To Break a Wolf

Chapter 28: Aftershocksed Episode

She didn’t stop moving until she reached her room.

Her pulse still thundered in her ears, her skin damp with sweat, but none of it had to do with sparring. Not anymore. She slammed the door shut, braced her hands flat against the wood, and stood there, struggling to breathe.

What the hell just happened?

One minute, she’d been flipping him, proving she didn’t need coddling; the next, she was flat on her back with Bastian between her thighs and every molecule in her body screaming to let go.

She’d kissed him. Worse, she wanted to. She’d wanted it so badly her brain had short-circuited. Her fingers trembled. Her whole body vibrated with the aftershock, raw and electrified with sensations that had cracked her wide open.

She pushed off the door, pacing in tight circles, her tank top sticking to her skin, her braid coming loose at the nape. Her lungs hadn’t fully settled. Her legs still felt like jelly.

This is who you are, he’d said, and that was a problem, because in that moment, when his body pinned hers to the mat and his hands slid down her sides like he already knew every inch of her, she’d felt it. The truth in his kiss, how her soul had leaned into his without hesitation.

She flopped back onto the bed with a groan, one arm draped over her eyes.

This wasn’t supposed to happen. She didn’t want to be someone’s Luna. She didn’t want to belong to anyone, but her body… it didn’t give a s**t about what she wanted.

A knock hit the door.

Mira bolted upright, heart still stuttering. “I need space, Bastian,” she called, her voice raspier than she meant.

“It’s Selene.”

Mira exhaled.

“In that case, come in.”

Selene slipped inside with two bottles of water and a protein bar. She tossed one bottle toward Mira, who caught it with ungraceful hands, then perched her ass against the edge of the desk.

“Figured you might need to rehydrate after… all that.”

Mira took a long drink. Her throat felt like sandpaper. “So, you heard?”

“Nope. But you’re pacing like your soul’s about to combust, so I guessed.”

Mira groaned and dropped her head into her hands. “Why is everything about him so intense?”

“Because he’s an Alpha,” Selene said easily. “And because you’re not just some random girl. That bond? It’s not one-sided.”

“I didn’t mean to kiss him.”

Selene just lifted a brow. “I didn’t say you shouldn’t have.”

That made Mira blink.

Selene sighed and crossed the room, dropping onto the bed beside her. “Look, Bastian’s been my best friend since we were kids. He doesn’t let people in. Doesn’t feel things the way most do. But you? You walked in here and lit a match in his ribcage. He’s spiraling, Mira, because he doesn’t know how to handle you.”

“That makes two of us,” Mira muttered.

They sat for a beat, the room quiet.

“Is this…” Mira hesitated, staring at the label on her water bottle like it might offer answers. “Is this what the frenzy feels like?”

Selene was quiet for a second, then nodded. “The beginning of it. When the bond starts tightening, pushing, the full moon acts like a fuse. Once it hits, it doesn’t matter what you want. It will drive his wolf to claim you.”

Mira’s throat tightened. “And if I don’t want that?”

Selene’s voice dropped low. “Then it’s going to get worse for both of you, especially for him. He’ll fight it. Gods, he will. But if the wolf takes control, Mira… if he takes that choice from you, it’ll destroy him.”

Her stomach turned. She gripped the bottle tighter. “So, what? I’m supposed to give in?”

“Do you want to?” Selene asked softly.

“I don’t know,” Mira whispered. “I didn’t sign up for any of this.”

Selene reached over, placing a hand gently on her shoulder. “Everyone else in Bastian’s life? He chose them. You’re the first thing fate gave him. He doesn’t know what to do with that. And the more you resist, the harder the bond fights back.”

“So I’m wrong to resist?”

“I didn’t say that.” Selene’s voice was calm, not pitying. “Maybe he needs to know he could lose you. That could be the only way he’ll earn you.”

The words hit like a soft, well-placed punch. Mira let them sink in. The chaos in her blood settled, if only by a little.

“I kissed him,” she said again, quieter this time.

“You also possibly broke a rib when you took him down, something no one else has done,” Selene said. “I think that evens the score.”

A laugh burst out of Mira before she could stop it. She didn’t even know if it was from amusement or pure exhaustion.

Selene grinned. “Rest up. Tomorrow, we train again.”

Mira raised an eyebrow. “Please tell me that doesn’t involve sticks.”

“Nope,” Selene said, standing. “Tomorrow, you learn how to knock a wolf on their ass with nothing but your hands, no jiu-jitsu.”

Mira huffed a tired smile, which faded as quickly as it came. She stared at the bottle again.

Selene caught it. “What?”

Mira hesitated. Then: “Do you ever feel like you don’t know what’s real anymore?”

Selene sat back down slowly, her expression shifting.

“When I kissed him,” Mira said, barely louder than a breath, “I felt everything: the heat, the ache, the… pull. And I’m terrified it’s not me. That it’s just the mate bond dragging me along for the ride.”

Selene’s brow furrowed. “You’re scared it’s not genuine?”

Mira nodded. “What if none of this is mine? What if I fall for him and it’s just… magic? A trick in my blood?”

Selene inhaled like she’d been waiting for that question. “That fear? It means you haven’t fallen yet. Not completely. Which means you still have a choice.”

“Doesn’t feel like it.”

“It is,” Selene said gently. “The bond can’t make you love someone. It can make you want, it can pull, but it can’t force your heart. Not really. And Bastian? He knows that. If he wants your heart, he’ll have to earn it. Bond or not.”

Mira’s throat tightened again. “Everything’s moving so fast. I feel like a pawn in someone else’s game.”

“Then flip the board,” Selene said. “But don’t run from the only person who will fight for you with everything he’s got.”

Mira blinked. “That was almost poetic.”

“I’m full of surprises.”

A silence stretched again, softer now.

Then Selene said, “Can I tell you something nobody else knows?”

Mira looked over, wary but open. “Yeah.”

Selene exhaled. “The bond between Bastian and me? It was never real.”

Mira sat up straighter. “Wait—what?”

“Everyone thought it was. We acted like it was. But when I started digging into the curse… it all made sense. I loved Bastian, just not in that way. And when we both finally admitted it, it was like we could breathe again.”

Mira’s voice was quiet. “So… it truly was the curse?”

Selene nodded. “I never felt what you feel. I never burned. Never wanted to scream, tear his clothes off, or throw something at his face to get his attention. That fire? It’s yours. Bond or not.”

Mira’s eyes stung, but she blinked fast. She couldn’t cry, not now.

Selene stood, squeezed her shoulder one last time. “Get some rest. And Mira?”

“Yeah?”

Selene smiled. “If you don’t make anything easy… make him work for it.”

Mira smirked. “Oh, he’s already working.”

Selene grinned. “Good.”

And with that, she left Mira alone with her thoughts, the burn still in her blood, and a storm she wasn’t sure she could keep outrunning.