Nate:
After I ordered my men to take that traitor to the power-suppression cell, my eyes turned slowly, as if dragged by a hidden force, toward Sera.
Rage and anxiety were gnawing at my soul in a violent struggle—a silent conflict that prevented me from uttering a single word.
She was staring at me with confusion and bewilderment, a pale tension covering her face.
In the blink of an eye, using my power, my body lunged into the room.
It was decorated in an exaggeratedly romantic way, but I paid it no attention; all my focus was on her.
I stared at her for a long time; she was surprised by my rapid transition and embarrassed by the ridiculous sight of the room in this situation.
I placed her on the bed, glaring at her sharply, but damn it, she ignored me completely and avoided looking at my face.
The fires of rage ignited in my chest once more. I raised her chin with a firm hand, directing her face toward me.
I stared at her intensely, only to be met by her tired, wandering eyes. I was no longer aware of myself, and I screamed my final words at her, venting all my anger over her recklessness.
With a clear gesture of annoyance, she pushed my hand away and lay down on the bed.
She was completely absent-minded, her features exhausted as if she were detached from the entire world.
I felt anxiety rising in my chest.
Damn it! She is not okay.
I sat beside her, calling her name repeatedly, but she didn't hear me.
My heart was pounding hard with fear this time—a real fear that had nothing to do with anger.
I sat beside her on the edge of the bed, calling:
"Sera... Sera..."
But she didn't hear me. My heart was beating powerfully with fear, a harsh fear I hadn't felt in a long time. I patted her cheek with unusual gentleness,
"Sera, look at me... Sera!"
In a desperate attempt to catch her attention. My heart was drumming in my chest like war drums, its beats violent and fast from the fear that had completely possessed me.
I leaned over her, my hand trembling slightly as I patted her cheek with a gentleness uncharacteristic of me, trying to draw her attention.
"Sera... look at me... Sera... Sera!"
I called her in a voice that might have sounded shaky. Finally, her eyes turned toward me very slowly.
She was semi-conscious, her gaze blurry, but she focused on me for a moment. Her hand reached out and held my hand with a strange calmness—a total surrender that seemed to me like a painful sign of weakness.
"Damn it Sera, don't close your eyes! Sera!"
I shook her slightly by her shoulders, trying to keep her awake, but she didn't respond.
I looked down, and my limbs trembled; her clothes were completely covered in blood.
"Damn it!" I screamed, "Her injury!"
I tore the dress slightly at the abdomen with my trembling hands to check the wound.
The moment felt as long as eternity, then I exhaled a deep, overwhelming sigh of relief.
"Thank God, she is completely healed."
There was no open wound. I looked at her again; her breathing and heartbeat were regular and calm now.
The fear vanished, replaced by a kind of calmness mixed with self-reproach.
"I think I overreacted with my anxiety..."
I whispered to myself, realizing the true reason for her condition:
"She just needs rest since she consumed a massive amount of her strength and energy."
The situation was extremely awkward. I had to change her clothes, a task I was not prepared for at all.
I sighed inwardly with distress and some annoyance:
"Damn it, how am I going to do this?"
To make it easier and faster, I brought her a shirt and shorts. I stood before her, gathering my courage and trying to encourage myself to start the task.
I slowly began to remove her clothes while struggling to avoid looking at her.
At that moment, I felt a strange internal conflict. I felt as if my sides, "Dark" and "Black," had gotten excited about the idea in an inappropriate way and started fighting to take control of my actions.
"To hell with them!" I said to myself, realizing I had to hurry before I lost control of the situation and myself.
I finally finished removing her old clothes and took the new shirt in my hand to start dressing her.
The task still required a lot of focus and caution. I looked at her, and I wish I hadn't.
I froze in my tracks, staring at her charms and her well-proportioned body in total distraction.
My breathing quickened; her provocative appearance made the task even harder for me.
"Damn it, damn it!" I whispered to myself,
"I must hurry before losing control!"
But her appearance wasn't helping me at all.
I realized I was in trouble, so I shut my eyes tightly and forced myself to focus on finishing quickly.
I finally finished after a difficult struggle with myself and those stupid thoughts.
I adjusted her sleeping position, covered her well, and then hurried out of the room—nay, I bolted—before I did anything I might regret later.
I entered the room in the early morning, after an exhausting night in which I couldn't sleep. I had spent it hunched over completing office work and some important papers that couldn't be delayed.
Sera was still sleeping as I had left her last night; completely calm, she hadn't moved a single hair, like a marble statue.
I took some clean clothes from the closet and headed to take a warm shower, hoping it would wash away some of the fatigue and exhaustion that weighed heavily on my shoulders.
Immediately upon coming out of the bathroom, as my eyes wandered around the room, I saw her sitting on the bed.
She was staring at me with mysterious and steady gazes. Cyran, her wolf, had awakened.
