To Break a Wolf

Chapter 33: Something in the Air

Mira hit “send” on the email to her publisher, her heart hammering as the files vanished into the ether. Three new chapters, half-polished and messy, but at least they were a start. Proof she was still alive and trying to write. She stared at the blinking cursor in her manuscript window, willing the words to return.

Nothing.

Her fingers hovered over the keys, then dropped to her lap.

She couldn’t focus or sit still. After twenty minutes of pacing, flipping through the books Ellie had mysteriously stacked on her nightstand, and reorganizing the bookshelf twice, she gave up. The story wasn’t the problem: She was. Her skin prickled, her breath pinched in her chest, and the quiet in the cabin pressed in on her like a vise.

Something was wrong. No, not wrong. Just… off.

The silence settled in her bones like static that came before lightning. The mark on her shoulder throbbed, faint but insistent, a warmth that lived beneath her skin like pressure waiting to break through. She pressed her palm against the spot, trying to center herself, but her breath caught.

Yesterday’s training with Selene had left her sore and physically drained, but that wasn’t what was keeping her awake. It was every moment with Bastian afterward, the tension crackling between them, the way he looked at her as if she were already his, and he was struggling against himself not to take what he wanted.

Now she understood why. Tonight was the full moon, and she was his marked mate.

The thought sent a fresh wave of heat rolling down her spine.

She stood rapidly, grabbed her hoodie, and shoved her arms through the sleeves. The air inside the cabin felt oppressive, too thick, too quiet. She needed movement, lots of space. Air.

The staff leaned against the doorway where she’d left it, untouched.

It wasn’t time. Not yet.

The cold night hit her skin like a slap, but it barely registered. The moon hung barely over the trees, bright enough to cast the surroundings in silver and shadow. She made her way toward the clearing, each step steadier than the last, though her insides buzzed with something wild and rising. The bond. The pull. The mark thrumming beneath her hoodie like a heartbeat that wasn’t hers.

She was halfway to the treeline when a voice broke through the dark.

“You feel it, don’t you?”

Mira turned.

Selene stood near the edge of the forest, arms folded across her chest, the moonlight etching pale light against her dark braid and steady stare.

Mira didn’t answer.

Selene stepped closer. “The mark. The bond. You feel it pulling.”

Mira crossed her arms, but it didn’t help. “It’s like I can’t breathe. And a being’s trying to claw out of me.”

“That’s because it is,” Selene said gently. “It’s the first full moon since Bastian marked you, and the bond isn’t complete. That creates tension, a certain friction that’s painful.”

Mira looked down. “For me or him?”

“Both,” Selene replied. “But for him, Mira… It’s way worse.”

Something cold settled in Mira’s chest. “Why?”

“Because he marked you without mating.” Selene’s voice was steady, but there was something raw beneath it. “He did it to save your life. But now? The bond’s fraying. His instincts are eating him alive.”

Mira’s stomach twisted. “And if he loses control…”

“He won’t.” Selene’s voice sharpened. “Not without your permission. But it’s breaking him to fight it.”

Mira blinked. “What do you mean?”

Selene’s gaze softened. “Bastian would rather let the bond kill him than take from you without consent. The idea of forcing you? It terrifies him more than death. He’s not just fighting the bond tonight. He’s fighting himself.”

Mira’s throat went tight. “I didn’t know…”

“No one expects you to do anything you’re not ready for,” Selene said. “But if you don’t give in to him on this, if you don’t meet him partway… he might not survive what it’s doing to him.”

The wind shifted, carrying with it a scent Mira had come to recognize too well—earth, cedar, heat.

Bastian.

Selene nodded toward the trees. “He’s nearby. I think he wanted to see you. One last time before the moon finishes what it started.”

Mira’s fingers curled into her sleeves. Her breath trembled, but her feet were already moving, drawn by something older than logic.

She stepped into the woods, and found him.

Bastian stood beneath the trees, carved from shadow and steel, chest heaving, body taut with restraint. His eyes glowed golden in the moonlight. Bastian clenched his jaw so tightly that it looked excruciating. Every inch of him trembled, not from weakness—but from the war waging inside him.

He looked up. Their eyes met.

His voice cracked like a splintered promise.

“Mira…”

And she knew, whatever happened next, it was already too late to turn back.

