Lana froze mid–step, her wolf stiffening in her chest. Victor’s offer to escort her home felt less like protection and more like a subtle reminder of past dominance.
“I’ll send you back,” he added, ncing at Kade sprawled drunkenly across the lounge sofa.
Lana’s pulse spiked violently. She wasn’t about to let her former mate drive her home. “No- no, you just take care of him. I’ll… I’ll find a driver myself,” she said quickly, fidgeting as her wolf bristled at the proximity of danger, sensing Victor’s presence as a predator still very much aware of the terrain.
Victor’s dark eyes narrowed, almost imperceptibly, but the intensity was enough to make Lana’s wolf crouch in caution. His thin lips parted, words deliberate and cold: “Follow.”
She exhaled sharply, realizing resistance was futile. Victor’s control radiated like an invisible chain, strong enough to tether even a wolf as stubborn as hers. Reluctantly, she moved to the passenger side, climbing in with a mix of frustration and submission.
Victor settled behind the wheel, the vehicle’s sleek ck body reflecting the dim neon lights outside the Ashbourne lounge. Lana gave the address, her tone clipped, unyielding, though her pulse raced as her wolf instinctively watched his every movement. The car slid smoothly into motion, the engine’s low growl echoing her racing heartbeat.
Inside, the air was tense. Silence draped over the car like a heavy cloak. Lana’s eyes kept flicking toward Victor, whose gaze remained fixed on the road ahead. Time seemed to stretch. Victor had grown since theirst encounter–no longer the boyish figure of years ago. His posture was rigid, yet refined; his presence exuded a quiet, intoxicating authority, like the moonlight illuminating the alpha in his prime. The wolf in her chest growled softly, unnerved yet inexplicably drawn to the aura of power radiating from him.
The car slowed near her building. Lana quickly unbuckled her seatbelt, preparing to escape into the safety of her apartmentplex. Her wolf bristled, alert to every sound, every movement outside. But before she could step out, Victor’s voice cut through the quiet, low and deliberate:
“After we parted ways… have you ever regretted it?”
Her body stiffened. “No. I’m relieved we broke up,” she said firmly, trying to mask the tremor in her chest, trying to hide the residual fear her wolf instinctively sensed.
Victor’s hand shot out, seizing her wrist with a strength that was firm, measured, and
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unnervingly intimate. His eyes bore into hers, dark and unreadable. “Relieved? You truly hated being with me?”
Even as his grip held her wrist, there was restraint–a wolf marking its territory without inflicting harm, keeping control while allowing freedom to exist in theory.
“I didn’t hate being with you… I was just… like a wolf fed too much rich meat,” Lana replied with a faintugh, her wolf lowering its head slightly in submission, trying to hide her internal conflict. “Eventually, it grows tiresome.”
Victor’s piercing gaze remained unblinking, and for a long moment, the only sound was the hum of the car engine and the distant city noises outside.
“Victor… can you release me now?” Lana asked, forcing calm into her voice, though her chest tightened from thetent tension.
He finally released her wrist. Lana slid out of the car with a deliberate grace, wolf instincts still coiled beneath her calm exterior. She offered a teasing remark as she closed the door behind her. “If ever you miss the past, Victor… don’t think I wouldn’t consider revisiting it. Even something once tiresome can be appetizing again, asionally.”
She caught the glint of cold amusement–or perhaps irritation–in his eyes before turning, walking away with deliberate independence. Wolves might be drawn to their territory, but some prey preferred to choose their own path.
Lana’s wolf rxed fractionally, though it remained alert, scanning the city streets for potential threats. In the grand scheme of things, Victor Ashford was no longer a wolf she needed to hunt–he was a challenge she could safely disengage from.
The next day, Lana apanied Freya Thorne on a shopping trip. The Capital’s SkyVex Armaments district buzzed with energy as urban wolves and humans moved through the markets, carrying bags brimming with goods.
“By the way,” Lana said, brushing a loose strand of hair from her face, “you didn’te back to my cest night. Were you at Ss’s instead?”
Freya’s lips curved into a faint, knowing smile. “Yes. I wanted to, but Ss… insisted I stay. He imed it was because of the scent. That the perfume incident earlier had triggered memories, and he feared another night of restless dreams.”
Lana raised an eyebrow, curiosity piqued. “So… are you nning to cohabit with him?”
“Seems like it,” Freya admitted without hesitation. Her wolf twitched at the thought, protective yet intrigued by the presence of another alpha in close proximity.
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Lana’s smirk turned mischievous. “Just make sure you take precautions. Unless, of course, you’re ready for a child.”
Freyaughed, shaking her head, her wolf’s fur bristling at the teasing. “Even if we’re cohabiting, it hasn’te to that step yet.”
“Yet,” Lana said knowingly. “And don’t tell me you haven’t ever felt the desire to… consume him entirely.”
Freya’s ears twitched. Perhaps a little, but she refused to answer directly, letting the subtle tension hang between them like the scent of musk and pine after a storm.
Their conversation paused abruptly as Freya’s gaze hardened. Across the za, near the gleaming towers of SilverTech Forgeworks, Caelum Grafton’s mother, Eleanor, and sister Giselle, carryingrge shopping bags, were walking alongside Aurora, the newly appointed female pilot of the Bluemoon Airborne Wing.
Freya’s wolf growled low in warning. The Capital was sprawling, yet here they were–enemies of the past, manifesting in the present, crossing paths like the inevitable collision of predator
and prey.
“Trouble,” Freya muttered under her breath. Lana followed her gaze, understanding
immediately. Fate, it seemed, had a penchant for sharpening the ws of wolf packs, even in the most mundane settings.
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