Chapter 1
AMELIA
I was going to burn alive.
Not metaphorically.
Not dramatically.
Actually.
Fucking.
Burn.
Trey’s arms tightened around me as another wave ripped through my body, and I shoved my face harder into his chest because there was nowhere else to go.
The windows were down.
All of them.
Cold air tore through Kade’s truck hard enough to whip my hair across my face and send the discarded graduation gown on the floor fluttering beneath Silas’s shoes.
It didn’t matter.
My skin burned.
My shirt hurt.
My jeans hurt.
My fucking bra hurt.
Every seam.
Every strap.
Every place fabric touched me felt like someone had dragged sandpaper across a sunburn.
And beneath all of it—
my wolf paced.
Here.
Chosen.
Here.
Chosen.
Searching.
Damien’s warning still hung in the truck.
Do not let her wolf make a choice for her.
Fantastic advice.
Would have been considerably more useful if any of us knew what the fuck she was trying to choose.
I whimpered when another wave hit.
Trey looked down immediately.
“Amelia?”
“Hot.”
“I know.”
“No.”
I shook my head.
Even my hair touching my neck hurt.
“No, it’s—”
My body clenched.
The words disappeared.
Fuck.
Something had changed.
Not the burning.
That was still there.
This was underneath it.
Lower.
Deeper.
A pulse rolled through my stomach and settled between my thighs.
I froze.
No.
Absolutely not.
Another one.
My breath caught.
Trey went completely still.
Fuck.
No.
I squeezed my thighs together.
That made it worse.
Pressure shot through me so violently my back arched.
A sound escaped my throat.
And every male in the truck stopped breathing.
Oh.
My.
God.
I covered my face.
“No.”
Nobody said anything.
“Whatever is happening right now—no.”
Drake shoved his window switch again.
The window was already completely down.
The glass made a sad mechanical noise somewhere inside the door.
“Drake.”
“I’m aware.”
“Of what?”
“Nothing.”
“Bullshit.”
“Probably.”
His voice sounded wrong.
Rough.
Not joking.
That was worse.
I looked at Trey.
His eyes met mine.
Brown—
then silver bled through them.
Not all at once.
A shimmer around the iris first.
Then brighter.
Metallic.
His wolf looking back at me through eyes I knew better than my own.
Except I’d never seen them turn silver because I made a sound before.
“Trey?”
His jaw flexed.
“Yeah.”
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“Oh my God, if one more person says nothing—”
My body pulsed again.
Harder.
I grabbed Trey’s shirt.
Fuck.
Heat flooded low.
Wet.
Aroused.
There was no pretending I didn’t know what that was.
I was eighteen.
I’d had sex.
A lot of sex.
I knew what my body felt like when I wanted someone.
This—
wasn’t that.
Or it was.
Just—
violent.
Immediate.
Without any thought attached to it.
My body had skipped every step between existing and need.
“Trey.”
“I know.”
“You know what?”
His silver eyes dropped.
Not far.
Just enough.
Fuck.
He could smell it.
Of course he could.
My face somehow burned hotter.
“Oh my God.”
I tried to move away from him.
There wasn’t anywhere to go.
Silas sat on my other side.
My shoulder bumped his.
His entire body locked.
Not tensed.
Locked.
Like someone had flipped a switch.
I turned.
“Silas?”
“Don’t.”
I stared at him.
“Don’t what?”
“Move.”
“What the fuck?”
His eyes stayed fixed outside.
His jaw was tight.
One hand gripped his knee.
The other was braced against the door.
“Silas.”
“Amelia.”
My name came out clipped.
Controlled.
Barely.
Then—
I smelled him.
Fuck.
No.
That wasn’t—
I knew Silas’s scent.
I’d known it for years.
Paper.
Cold air.
Something clean and sharp I had never bothered identifying because normal people didn’t catalog their friends by scent.
Apparently I did now.
I could smell everything.
Trey beside me.
Cedar.
Woodsmoke.
Home.
Kade in front of me.
Leather.
Rain.
Chosen.
Drake.
Warm.
Spice.
Something darker underneath it.
And Silas—
My wolf stopped pacing.
Just—
stopped.
My breath caught.
She looked.
Not literally.
There was no wolf standing inside my skull.
But the sensation was so clear I almost turned my own head with it.
Silas.
His breathing changed.
Fuck.
My body reacted.
Immediately.
Heat flooded between my thighs.
My stomach pulled tight.
And suddenly—
I wanted his hand.
Not a thought.
Not even a sentence.
Hand.
There.
Now.
I grabbed his wrist.
Silas snapped toward me.
“Amelia.”
And his eyes flashed gold.
Not gray.
Gold.
Bright and molten and so fucking beautiful my breath stopped.
For one horrible second, I forgot what I was doing.
Then my body remembered.
I pulled.
His eyes widened.
Gold burned brighter.
My hand dragged his across my lap.
“Amelia.”
I heard him.
That was the terrifying part.
I heard him.
Somewhere underneath the need, I knew exactly who he was.
But the need was louder.
His skin.
His hand.
Relief.
My thighs opened.