Bastian

He hadn’t meant to be this close. Hell, he hadn’t meant to be anywhere near her. He’d come out here to breathe, to burn off the coiling heat under his skin that made his bones feel like cracking from the pressure. The full moon was rising, and the bond was roaring, not whispering and not humming. Howling, and then… she was there.

He sensed her before he saw her. Her presence lit up his senses like lightning cracking through a storm. Her scent hit him first, warm, sweet, uniquely hers, and his wolf snapped to attention so fast it nearly knocked him off his feet. Sweat beaded along his brow as his heart pounded against his ribs, each beat a brutal drumroll of restraint.

She stepped into the trees.

“Bastian?”

Her voice broke the silence, a flare in the dark, and when he turned, f**k, she was already too close. Hoodie half-zipped, braid loose over one shoulder, eyes searching. Needing.

He flinched like she’d hit him.

The sight of her was too much. Too soft. Too real. And everything in his body responded. The wolf inside him surged toward her with a hunger that had nothing to do with s*x and everything to do with claiming. Marking. Mating. It screamed to finish what they’d started.

He backed into the nearest tree as though he could fuse himself into it.

“Stop,” he rasped, voice half-feral. “You shouldn’t be here.”

She stepped closer anyway, brows drawn, stubborn as ever. “I came to talk to you.”

He shook his head, slow and tight, barely able to hold himself together. “No. Not now. Not like this.”

Another step.

He growled, deep, guttural, not at her, but at himself. A warning. A prayer. Anything to keep from touching her.

Her eyes widened, freezing her in place. The bond between them stretched taut.

He gripped the bark behind him until it cracked beneath his fingers.

“Do you feel it?” His voice was rough, scraped raw from the inside. “Do you feel what this moon is doing to me?”

She swallowed hard. “I—yes. I think so.”

“Then leave,” he said, forcing the words through clenched teeth. “Now.”

But she didn’t.

She stepped closer again. Not with fear, but with purpose. With care.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” she asked. “About what this would do to you.”

“Because I didn’t want to scare you.”

“Too late,” she whispered. “Despite that, I’m here.”

He closed his eyes, agony tightening each muscle. He could hear her heartbeat, the blood rushing through her veins. He could smell her pulse. He remembered the satin of her skin under his mouth from their last kiss. The sound she made when she arched into him. The taste of her tongue, her moan caught in his throat like a weapon.

She was afraid, but not of him. Of this bond. Of what they were.

“Bastian.” She repeated his name. Quieter this time. “Bastian… I talked to Selene.”

He flinched. His jaw flexed until it ached.

“She said this bond isn’t just hurting you. It’s breaking you.”

His golden gaze met hers. “It is.”

“Why?”

“I’m holding myself back from the one thing my wolf needs to survive,” he bit out. “Because if I give in, I might lose myself. I might lose you.”

“You wouldn’t,” she said, her voice shaking but firm.

“You don’t know that.”

“I do.” Another step. “You marked me to save me. You’ve protected me from the very beginning. Even when I hated you.”

His fists trembled at his sides. “You might by the time it’s all over.”

“No,” she said. “I’m just scared.”

“So am I.”

The words hung between them like a live wire.

“I’m scared I’ll take without asking,” he whispered. “That I’ll be too far gone to stop. And if I do that, if I ever hurt you—” His voice cracked. “I won’t come back from it.”

She moved closer. His wolf surged again, wild and pleading. Bastian held the line by a breath.

Then her hand touched his chest, a whisper of skin against skin.

“You won’t hurt me,” she said.

His entire body shook violently.

“I don’t know how much longer I can hold it,” he said through gritted teeth. “The wolf is frantic. The bond is pure fire. It’s in my blood, my bones, every cell is screaming.”

She stepped in, close enough that her breath danced along his jaw.

“Then stop holding back.”

His control splintered.

But even in the quake of it, he didn’t move. Not until she told him.

“Mira, what—do you want?” he asked, voice ragged with restraint.

“You saved me,” she murmured. “Now let me do the same for you.”

She reached up, fingers brushing the side of his face. He leaned into the touch like it was the only thing tethering him to this world.

“What do I need to do?”

He pulled back just enough to meet her eyes. His own glowed, hungry, reverent, desperate, and then, his voice, gravel-edged and almost broken, spoke the only truth left in him.

“Run.”