185

185
Luca gave a faint smile, completely calm. “That’s the mate bond.”

His lips moved again as he spoke normally. “Apparently, we can block each other out if we want to…”

His fingers brushed over the new mark on my chest, and my body reacted instantly, heat rushing through me as he let out a low sound of pleasure.

I exhaled shakily. “Why would anyone want to block this?”

Luca chuckled softly. “Because when there are four of us connected to your head, you might start wishing for silence once in a while.”

I focused my thoughts on him, testing the bond. I could never get tired of you, Luca.

His smile softened as if he had heard everything.

“Maybe not yet,” he said gently, “we’re still in that… new phase.”

I tried again, reaching out mentally this time toward Lucien.

Can you hear me?

Nothing came back clearly. Only a faint sense of reassurance through the pack link, nothing more.

I sighed. “Still nothing with Lucien. I can’t reach him properly.”

Luca nodded slightly. “Maybe the full moon helped strengthen it, but it still seems one-sided for now.”

I shifted away from him and sat up, letting him recover as well.

“So that means…” I muttered, half amused, “I’m probably going to have to bite Lucien too.”

Luca glanced at the marks on my body. “You already have two marks from alpha bites, and two bonded runes now showing. That alone proves you’re not following the usual rule about mates being in pairs.”

Pride radiated from him through our connection, like he enjoyed the chaos of it all.

“You can mark all of us if you want,” he added.

I squeezed his hand lightly. “What we have is still ours. That won’t change. I just… need time before I do anything else.”

He smirked. “Sure. But I won’t judge you for wanting any of us.”

There was a hidden amusement in his years of feelings, history, and admiration for his packmates all tangled together. I could sense it clearly through the bond.

Then he leaned in and kissed me again, more playful this time.

“I can’t wait to tell Cassius he was wrong,” he said suddenly, voice dripping with mischief.

I blinked. “Wrong about what exactly?”

“That your heat would start immediately after the bite.”

The memory flashed through me of our escape into the wildlands, the danger chasing us, Luca holding himself back from marking me because of that fear.

But nothing had happened. No heat. No change.

Just me… still here.

Still steady.

Luca took my hand and guided me out of the room. We were both still unclothed, moving through the quiet house as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

I glanced back once at the messy bed behind us.

“I guess we just wait and see when it decides to happen,” I muttered.

“It’s fine,” Luca said. “Right now, we’ve got something more important.”

He tapped gently at my chest where the runes had formed.

“The mystery behind these marks.”

I followed him down the stairs, a strange warmth settling in my chest.

The bond between us pulsed stronger now no longer one-sided, but shared, alive, and growing.

And in that quiet connection, there was only one feeling that stood above everything else.

Love.

Selena pov

The following morning, I met Cassius outside where we trained as usual.

The moment his gaze landed on me, I caught the shift in his expression of interest first, then surprise. His eyes dropped to the new bonded rune beside the one already resting beneath my collarbone.

But that excitement faded when he looked higher, searching my neck.

“No new mark?” he asked, clearly let down.

I stepped closer and caught his hands, smiling at him like he was the only thing that mattered in that moment. “You really are incredible, you know that?”

There wasn’t even a flicker of jealousy in him that Luca had been chosen before him. That calm acceptance only made me realize how different each of them was with me.

To make everything clear, I lifted my shirt slightly, showing him the marks properly.

Cassius let out a low sound and shook his head. “Luca… so that mark is permanent, and you accepted him first?”

A soft laugh slipped from me. This was exactly what I needed to say in my heart.

“So where do you want to mark me?” I asked.

The shift in him was instant.

He pulled me in, close enough that my breath caught. The heat between us deepened as his control slipped for a moment. His fingers traced over Lucien’s mark on my shoulder, sending a sharp wave of sensation through me.

Then he moved my hair aside and pressed a slow kiss just where my neck met my shoulder.

“You’d look beautiful covered in our marks,” he murmured.

His breath lingered on my skin, stealing my words for a second before I forced them out.

“You’re not upset… that I chose Luca first?”

Cassius looked at me with steady certainty. “Moonbeam, I know you didn’t choose just him. You chose me too. I’ll wait however long you need. And when I finally mark you, I want it to mean everything.”

His kiss followed his words, sealing them like a vow.

For a moment, everything else disappeared just him, just us, perfectly matched in rhythm. No one leading, no one following. Only closeness, and the kind of pull that made my chest ache.

He held me like I might never leave, and I realized just how deeply I felt for him.

