I woke to the sound of something wrong.
Not wrong like a nightmare. Wrong like the world breaking open.
Cassian was sitting on the edge of the bed, shirtless, drenched in sweat. Veins like black lightning ran across his chest and neck, pulsing with something that should’ve killed him ten minutes ago.
Wolfsbane.
Concentrated. Enough to drop a full-grown Alpha in seconds.
And he’d drunk it. On purpose.
“Oh my god,” I breathed. “What the actual hell—”
He didn’t look at me. His eyes were closed, fists clenched at his sides. Every breath was forced, deliberate. His whole body trembled like it was trying to shake something off. Or hold something in.
“Why did you do that?” I asked, heart hammering. “Why would you do that?”
His eyes opened. Silver. Bright and sharp like blades in moonlight.
“To remind myself I can,” he said calmly. Like he wasn’t bleeding from the mouth. Like his body wasn’t in open rebellion.
“That stuff kills people.”
“It kills wolves,” he corrected. “It doesn’t kill me.”
I stared at him, stunned. “What are you?”
He exhaled slowly, then stood — all controlled, coiled strength. His muscles twitched under skin gone too tight, too hot, too alive.
“I’m not just a wolf,” he said, stepping closer. “I’m the last Dire. The blood they bred out because it scared them.”
My mouth was dry. “So this… this is nothing to you?”
His gaze pinned me in place. “It’s pain. I feel it. I just don’t run from it.”
“Holy shit.”
He was close now. Close enough that I could feel the heat pouring off him. His skin looked branded, glowing under the poison, veins lit like dark fire.
“You’re insane,” I whispered. “Completely fucking insane.”
“And you’re still here,” he said, voice rough. “Watching.”
I should have backed away. I didn’t. My eyes dragged over him — the cut of his jaw, the blood on his lips, the storm in his chest.
“You should be dead,” I murmured.
“I’m not easy to kill.”
He stepped even closer, and I swear the air between us went electric.
“I don’t know whether to be afraid or—” I stopped myself.
His eyes burned.
“Or what?”
My throat tightened. “Or want to see what happens next.”
His hand came up, just brushing my cheek. Not a grab. Not a threat. Just heat.
“You’ll see,” he said.
I should’ve pulled away.
But I didn’t.
His skin was burning, charged like a storm barely contained, and something inside me leaned into it — into him. His fingers drifted down, tracing the edge of my jaw like he was mapping it, memorizing the shape of something that belonged to him.
I swallowed hard. “See what?”
“That I’m stronger than you think.”
I let out a shaky laugh. “You just drank enough wolfsbane to drop a god, and you’re still standing. I think I’ve seen plenty.”
His eyes didn’t leave mine. “Not yet.”
The space between us vanished like it never existed. One second I was breathing normal air, the next I was breathing him. His mouth hovered near mine — not touching, just threatening to. My pulse went wild.
“You’re not afraid of me,” he said softly, like it fascinated him.
“I should be,” I whispered. “Everyone is.”
His hand slid to the back of my neck, holding me there like I was something fragile and dangerous all at once. “They’re right to be.”
I didn’t know who moved first. Maybe both of us. But suddenly our mouths met — no hesitation, no sweetness, just heat and hunger and restraint breaking like glass. His lips crushed mine, and I melted into it like I’d been waiting for this fire my whole damn life.
He kissed like he fought — all power and control, but beneath it was something else. Something claimed. Like I was already his and he was just collecting what was owed.
My fingers fisted in his hair, tugging hard, testing him. He growled — a low, dark sound that made heat pool low in my stomach — and backed me into the wall like gravity was optional. His body pinned mine, all heat and muscle and fury barely restrained.
“Valen thinks he owns me,” I gasped between kisses.
His mouth found my neck. “He doesn’t.”
“You think you could take him?”
His tongue traced fire over my skin, then he bit — just hard enough to make me moan.
“I don’t think,” he said against my throat. “I know.”
I shivered. Not from fear. From the certainty in his voice. From the way my body reacted to it — like it had been waiting for someone this savage, this sure, to burn the world down for me.
“You’re insane,” I whispered again, even as I dragged him closer.
“I’m inevitable,” he growled, and lifted me like I weighed nothing, pressing me harder against the wall.
And gods help me, I let him.
