To Break a Wolf

Chapter 19: Boundaries be Damned

Mira woke with a gasp.

Her body jolted upright, sweat slickened her skin, and glued the sheets to her back. Her breath came in shallow bursts, her heart hammering against her ribs, trying to escape. For a second, she didn’t move. Couldn’t. Every nerve ending was on fire, her blood buzzing, heat twisting low and dangerous beneath her skin.

The dream hadn’t faded. It clung to every piece of her, as vivid and consuming as if caught inside her.

Bastian.

His mouth had been everywhere, devouring, reverent, commanding. His hands anchored her hips with a desperation that felt sacred, and she had met him with an equal fire, as if her body had always belonged to him and had only just remembered how to yield. How to take. How to beg.

The slow, torturous press of him inside her continued coursing through her, every stroke dragging her deeper under, until she was gasping his name as if it was the only truth left in her mouth. His weight over her. His scent wrapped around her as if it were smoke and sin and safety. The dream hadn’t spared a single detail, and the way he’d looked at her. Gods. Not as if she were beautiful, or precious, but as though she was his.

Claimed.

Possessed.

Owned.

And she had let him.

Her back arched at the memory, thighs clenching involuntarily. Even now, her n*****s tightened against the cool air, her body aching with a need that had no outlet and no mercy. She pressed her hands to her thighs, digging her short fingernails in, grounding herself, trying to breathe past it.

It wasn’t just lust. It was a hunger, deep and raw.

What terrified her most wasn’t how vividly her body reacted, it was how willing her heart had been in the dream. How easily she’d opened to him, trusted and needed him, and when his teeth had pierced her shoulder—where the mark now lived in real life—she hadn’t screamed, she had come undone.

Mira threw off the blankets as though they burned. The cool floor grounded her, but only slightly. She doubled over, bracing her forearms against her knees, and dragged breath after breath through her nose. The echo of him still lived in her bones, and she hated it.

It wasn’t real. It was just the bond.

Just the bond. Just the bond. Just the bond.

She repeated it, a prayer to a god she didn’t believe in. Her hands shook violently.

She couldn’t sit in this space another second, trapped with out-of-control thoughts and memories that didn’t belong to her. Her power pulsed beneath her skin, restless and alive after waking from dormancy.

She needed movement and to regain control.

She shoved her feet into running shoes, jammed her earbuds in, and bolted for the door.

Outside, the mountain air slapped her lungs, cold and biting. It felt like permission.

She took off down the dirt road that curved back toward the village, which was safer than the deep woods, or so she told herself. Music thundered in her ears, blocking out everything but the rhythm of her breaths and the steady pound of her feet against the earth.

For a while, it worked.

Her thoughts quieted as her body found its rhythm. The world narrowed to motion and the effort it took to reach her necessary speed. But then, the feeling crept in. That eerie prickling down the back of her neck.

Eyes watched her every move.

She yanked one earbud out and slowed, scanning the trees. Nothing moved. But the feeling didn’t fade; it intensified, becoming heavily suffocating, just as though eyes she couldn’t see were crawling all over her skin.

She picked up her pace again, pushing harder, faster, trying to outrun it, and that’s when Selene stepped into her path.

Mira skidded to a stop. “Jesus, Selene! You trying to give me a heart attack?”

Selene didn’t so much as blink, arms folded. One brow arched in that maddening, ice-cold way. “Do you always run off into the woods without backup?”

“I didn’t realize I needed a babysitter.”

“You do,” Selene said flatly, “when you’ve had multiple attacks against you and our borders breached.”

Mira scoffed. “Oh, good. So glad someone finally noticed, and here I thought I was collecting near-death experiences for fun.”

Selene didn’t smile. Her arms crossed tighter. “This isn’t a joke, Mira.”

“I’m not laughing,” Mira shot back. “I’m running, which apparently, requires a full security detail now.”

Mira’s jaw clenched. “Of course. Let me guess—one o’clock, three trees back?”

Selene followed her gaze, smirking. “You saw him.”

“I’m not blind,” Mira muttered. “Or stupid.”

“Then you already figured it out. Guard duty.”

Mira rolled her eyes. “Yeah, I assumed the stalker in the woods wasn’t just birdwatching.”

“He’s there to protect you,” Selene said, her voice edging into patient exasperation.

“I didn’t ask for protection,” Mira snapped. “And I sure as hell didn’t agree to being tracked like a runaway.”

Selene stopped walking. “You’re his mate now, Mira. His wolf doesn’t understand boundaries. It understands danger. It understands possession. And right now, you’re both.”

Mira turned, fire crackling behind her eyes. “Then his wolf can learn to deal with disappointment.”

Selene gave a low sigh. “You can hate it all you want. Doesn’t change a damn thing.”

Mira didn’t respond. She spun on her heel and marched toward the cabins, her voice tight and final over her shoulder.

“I’m done.”

Selene said nothing. Just fell into step beside her as if this was all going exactly as expected.

They hadn’t even reached the cabin before Mira knew something was wrong. The door was open. Inside, two strangers were rifling through her things. One of them was holding her underwear.

She stopped cold. “What the—”

Then she was moving.

Storming up the steps, voice sharp enough to cut glass. “EXCUSE ME?! What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

The men froze. The one with her underwear looked panicked. The other avoided her eyes.

Selene groaned. “Oh, great.”

“Alpha’s orders,” the man said, flinching.

“Alpha’s what?”

“He told us to move your belongings to his residence. Effective immediately.”

Mira laughed—a dry, brittle sound. Of course, Bastian was making decisions without her again.

Her voice turned deadly. “Tell your Alpha if he wants my underwear, he can damn well pack it himself.”

She pivoted, fury igniting every step as she stalked toward the pack house.

“Fantastic,” Selene muttered. “This’ll be fun.”

She found Bastian in his office, calmly in control of himself and deep in conversation with Callum.

She slammed the door open.

“ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!”

Callum blinked once, arched a brow, and vanished like smoke, shutting the door behind him.

“You had strangers in my cabin. Touching my things.”

Bastian didn’t flinch. “You’re moving in. We discussed this.”

“No, you decided it.”

“It’s for your safety.”

“I don’t care what it’s for!” she snapped. “You don’t get to decide where I live.”

Silence stretched between them, taut and trembling. Then he tilted his head, lips twitching. “Are you done?”

Her whole body lit up with fury.

She leaned across his desk. “You do that again and I swear—”

“You’ll what?” His voice dropped, low and dangerous. “Run back to your little cabin where I can’t protect you? Or keep pretending this is something you can control?”

The bond pulsed between them. Molten. Electric. She hated it. Hated how her body leaned toward him even as her mind screamed run.

Her hand landed on the nearest object, a thick leather-bound book, and without thinking, she picked it up and hurled it at his chest.

He caught it without blinking and what pissed her off more? He was amused by this, not that he let it show; she could feel it.

You’ll come around, little mate.

Her body went still. She hadn’t heard it.

She had felt his voice in her mind.

She spun, eyes wide. “What did you just say?”

He stared at her, face unreadable. “I didn’t say a word.”

“You liar.” She didn’t say it out loud, but she knew. She knew he was lying. Her instincts, sharp and unforgiving, whispered that another part of her had just changed, and he wasn’t going to admit it.

Mira turned and walked out, slamming the door behind her with a thud that shook the walls, and for the first time, she wasn’t sure if she was more afraid of him… or herself.