The Inferno
919 Words
Chapter 13: The Inferno
I started pacing the length of the dusty basement, my boots scuffing against the concrete. My mind was spinning faster than a motorcycle tire on slick asphalt. Merge. What did it even mean to merge? My mother’s journal made it sound like a beautiful, sacred ritual, but right now, my body didn't feel sacred. It felt like a ticking time bomb.
It started as a low simmer in the pit of my stomach, a familiar ache I’d been suppressing for a year. But suddenly, as the reality of the Void’s contract settled into my bones, the simmer ignited into a roaring, uncontrollable inferno.
"Not now," I gasped, clutching my stomach. "No, no, no."
The delay my parents had bought with their lives was up. The magic and the wolf inside me weren't just waking up anymore; they were violently colliding, demanding to be anchored. If I didn't bond—if I didn't claim my mates and let them claim me—the sheer force of this delayed shift was going to burn me alive from the inside out.
I had to get out of the basement. My brothers were down here, still pouring over the scrolls and weapons, and beyond them, the entire clubhouse was filled with patched MC members. Wolves. Unmated wolves.
"Loyal? You’re shaking," Lucian said, looking up from the table. His nostrils flared, his golden-tan face dropping its color. "Gods... your scent."
"Don't," I choked out, backing away toward the wooden stairs. I didn't want them to smell me. I didn't want anyone to smell this raw, vulnerable, desperate heat pouring off my skin. But the pheromones were already spiking, thick with the scent of ozone, wild honey, and distress.
I hit the stairs running, but every step felt like I was wading through wet concrete. As soon as I reached the top stair and pushed open the heavy door to the main clubhouse, the heat hit me like a volcano. I was ready to erupt.
The low hum of conversation in the bar area died instantly. Over two dozen heavily tattooed, battle-hardened bikers stopped dead. I saw their heads snap toward me in unison. The air grew impossibly thick. The wolves sniffed the air, and I could physically see the shockwave of my scent hit them. I was the Alpha's sister, a royal bloodline, and I was in the most intense, un-anchored heat they had ever encountered.
I wasn't Marked. I wasn't Mated. Not yet.
The human parts of them were trying to hold back their animals out of respect for Leo, but their eyes kept glowing, flashing gold and amber in the dim bar light. Their canines elongated, hands gripping pool cues and beer bottles so tight the glass shattered. Low, rumbling growls of primal instinct echoed from the corners of the room.
My skin burned. The heat had me soaked in sweat, shivering, my vision blurring at the edges. The intense, crushing pressure in my lower stomach kept pushing, demanding a release, demanding a claim. I had to get to my room. I had to get to my mates.
And then, he was there.
Mateo stepped out from the hallway, his massive frame blocking my path to the bedrooms. His golden eyes were flashing wildly, his jaw clenched so hard a muscle ticked frantically under his olive skin. I knew he was trying to hold back, trying to be the disciplined bodyguard, but the second my scent hit him, the civilized man vanished.
I couldn't hold back either. I didn't want to. I needed him.
I flung myself at him with a desperate, animalistic whine. Mateo caught me mid-air, his large hands gripping my hips with bruising force as he slammed his back against the hallway wall to support my weight. I wrapped my legs around his waist, dry humping wildly against the rough denim of his jeans, burying my face in his neck. I kissed him frantically, hungrily, biting at his jaw, my hands clawing at his chest and gripping the thick ridge of his arousal through his clothes.
I knew I should be embarrassed—half the MC was standing thirty feet away—but I couldn't care. The wolf and the witch inside me were screaming for him. Mateo let out a ragged, deafening growl that shook the floorboards, his hands diving into my hair, his mouth crashing down on mine. He tasted like cedar, rain, and raw power.
I didn't even notice when Dimitri and Jax appeared behind us. I just felt the sudden, shocking drop in temperature as the vampire stepped close, and the crackle of static electricity as the hybrid placed a hand on the small of my back.
"Get her to the room," Dimitri ordered, his voice a lethal, dark rasp. "Now. Before the pack loses its mind."
Mateo didn't walk; he moved with supernatural speed, carrying me down the hall and kicking my bedroom door shut behind us. Jax slid the heavy iron deadbolt into place, his eyes glowing a frantic, bright blue.
I tumbled onto the edge of the mattress, my head falling back, my chest heaving. The heat was unbearable, a physical weight crushing my lungs. I looked up at the three of them through a haze of emerald-green and silver vision.
"Please," I begged, my voice breaking. "The Merge. Do it. Claim me before I burn."
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