Silas realized where I was pulling him.
His entire face changed.
Want hit his scent so hard I almost fucking tasted it.
And the gold in his eyes told me everything the rest of him was refusing to.
He wanted me.
Badly.
But his hand didn’t turn.
Didn’t help.
Didn’t touch.
He let me pull him exactly as far as I physically pulled him and not one inch farther.
“Amelia.”
His voice cracked.
My wolf surged.
I pulled harder.
Trey caught my wrist.
“Amelia.”
I snarled.
Actually fucking snarled at him.
Silver flashed in Trey’s eyes.
He didn’t let go.
“Look at me.”
I tried to pull away.
Toward Silas.
Trey held my wrist.
Not hard.
Just—
stopped.
“Amelia.”
Here.
The bond hit.
Not command.
Not control.
Him.
Trey.
Silver eyes.
My Trey.
The person I loved.
The person I had chosen.
The person currently stopping me from—
I looked down.
My hand was wrapped around Silas’s wrist.
His hand hovered inches above the place I’d been trying to put it.
Oh.
Fuck.
I released him like he’d burned me.
Silas jerked his arm back.
I shoved myself against Trey.
“What the fuck?”
Nobody answered.
“What the fuck was that?”
“Amelia—”
“No.”
My heart hammered.
I looked at Silas.
He’d turned away again.
Not because he was ignoring me.
Because he was breathing through the fucking window.
The gold was fading.
Slowly.
Gray returning around the edges.
“I—”
My throat closed.
“I didn’t mean to—”
“I know.”
Immediate.
Certain.
“I grabbed you.”
“I know.”
“I tried to make you touch me.”
His jaw tightened.
“Yes.”
Humiliation crashed over me.
“I’m sorry.”
His head turned.
His eyes were mostly gray again.
Not completely.
A thin ring of gold still burned around his pupils.
“Don’t.”
“Silas—”
“You weren’t making a choice.”
My stomach dropped.
He glanced toward Trey.
“Trey stopped you.”
Then back to me.
“And if he hadn’t, I would have.”
Fuck.
My wolf didn’t care.
She still wanted him.
That scared me more than anything else.
Trey looked toward the center console.
“Dad.”
Damien’s voice came immediately through the speakers.
“I’m here.”
“Enough.”
Trey sounded nothing like himself.
“Tell us.”
A pause.
“Trey—”
“No. You recognized something back there. You told us not to let her wolf choose for her. Now she just tried to put Silas’s hand between her legs.”
Silas closed his eyes.
“Thank you for the clinical summary.”
“You’re welcome.”
Under literally any other circumstances, I would have laughed.
Kade’s eyes flashed in the mirror.
Blue.
Brilliant.
His wolf was close too.
“Trey’s right.”
Drake looked toward the center console like Damien could somehow see him through it.
“What is happening to her?”
Then he glanced back.
Just once.
Purple.
Deep violet-purple flooded his eyes the second they landed on me.
His gaze dropped.
His nostrils flared.
The purple brightened.
Then Drake ripped his attention back to the windshield.
“Fuck.”
Silver.
Blue.
Purple.
Gold.
Four wolves.
Four men.
All reacting to me.
What the actual fuck?
“Damien.”
My voice shook.
“Tell me.”
One second.
Two.
Then—
“I think you’re in heat.”
Nobody moved.
Not one fucking person.
Wind tore through the cab.
Tires hummed against asphalt.
My hair whipped across my face.
And every man around me went completely fucking silent.
I looked at Trey.
Silver still shimmered through his brown eyes.
Kade stared at the road, blue glowing in the mirror.
Silas closed his gold-ringed eyes.
Drake whispered again—
“Fuck.”
My stomach dropped.
Because they knew.
Every one of them knew exactly what Damien meant.
I knew what heat was.
Obviously.
But knowing what the word meant and realizing it was happening to my actual fucking body were apparently two completely different things.
“No.”
Damien sighed through the speakers.
“Amelia—”
“No.”
I laughed once.
It sounded slightly insane.
“No. Absolutely not.”
Another pulse rolled through me.
My thighs clenched.
Traitor.
I glared down at my own body.
“I am not in fucking heat.”
No one answered.
“Trey.”
He looked at me.
Silver.
Fuck.
“Tell him he’s wrong.”
Trey didn’t.
Considerably worse.
“What does that even mean?”
Damien answered.
“For an ordinary she-wolf? Her temperature rises. Her scent changes. Instinct gets louder.”
I stared at Silas.
His face remained pointed firmly toward Colorado.
“And apparently dignity dies.”
Drake made a strangled sound.
“Do not laugh.”
“I’m trying very fucking hard.”
“At which part?”
“All of it.”
“Drake.”
“Sorry.”
He was not sorry.
Damien continued.
“Sexual drive becomes difficult to ignore.”
“Difficult?”
Silas muttered, “Poor word choice.”
I pointed at him.
“Thank you.”
His mouth twitched.
Barely.
Gold still ringed his pupils.
Then I remembered Connor.
Mason.
The growling.
The staring.
“The boys at graduation.”
“Your scent.”
