THE WOLF WHO WOKE
Ariana didn't breathe until the elevator doors closed.
The moment the glass swallowed her reflection, her knees buckled.
"What was that?" she whispered.
Inside her mind, Ryn's voice snapped like cracked ice.
"I told you he's dangerous!"
Lila whimpered, sounding like a child hiding under a blanket.
"He… he smelled me…"
Ariana pressed a shaking hand to her chest.
She could still feel the heat of Anderson Luca's breath on her neck.
Still hear that whisper.
*You smell useful*.
Her body shivered violently.
"No, no, no… this can't happen now. Not when I finally got a job."
The elevator dinged open. She hurried out of the building into the rain-soaked street, breathing fast.
But she didn't get far.
Because deep inside her…
Another voice stirred.
One she hadn't heard in three months.
Vyre.
The unpredictable one.
The one she feared the most.
The beast.
"He saw us," Vyre purred in a dangerously calm tone. "Finally… Someone who sees ."
Ariana choked on her breath.
"No,Go back,Not again Not now ."
A sudden wave of dizziness slammed into her, forcing her to hold onto a lamppost.
Too many voices. Too close to the surface.
Her vision blurred.
Then everything went black.
---
Meanwhile , Inside the Glass Room
Anderson Luca stood completely still.
The moment Ariana left, his composure fractured.
He dragged a hand through his hair as the wolf inside him snarled awake, violently, impatiently.
Mate.
His jaw clenched.
"No," he muttered. "Not again. Not after all these years, we don't need a mate."
The wolf growled louder.
She is ours.
She's not ... He replied,mostly to himself
Anderson paced to the window, claws of heat ripping under his skin,bones threatening to shift, reshape.
He gripped the window frame until it cracked under his palm.
"She's human," he rasped.
Not normal, the wolf countered. Her scent is layered. Fractured. Protected.
Anderson closed his eyes.
What he sensed in Ariana wasn't normal fear.
It was fear coming from three different heartbeats inside one body.
Three rhythms.
Three pulses.
Three souls.
"That shouldn't be possible," he whispered.
The wolf rumbled with interest.
She is broken. But she is ours.
Anderson swallowed hard, remembering how she flinched.
How she fought herself.
How her scent flickered between innocence, steel… and something wild.
His fingers twitched.
He wanted her back in the room.
He wanted her close.
He wanted..
He stopped.
"No," he growled, forcing the wolf back. "I'm not doing this again."
He hadn't shifted in five years.
He swore he never would.
Then this girl walked in…
And the monster snapped awake like she'd whispered its name.
Anderson inhaled sharply...
He caught the faintest trail of her scent still lingering in the air.
Rain.
Fear.
And something deeper… something sinful.
His eyes burned gold again.
Find her. the wolf demanded.
Anderson ignored it.. barely.
He grabbed his suit jacket and turned—
But something hit him like lightning.
A jolt in his chest.
A warning.
Ariana's heartbeat .. No, her three heartbeats.... spiked sharply.
Too sharply.
A tremor shot through him.
"She's in danger Luca! , Nothing should happen to our mate please"
The wolf roared.
GO!.
Anderson moved before he realized it, sprinting out of the office with inhuman speed.
---
Back to Ariana
Rain soaked her hair, her clothes, her lashes.
She wasn't awake.
Not fully.
She was trapped.
Inside her mind.
Ryn was shouting.
Lila was crying.
Vyre was whispering, trying to take control.
"Ariana!" Ryn snapped. "You need to wake up!"
But Ariana couldn't.
Her body lay on the wet pavement near the road, trembling violently.
People passed by, umbrellas overhead, barely glancing at her.
Her breath hitched.
Her vision flickered.
A dark shape blurred through the street.
Just when she thought it was over ..
Warm, strong arms lifted her off the ground effortlessly.
A voice rumbled next to her ear.. low, furious, animal like ...
"Ariana…"
Her heart stuttered.
Because even unconscious…
She recognized the voice.
Anderson.
His chest vibrated with a sound she had no human word for.
A growl.
A purr.
A warning.
"You're safe," he whispered, pulling her impossibly closer. "I've got you."
Inside her mind, every alter fell silent.
Even Vyre.
Ariana's lips moved faintly ,dipping her head into his chest , barely breathing the word:
"…Wolf…"
And Anderson froze.
Completely.
Because she shouldn't know.
No one knew.
But she did.
His eyes glowed gold as he looked down at her.
For the first time in years…
He let the wolf speak through him.
"I won't let anything hurt you," he whispered to the unconscious woman in his arms.
"Not even yourself."