~Annalyn POV~
The night air wrapped around me like silk, cool and as I stepped barefoot into the garden behind Lucas's house. The grass felt damp under my feet, a single beam of moonlight spilled over the stone path, guiding me forward like it knew where I needed to go.
I didn't, but something inside me did. The wolf! She stirred in my blood now with more urgency than ever. Prowling under my skin, restless, aroused, starving. I walked past the edge of the rosebushes and into the grove of trees, heart racing, but I wasn't afraid, I was just ready.
A breeze swept through the trees, carrying a familiar scent, and I know who it was, Calix! I turned slowly. He stepped out of the shadows without a word, completely naked, silver eyes glowing, muscles tight with restraint. His body glistened faintly, like he'd been running, or hunting.
He didn't speak, he doesn't have to because we both knew why I was here.
His gaze swept over me. My robe was still barely tied, I hadn't worn anything under it. It slipped off my shoulder, and I didn't fix it, not this moment.
"You shouldn't be out here alone," he said, voice barely audible and rough.
"I'm not alone," I answered, stepping closer.
Something changed in his face then, the way his eyes flicked to my neck...to the mark Lucas had left. His jaw clenched.
"He already claimed you."
"My wolf isn't satisfied," I whispered.
Calix exhaled hard. "She's greedy."
"No, she's hungry. For all of you... or perhaps, for you."
He moved so fast I didn't see it coming, one moment he was still. The next, he was in front of me, grabbing me by the waist, pulling me against his chest. His skin burned against mine and his lips hovered just above my mouth.
"Say it," he said.
"I want you."
He growled, but did not sound human, not soft, just pure wolf.
The kiss he gave me was violent, fierce. Tongue and teeth and fire. My robe slipped to the ground as he lifted me into his arms, pressed me against the nearest tree, the bark scraped my back, but I didn't care.
His mouth moved down my throat, over my collarbone, to my breasts. I gasped when he bit gently over my nipple, sucking until I moaned. Then he dropped to his knees.
He buried his face between my thighs, growling as he licked me like a man dying of thirst. His tongue circled, then thrust, deeper, hotter, until I was shaking against the tree.
I came with his name on my lips, and he didn't stop. When he rose, he didn't give me time to catch my breath. He turned me around, pressed my front against the tree, and slid into me from behind with one hard, perfect thrust.
"You're mine now," he growled into my ear.
My answer was a scream. His hands were everywhere...on my breasts, my hips, my throat. His pace was brutal, his rhythm perfect, each stroke dragged another moan from my lips.
I couldn't think, I could only feel. The way his body moved with mine. The way my wolf howled inside me, and the mark on my neck burned hotter with each thrust, but something else built inside it. A second bond! Another tie! Another claim.
I felt it forming, he bit my shoulder...hard...and I shattered around him. We collapsed together on the forest floor, sweaty, tangled, breathless.
He kissed the top of my head. "That's the second mark, now you're bound to me too."
"I can feel it."
"It'll only get stronger."
Before I could respond, a rustle in the trees made us both turn. Another scent, familiar and heavy. cinnamon and smoke. Matteo!
He stepped out of the trees, arms crossed, shirt open, eyes glowing gold. And fury burned behind them.
"You couldn't wait, could you?" he asked, voice sharp. "You let him take you next."
I sat up, pulling Calix's jacket over myself. "It wasn't like that."
He ignored me.
"Calix," he said, stepping forward, "you crossed the line."
Calix stood, completely unashamed, naked and proud. "She chose me."
"She doesn't know what she wants! And you know that!"
"I know what my body wants," I said. "And I'm tired of pretending otherwise."
Matteo's jaw tensed. "Then you'll let me have you next?"
I didn't answer, not because I didn't want him. But because I wasn't sure what would happen if I did.
Matteo stared at me a moment longer, then turned to leave. But just before he vanished into the woods, he said something that made my heart stop.
"Ezra lied to you, the ritual isn't meant to bind you. It's meant to sacrifice you!"
Matteo's words hit me like an arrow in the heart, because... sacrifice?
He didn't wait for me to speak. Didn't care if Calix had more to say, he just turned and vanished into the darkness, leaving behind a silence and confusion, I could hardly breathe.
The word rang again in my head.... sacrifice?
The moonlight had shifted, a cloud slid across its pale face, casting shadows through the trees. The warmth Calix had given me moments ago was gone, replaced by a chill deep in my bones.
He stood beside me, silent, troubled. The Calix... who was so confident, so smug after taking me... now looked shaken.
I pulled the jacket tighter around myself and whispered, "Do you think it's true?"
He looked down at me. "Ezra lies, always has. But this... I don't know."
My stomach knotted. "Lucas said Ezra wasn't supposed to exist."
"He wasn't," Calix said quietly. "He was born from with dark magic, that is why he was cast away from us."
I remembered Ezra's touch, his kiss. The fire in his veins that seemed to crawl under my skin. My wolf had responded to him like he was fate...but fate wasn't supposed to feel like danger.
Calix stepped closer and pressed his hand to my cheek. "You don't have to do the ritual, we can leave. I mean, right now. Just you and me."
I wanted to say yes, I wanted to escape, but something in me...deeper than fear, deeper than instinct—held me still.
"I have to know the truth," I said. "If Ezra is planning something..."
Calix sighed. "If that's what you want, then we'll find out."
The next morning, Lucas was already waiting when I returned. He stood on the porch, arms folded, shirtless, bruises still fading across his ribs. His eyes tracked me like a hawk.
"You were with him," he said.
I didn't deny it and he stepped forward, but I raised a hand.
"Before you say anything, Matteo came. He told me the ritual isn't what Ezra says it is. He says it's a trap."
Lucas's face darkened. "I know."