Chapter 11 Chapter 11
MIRA
By the time we reached the mansion, my lungs felt scraped raw. Dirt clung to my arms, my shoes were half-destroyed, and every step sounded too loud against the floor. The big front doors were open, and Darius—Alpha Darius—stood there like he’d been waiting.
His eyes moved over me once slowly, the kind of look that made your stomach twist even if you hadn’t done anything wrong.
“Did you try to leave my pack without permission?”
My mouth opened, then closed. I could barely breathe.
Jax stepped forward before I could say a word. “We were in the forest together,” he said evenly. “She doesn’t have her wolf yet. I was showing her how to track.”
For a heartbeat, nobody spoke. Luca shifted beside him, still half-smiling, but his jaw was tight. I stood frozen, wondering why Jax was lying for me. In my last life, he would’ve been the first to drag me back.
Darius’s expression didn’t change, but I felt the anger rolling off him. He didn’t believe it—not for a second. Still, he said, “I see. Full moon’s coming. You’ll all stay together. You’ll bond. I expect results.”
Results.
My stomach turned cold because I knew exactly what that meant.
He turned on his heel and left, leaving the three of us in the doorway.
Zane appeared a minute later, sleeves rolled up, sweatpants hanging low and his eyes half-amused, half-concerned. “I heard all that,” he said. “Mira, did you really try to run?”
Jax walked past him without answering. Luca’s grin returned, softer this time. “Relax, sweetheart. We’re not going to touch you. Not unless you want us to.”
I didn’t answer. I just walked past them, head down, pretending my legs weren’t shaking from fear.
My room looked the same, but it didn’t feel the same. The air was heavy, the silence thick. My phone buzzed with Sofia’s name flashing across the screen, message after message popping up, but I couldn’t bring myself to read more than a few lines. ‘Sorry. Please don’t be mad.’ I turned it face-down and shoved it under my pillow.
I’d had one chance to run. She’d ruined it.
A knock sounded. When I opened the door, Zane stood there, hair messy, expression too casual. “Your—our—room’s ready,” he said.
“Our?” I repeated.
He shrugged. “Alpha’s orders.”
I said nothing as I followed him down the hall, each step heavier than the last.
The new room looked like it had been built for a fairy tale that went wrong—too big, too perfect, a single bed massive enough for four people. My chest tightened. This wasn’t theirs; this was made for me. For us.
Zane leaned against the doorway. “Don’t worry, we’re not sleeping with you,” he said, smirking. “Just… near you.”
Luca dropped onto the couch. “I’ll take this,” he said.
Jax’s voice was low. “I’ll take the rug.”
Zane was still grinning. “Or we could all fit on the bed, make it cozy.”
I didn’t let him finish. “It doesn’t matter,” I said, stepping closer to the bed. My voice came out steadier than I felt. “If the Alpha comes in, he won’t like it if we aren’t sleeping… together. Sleep wherever you want. Just don’t touch me.”
They looked at each other—three very different expressions on three very different faces.
Then silence.
I lay down on the bed, staring at the ceiling, pretending not to hear Zane’s quiet laugh or the way Luca kept sighing like he wanted to say something but didn’t. I pretended not to notice the Jax’s gaze burning into the side of my skull.
By the time the lights went out, I was too tired to argue about sleeping arrangements. The bed was massive, but somehow, with three full-grown Alphas in it, it felt about the size of a coffin.
Luca had flopped down on one side, already half-asleep, muttering something about how he “called dibs” on the right. Zane slid in next to me, all warm skin and restless energy, while Jax lay stiff and silent on the far edge like he was guarding a border.
And me?
I was in the middle.
Of course I was.
I stared at the ceiling, arms pinned awkwardly to my sides. Every time I shifted, Zane mumbled something unintelligible and rolled closer. I tried inching away, but that just earned me a solid bump from Luca’s knee.
Great. Just great.
Zane started snoring—loud. Like, actual thunderstorm loud. I pressed my face into the pillow and groaned. How could someone sound attractive and obnoxious at the same time?
I turned onto my side, hoping for space, but there was none. The mattress dipped, heat pressed against me from both sides, and I could practically feel the gods laughing somewhere above.
“This is my life now,” I whispered to no one.
Luca grumbled in his sleep, tugging half the blanket with him. Zane mumbled something that sounded suspiciously like my name, and I froze. My pulse tripped over itself, stupid and traitorous.
I rolled over and went completely still when I felt something very hard poking my side from Zane. There was a new, very solid reason not to move again. My face went up in flames.Of course this night could get worse.
Sleep? Yeah, that wasn’t happening. Not tonight.
Trapped between chaos and disaster, I did the only thing I could do—
counted the hours until morning and prayed for mercy.