Chapter 5

~Annalyn POV~

Lucas's bed was cold under my back. Firm, oversized and smelling faintly of leather, pine, and something odd... like him. He stood over me like a storm, unbuttoning his jeans, his gold eyes didn't blink.

"You had your fun with Matteo." His voice was soft and controlling. "And Calix left his scent all over you."

I sat up, arms crossed over my chest. "That wasn't my choice."

Lucas raised an eyebrow and scoff. "No?" he asked. "Did I imagine you moaning in the hallway?"

"I didn't beg."

He leaned in, his hands on either side of my hips, caging me in. "No," he murmured. "But your body did!"

I exhale hard, my pulse racing in my throat, as his hand moved to my thigh. It was warm, calloused, and patient.

"I can't do this," I said, barely breathing. "I'm not ready to be claimed."

"You already are."

"No, I'm not! I haven't chosen."

His fingers slid higher, dangerously close to the place that still throbbed from Calix's touch. Lucas didn't look down. His eyes stayed locked on mine.

"You don't choose the curse," he said. "It chooses you."

I shook my head. "Then I refuse it!"

He smiled, but it wasn't soft. It was the smile of a man who'd already won a war I hadn't realized I was fighting.

"You can say no to a kiss," he whispered. "But your heat already chose me."

I wanted to argue, but the truth sat on my tongue like fire. My heat had started with Matteo, worsened with Calix. But now...now it was burning because Lucas wasn't just part of the bond, he was the center of it. He pushed my tank top up slowly.

His palm slid up my belly, spreading heat across my skin like ink bleeding through paper, I shivered.

"Don't," I whispered.

But I didn't stop him.

He leaned down, his mouth brushing against the top of my breast. "Tell me to stop, and I will."

I bit my lip hard, but the word never came.

"Exactly," he murmured, then kissed me.

It was deep, controlled. But under it, I felt the hunger, the way his body trembled against mine. Like he'd waited too long to taste me, like he'd held back until it nearly broke him.

His hand slid down again, this time slipping between my legs, under the waistband of my shorts. He groaned when he felt how wet I already was.

"Annalyn…" he whispered. "You're ready."

I turned my face away. "It's not fair."

"No, it's not." He pulled his fingers back.

I exhaled...relieved, but then he stood. unzipped his pants and dropped them.

Oh God! I turned my eyes away.

"You're not ready," he said. "But your body is."

"I didn't give you permission."

"You gave me need," he said. "And that's stronger."

He stepped closer.

I scrambled backward, hitting the headboard. He climbed onto the bed, slow and steady, like a beast stalking something it had every right to consume. Then he pulled my shorts down...slowly. Watching my face the whole time, waiting for me to protest.

I didn't, because I couldn't, or because I didn't want to. He pressed my legs open, exposing the slick heat between my thighs. Then he leaned down...and bit, not hard. But enough to sting, enough to mark. I cried out, he didn't stop.

His tongue followed the bite, licking the blood away. Then his mouth latched onto my center and I screamed, not from pain.

From the kind of pleasure that split you apart and stitched you back together again. His mouth moved like he already knew every part of me, like I belonged to him and when I came...hard and shaking...he didn't stop. He stayed, and let me fall apart, let me burn.

Then he slid up my body and kissed me, my taste still on his tongue.

"You're mine," he said.

"No," I whispered.

He kissed my jaw.

"My scent's already on you."

I tried to fight the tears, he licked a tear as it slid down.

"And when I take you tonight, under the moon, you'll never belong to anyone else."

Suddenly, a loud crash shattered the silence, glass exploded in the hallway.

Then.... a female, familiar scream pop in. Lucas's head snapped up.

"That was..."

"Isabella!" I cried.

I pushed him off and jumped out of the bed, yanking the bed-sheet around me as I ran for the door. Lucas was behind me in a flash, his body tense, eyes already glowing.

We reached the hallway at the same time Matteo and Calix appeared from opposite directions.

"What the hell..." Calix growled.

Then we saw her, Isabella, my cousin, my only family in this cursed house.

She was on the floor, her eyes wide. Her mouth open, but no sound coming out.

And standing over her...was a fourth man, one I had never seen before. He was barefoot, shirtless, his body covered in tribal runes that pulsed like embers.

He was tall, dark, and radiated energy so violent it made the walls tremble.

Lucas's face went pale. "You're not supposed to be here," he said.

The man smiled, slow and cruel. "Neither are you, brother."

The man who stood over Isabella wasn't just a stranger, his bare feet left prints on the wooden floor...burn marks. The tribal markings across his chest pulsed red, as if inked with fire instead of ink. Every muscle on his body was coiled like a beast waiting to strike. His eyes....dark as a storm...swept across all of us, then landed on me and stayed.

I didn't recognize him, but my body did. I felt it in my chest, a thud then another! A pull, lower deeper and hotter.

Lucas was the first to move, he stepped in front of me, blocking the stranger's view.

"Get out," Lucas growled.

The man tilted his head. "Is that how you greet your own blood?"

Matteo cursed. "Shit!"

"Lucas," I whispered, "who is he?"

Lucas didn't turn around, he just said one word. "Ezra!"

Ezra? The name hit like a slap.

Lucas's shoulders were stiff with rage. Calix had moved closer to Isabella, helping her up from the floor, his body tense and ready. Matteo stood by the window, jaw tight, eyes darting between the rest of us like he was calculating escape routes.

And me? I just stood there looking like a fool, and wrapped in nothing but a bed sheet watching the fourth alpha. The one who shouldn't exist....stare at me like I was prey, or worse.

Ezra took a slow step forward, the runes on his chest glowed brighter.

"Lucas," he said, his voice smooth as oil, "you always were greedy. First, you tried to erase me. Now, you want to hoard the one thing we both feel."

"She's not yours!" Lucas snapped.

Ezra smiled. "Not yet."

My heart skipped.

Lucas stepped back, blocking me again. "She's already claimed!"

"She isn't marked."

"She's mine!" Lucas barked.

Ezra shrugged. "We'll let her decide." Then he looked at me.

I froze...