Cyran looked at me, and that wicked smile I knew so well—the smile of one confident in themselves and their effect—was drawn on her lips.
I couldn't even blink; in the blink of an eye, she was directly in front of me, so close that her warm breath began to brush against my face.
She reached out and hugged my neck in a quick and sudden movement, while her other hand slid down slowly, feeling the muscles of my chest and abdomen.
Her touch was skillful, numbing my senses and distracting my thoughts.
She began to bring her lips closer to mine very slowly, in a clear game of deliberate manipulation and sedation, as if she enjoyed seeing me lose my balance.
And she indeed succeeded in that endeavor.
Finally, her lips met mine.
She began kissing me calmly and gently at first, but soon the kiss turned into wild passion and greed.
I tried to stay composed, to hold myself back with force and not reciprocate this passion, in a violent internal struggle between my sudden desire and my rejection of the situation.
She broke the kiss suddenly and pulled away slightly while panting heavily; her rapid, hot breath was evidence of the passion she was feeling.
She looked at me with her burning eyes, a deep look full of intense desire, and said in a slightly husky voice:
"Damn you Nate, you are sexy as hell."
I wasn't surprised by her words; I knew she was a bold wolf like Dark. I knew perfectly well that her personality differed drastically from Sera's.
This brazen audacity was expected of her, even familiar. I recognized the subtle differences between them: Sera was more shy and modest, while "she" was direct and reckless, unafraid of expressing her desires or provoking me with her hot words.
This contrast wasn't strange to me; it was part of her nature that I had grown accustomed to.
I finally composed myself after a long silence and uttered her name:
"Cyran..."
She hummed with annoyance, so I completed my question:
"Where is Sera...?"
She was slightly annoyed by my question and sighed visibly. She pulled away further and said in a dry tone:
"Unconscious."
I opened my mouth intending to say something else, but she interrupted me quickly and firmly:
"Don't ask why... when she regains her strength she will wake up, don't worry."
Then she pushed me violently from in front of the bathroom door, entered, and locked the door behind her.
I stood in my place, knitting my eyebrows in wonder and confusion:
"What is wrong with this wolf? Does she suffer from schizophrenia or what?"
I hurriedly put on my shirt and headed with steady steps toward the breakfast hall.
Upon my arrival, the scene was familiar: everyone was present waiting for our appearance, faces watching me with anticipation.
I sat as usual at the head of the table, imposing an artificial calm on the atmosphere.
It wasn't long before I sensed her arrival. She entered the hall and headed toward us immediately.
Joy was painted on her face as she hurried her steps, embracing her family warmly, asking about their well-being and checking on them.
I was watching her calmly, observing that sincere smile that lit up her face, but this calm soon dissipated.
As soon as she saw her brother Jack, her proximity to him increased, and she embraced him in a way that annoyed and angered me intensely.
I felt as if a fire was boiling inside me, igniting in my chest from this closeness between them.
I drew a cold and terrifying side-smile on my lips and whispered to myself with a threat:
"So he wants his mate? Fine Jack, let's see if you will take my sister from me."
These words were a hidden promise of the outcome of the coming conflict—a conflict that had just begun in my mind.
Sera sat beside her family, ignoring my existence completely as if I weren't there at all.
She approached Jack in a "dangerous" way, a way that sparked my anger and provoked me.
"That bold wolf wants to play with me then,"
I said to myself with a cold side-smile.
I decided to ignore her intentionally in turn, while I watched her every move stealthily from the corner of my eye.
Not long after I finished my food, I stood up.
Immediately upon completing my meal, I headed toward the cell to deal with that traitor, my brother, ignoring everyone around me, my focus solely on what must be done next.
I threw the cell door wide open and looked at him with deadly coldness. He stared at me, smiling with clear sarcasm, and said mockingly:
"Ooh, look who's here! My dear brother."
Then he laughed loudly, a mad laugh that made matters worse. I looked at him sharply and said:
"What are you trying to achieve with these actions of yours?"
He replied coldly:
"Nate... Nate, you are truly stupid, very stupid."
I furrowed my eyebrows with increasing anger and landed a powerful punch on his face.
"I'll show you what this stupid person will do to you!"
I shouted at him.
I delivered a barrage of consecutive punches to his face until it was completely covered in blood.
I finally stopped while panting heavily; this filth had sparked my anger. But he didn't stop laughing and said while chuckling:
"Do you think you've succeeded? That you can stop me this easily, my dear brother?"
Then he resumed his loud laughter. I was surprised by his talk and wondered to myself:
"What the hell does he mean?"
He finished his words with sudden coldness:
"Quite simply, I am the one who surrendered. I only came to confirm something, and indeed, I confirmed its truth. They have found out the true identity of your mate."
I froze in my tracks at his words, the blood running very slowly in my veins.
"Damn it! Sera is in real danger!"
I said to myself. "I must protect her at any cost, even if it costs me my life to achieve that."