Cassius had always stood beside me protecting me, believing in me, accepting every broken edge I had ever tried to hide. I didn’t deserve that kind of loyalty, but he gave it freely.

Desire surged through me so fast it left me breathless. My fingers tightened on him before he pulled back with a quiet laugh.

“I wasn’t trying to convince you to rush,” he said lightly.

Then his tone softened. “We just can’t make Luca feel like his mark means less.”

I tried to steady my breathing. “If nothing happens before my heat… then I want you to be the one who marks me.”

Cassius gave a small, confident smile. “And risk you forgetting it? Not happening.”

His fingers brushed my neck again, lingering on the empty space he clearly intended to claim.

“When I mark you, it won’t be rushed. It’ll be unforgettable. We’ll be equal in every way.”

I smirked at his confidence. “And how will you know when that moment comes?”

He looked completely certain. “Our wolves will know before we do.”

Inside me, my wolf felt calm, almost content, while the bond stretched outward, connected, alive, reaching toward Luca somewhere far away. He felt distracted, as if caught up in whatever mystery the runes had become.

I sighed and began warming up. “Alright… let’s train.”

Cassius and I spent the morning sparring, his praise pushing me further each time, reminding me how far I had come.

Later, after food and a hot shower, Luca found me again.

He took my hand without hesitation and led me toward the truck. Through the bond, I could feel his excitement building.

“Ready to uncover the truth behind those runes?” he asked.

I didn’t even hesitate.

“More than ready.”

Luca didn’t speak much on the drive, but you could feel him watching you between shifts of his attention to the road. That quiet intensity of his wasn’t like Cassius where Cassius pulled you closer, Luca felt like he was constantly holding something back, as if restraint itself was a habit he’d never fully unlearned.

The bond between you and him tugged in subtle waves. Not loud. Not demanding. Just… present. Like a door left slightly open.

“You’ve been thinking about them,” he said eventually.

It wasn’t a question.

You glanced at him. “You mean Cassius?”

A faint exhale left him, almost like a humorless laugh. “Both of us.”

The truck rolled over a rough patch in the road before smoothing out again. Luca’s grip tightened briefly on the wheel.

“I’m not here to compete with him,” he said, voice quieter now. “That’s not what this is.”

The words should’ve been simple. But they weren’t. There was weight behind them, something carefully contained, pressed down again and again until it became second nature.

You watched him for a moment. “Then what is it?”

That made him glance at you.

For a second, the calm cracked just enough for you to see something sharper underneath. Not jealousy exactly. Something older. More complicated.

“Something you’ll understand soon,” he said finally. “If the runes respond the way I think they will.”

The truck slowed.

Ahead, the road opened into an old training site, stone markers half-swallowed by wild grass, metallic sigils etched into rock that didn’t belong to any modern pack territory. The air itself felt different here. Charged. Listening.

Luca parked.

Neither of you moved for a moment.

Then he turned to you fully.

“Before we go in,” he said, “I need you to be honest with me.”

His gaze held yours with steady precision.

“Do you feel the bond changing… or are you just feeling us reacting to it?”

The question settled between you like something alive.

And for the first time since this began, it didn’t feel like the runes were the mystery.

It felt like you were.

Luca drove us beyond the small town, still within Elder Forest territory. As the miles passed, I quietly focused on the mate bond between us, trying to understand it. It wasn’t like what I felt with Lucien. With Luca, emotions came through clearly if I paid attention to small shifts, subtle moods, almost like a whisper through my mind.

It was strange at first, a little overwhelming.

But what stood out most was him.

On the surface, he looked composed and relaxed. Inside, though, he was full of quiet joy, steady and warm, like he was exactly where he wanted to be.

I reached over and rested my hand on his leg. Without hesitation, he took it and intertwined our fingers while keeping his focus on the road.

“I never really thought about what the mate bond would feel like,” Luca said after a while, glancing at me briefly before looking forward again.

His voice was calm, almost thoughtful.

I wondered the same thing about the others. Would it always feel this intense? Or would it become easier with time? Maybe Lucien understood it better, since pack bonds were probably similar in nature.

Eventually, the scenery changed. The next town was larger, built against a rocky slope with houses scattered across the hills and a few tall buildings rising above them. Luca drove straight into the center and parked in front of a library.

We stepped inside, and I was immediately struck by how welcoming it felt. Clear signs explained where to find books and how to return them, and beyond that was a massive open hall filled with shelves stretching in every direction.