Chapter 16 HER WOLF
The pit was screaming.
Not metaphor. Ivan.
Luka had him chained to the center pole. Combat collar gone. Throat purple, voice broken, but alive. Purebloods were hard to kill. That was the problem.
Alex stood at the edge. Looking down.
Mia stood next to him. White wolf tattoo on her shoulder. His blood in the ink. His.
Together they looked like a warning.
“Pakhan,” Luka said. Blood on his knuckles. “He is not talking. But he is smiling.”
“Ivan always smiles,” Alex said. “Right before he loses.”
Mia stared at Ivan. The man who killed her father. Who bombed Alex’s home. Who wanted her dead before she could give Alex an heir.
“Bring him up,” Mia said.
Luka blinked. “Luna?”
“You heard her,” Alex said. No hesitation. Never,when it was her. “Bring him up.”
Two Betas dragged Ivan out of the pit. Threw him at Mia’s feet.
He looked up. Met her eyes. And laughed. Wet. Broken.
“Little barista,” Ivan rasped. “You have his eyes now. Gold. Pretty. Elena had gold eyes too. Before I cut them out.”
Alex moved.
Mia put a hand on his chest. Stopped,him.
“Ivan,” Mia said. Her voice was low. New.
“Where is she.”
“Who,” Ivan coughed. Blood on his teeth. “Your daddy? In the ground. Your boyfriend’s mommy? Your-?”
“Alessia,” Alex said. The name was a blade.
Ivan’s smile got wider. “Ah. The spare heir. The pure one. The one that makes your Luna here obsolete.”
“Where,” Mia said again.
“Kill me,” Ivan said. “And you never find her. Let me go, and maybe I tell your Pakhan before the Council does.”
Alex crouched. Grabbed Ivan’s jaw. Forced him to look at Mia.
“You see her,” Alex said. Quiet. Deadly. “She is Luna. By blood. By act. By choice. And she is going to be the last thing you see.”
“Am I,” Mia said.
She looked at Alex. Asking.
He nodded. Once.
She grabbed Ivan’s throat. Not to crush. To hold.
And her wolf pushed.
ALEX’S BEDROOM
It did not start slow.
It started like a car crash.
One second Mia was in the pit, hand on Ivan’s throat, watching his eyes go wide.
Next second she was on the floor of Alex’s bedroom, screaming.
Because the change took her.
Bones breaking. Reforming. Skin splitting. Hair, not hair, fur. White. Everywhere.
Pain.
God, the pain
“Mia!”
Alex. On his knees. In front of her. Not backing away. Coming closer.
“Kane!” Alex roared. “Get out! Everyone out! Now!”
Doors slamming. Feet running.
Then it was just them.
In his room. In the pack house. Where he promised she would be safe.
Where she was currently trying to shift for the first time and dying.
“Look at me,” Alex said. He grabbed her face. Human hands. On her not human face. “Look at me. You are safe. You are mine. I have you.”
I have you.
MIA
Cannot breathe. Cannot think. Cannot be.
Too much. Too big. Too wolf.
Make it stop make it stop make it.
“Breathe,” Alex said. And it was not a request. It was Alpha. It was command.
Her lungs obeyed.
In. Out.
In. Out.
The pain did not stop. But it focused.
Into limbs. Into paws. Into a snout. Into a tail.
Into a wolf.
Pure white. Gold eyes. Luna markings on her forehead like a crown.
Alex sat back. On his heels. Staring.
Not scared. Awed.
“Luna,” he whispered.
Mia tried to speak. It came out a whine.
She tried to stand. Legs too many. Too new. She collapsed.
Alex caught her.
Eighty pounds of wolf in his arms. In his suit.On his bed.
He buried his face in her fur. Inhaled.
“Mate,” he said. Broken. Reverent. “ You are real.”
MIA / WOLF
Mate.
Safe.
Home.
Pack.
Hunt.
Ivan.
She growled. The sound shook the walls.
Alex pulled back. Looked into her eyes. Wolf to wolf.
“Yes,” he said. “Him. But not yet. You are new. You are first. You center first. Then we hunt.”
She huffed. Frustration.
He laughed. Real laugh. First one she had heard.
“Bossy,” he said. “Even as a wolf.”
He stood. Carried her to the mirror.
“Look.”
She looked.
And saw her.
Not Mia the barista. Not Mia the debt. Not Mia the human.
Mia the Luna.
Big. Bigger than she expected. White as snow. Gold eyes that were hers and his. The rose and thorn tattoo was still there. On her shoulder. Fur grew around it. Like the wolf was wearing it.