
They stand around me, forming a loose circle that feels anything but casual. My chest tightens. They’re too close, too quiet, and too focused.
Their eyes aren’t normal. Not right now. There’s a faint glow in each of them, a shimmer beneath the surface. Hunter’s eyes are molten gold, sharp and predatory. Jace’s gleam like dark honey catching the light. Salem’s are cold and silver, unreadable. Dean’s glow a deep, steady amber.
And then it hits me like an invisible weight that slams into my chest so hard I actually stagger back.
My wolf reacts before I can think. She stirs violently, pressing against my ribs as if she’s trying to break free. Her voice hums low in my head, trembling with an emotion I can’t name.
Them.
Her tone is soft at first, then more insistent. Them.
“What…” My voice comes out as a shaky whisper. “What’s happening?”
None of them answers.
But I can feel it. The pull. Like invisible strings connecting me to them, tugging me forward. The air hums with tension, heat crawling under my skin. My pulse pounds in my ears. My breath catches on the edges of a realization I can’t quite identify.
I take another step back, but my body betrays me. My wolf wants to be closer.
My heart pounds harder. My hands tremble. My skin feels too hot, too tight.
They stare at me like they know exactly what’s going on, and that makes it worse. Dean’s calm expression falters first. His lips part slightly, his gaze softening. Then Jace glances at him, silent words passing between them. Salem’s posture stiffens, his eyes narrowing slightly. Hunter looks furious.
My wolf whispers again, louder now, her tone almost frantic. Mate.
The word slams through me like thunder.
My breath catches. I almost choke on it. “No,” I whisper under my breath. “No, no, no”
The word shouldn’t make sense. It can’t. Not here. Not with them.
Yet my entire body reacts anyway. My chest aches, my heartbeat races, too wild. My skin tingles as if every nerve is on fire. I can feel something ancient awakening, clawing up from within me, demanding to be acknowledged.
They feel it too. I can see it on their faces.
Dean’s expression softens even more, his brows drawing together. Salem looks away, jaw clenched. Jace runs a hand through his hair, caught between fascination and horror. Hunter’s jaw tightens, the vein in his neck pulsing.
No one says anything, but the silence between us feels alive, buzzing with things that shouldn’t exist.
The lights flash across their faces and my wolf hums louder, like a vibration I can’t turn off. I can barely think over the sound of my own heartbeat.
I swallow hard and whisper, “What’s happening to me?”
Still no answer.
They’re all watching me too closely now. My skin prickles under their gaze. Each breath feels heavier than the last. My wolf’s energy keeps rising, hotter and almost painful. I want to move closer, to understand this unbearable thing between us, but my mind screams at me not to.
My chest rises and falls rapidly. I can’t even focus on the music anymore. The whole room feels like it’s fading around us. There’s just them, me, and this awful, magnetic pull that won’t stop.
Dean’s lips move first. His voice is quiet but clear, cutting through the noise. “She’s feeling it too.”
The words make me freeze.
Feeling it too.
The way he says it, like it confirms something, like it explains everything, makes my blood run cold.
He knows what this is. They all do.
Hunter’s low growl follows, rough and raw. “It’s impossible.”
His tone isn’t directed at me; it’s like he’s trying to convince himself. His eyes flash brighter, his control slipping for half a second.
My wolf purrs in response, her voice a trembling echo of want and certainty.
Ours.
I shake my head frantically. “What did you just call me?” I whisper, my voice barely audible over the music.
Hunter doesn’t answer. His jaw works silently, his eyes still locked on me, but he doesn’t say a word.
The others exchange and tense glances that are full of unspoken things. I can practically feel the weight of whatever they’re hiding pressing down on me.
My wolf pushes harder against my skin, restless and aching. Every instinct in me screams to be closer to them. I can’t stop shaking. I feel too much. It’s like my very soul is trying to merge with something it shouldn’t.
Jace finally breaks the silence, his voice low and unsure. “We must really be her mates,” he mutters. “That’s why she’s feeling it too.”
And that’s where everything inside me stops.
My stomach twists painfully. The word "mates" echoes in my mind like a curse, each repetition louder than the last.
Mates.
My breath hitches, and for a moment, the room spins. The world feels too bright, too loud, too heavy. My wolf hums in agreement, almost gleeful, but I want to scream at her to be quiet.
Mates.
With them.
I stare at their faces and I realize they’re all waiting for me to say something.
But I can’t move. I can barely breathe. The word keeps echoing through me like a heartbeat I can’t silence.
- Writer