“Connor followed me.”
“Yes.”
“Mason looked like he wanted to fight Kade.”
“Yes.”
“And that’s normal?”
“For unbonded male wolves around a female in heat, the reaction isn’t unusual.”
“The level?”
Damien paused.
“No.”
Of course.
“Because I’m Lycan.”
“I think so.”
“You think.”
“There hasn’t been a living Lycan for anyone alive to compare you to. I recognize the pattern, Amelia. I don’t know the scale.”
There.
That I believed.
Not an expert.
Not an ancient manual conveniently appearing exactly when we needed it.
A man who recognized enough to know we had a problem.
Another pulse rolled through me.
I grabbed Trey’s leg.
Silver flashed.
Fuck.
“What stops it?”
The entire truck changed.
Nobody looked at anybody.
Oh.
Oh, fuck them.
“You all know.”
Silence.
“Seriously?”
Kade became intensely interested in the road.
Drake rubbed a hand over his mouth.
Silas looked like the open window might adopt him.
Trey—
my actual boyfriend—
looked at the ceiling.
“Oh my God.”
I looked toward the console.
“Sex.”
Damien cleared his throat.
“Yes.”
Jesus fucking Christ.
“That’s it?”
“For ordinary wolves.”
“Medicine?”
“Not that I know of.”
“Magic?”
“No idea.”
“Cold shower?”
“Comfort, maybe.”
“But it doesn’t stop it.”
“No.”
I closed my eyes.
“Sex.”
“Yes.”
“Once?”
Silence.
My eyes opened.
That silence was offensive.
“Damien.”
“No.”
“No, what?”
“No, once usually isn’t enough.”
Fuck.
“How many times?”
“There isn’t a number.”
I stared at the console.
“That is a terrible answer.”
“It means the heat settles when it settles.”
“After mating.”
“Yes.”
“Repeatedly.”
A pause.
“Yes.”
Excellent.
Fantastic.
Apparently adulthood had arrived and immediately demanded I fuck my way through a supernatural medical emergency.
Very dignified first afternoon as a high school graduate.
I sank lower against Trey.
“I hate today.”
His mouth twitched.
“You graduated.”
“I hated that too.”
“You cried.”
“Shut up.”
Drake laughed once.
It came out rough.
Purple flashed when his eyes caught mine in the mirror.
And—
fuck.
The sound did something strange to my stomach.
So did the purple.
My wolf shifted.
Not toward him.
Not like Silas.
But—
noticed.
Drake felt it anyway.
His smile disappeared.
He turned around.
Interesting.
Terrifying.
Not dealing with that.
I looked toward the phone again.
“So ordinary heat stops with sex.”
“Yes.”
“And you don’t know whether mine will.”
“No.”
There.
The actual problem.
Fuck.
“Could this hurt me?”
“I have no reason to think it will.”
“Am I dying?”
“No.”
Immediate.
Certain.
Some of the terror finally loosened around my ribs.
Okay.
Not dying.
Just—
apparently possessed by the horniest wolf in Colorado.
Low bar.
I’d take it.
Trey rubbed his thumb carefully over my hand.
That didn’t hurt.
I let him.
“Dad.”
“Yeah?”
“What do we do when we get there?”
“Get her inside. Keep her away from other wolves.”
“And then?”
Damien stopped.
I groaned.
“Oh my God.”
“Amelia.”
“No. We’re all adults. He just told us I’m in heat. We don’t need to pretend nobody knows what happens next.”
Drake muttered, “Thank Christ.”
Kade shot him a look.
Blue.
Drake looked back.
Purple.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“Drake.”
“I said nothing.”
Damien finally spoke.
“If Amelia wants you, you and Kade take care of her.”
There.
Simple.
No committee.
No ancient system.
No fucking arbitration chamber.
If Amelia wants.
My body reacted before my embarrassment could.
Here.
Chosen.
Trey.
Kade.
Heat rolled through me.
I sucked in a breath.
Trey immediately looked down.
Silver brightened.
“Amelia?”
I squeezed my eyes shut.
“Fuck.”
Another pulse.
Hard.
My hand closed around his shirt.
His scent filled my lungs.
Here.
My body knew him.
My wolf knew him.
More importantly—
I knew him.
I loved him.
I’d chosen him long before today.
My eyes lifted to the mirror.
Kade was watching me.
Blue had consumed his eyes.
Chosen.
Fuck.
My body answered him too.
Different.
Still mine.
“I want them.”
Nobody spoke.
I swallowed.
“I want Trey and Kade.”
Trey exhaled.
Silver flared.
Kade’s blue eyes closed for half a second.
When they opened, they were brighter.
Damien said only—
“Okay.”
No congratulations.
No weird paternal commentary.
Thank fuck.
I looked at Silas.
I shouldn’t have.
His eyes were already on me.
Gold.
Fuck.
My wolf surged.
The gold brightened.
Silas immediately turned back toward the window.
That hurt.
Which made no fucking sense.
I’d just said exactly who I wanted.
And I meant it.
Trey.
Kade.
The men I’d already chosen.
Whatever had happened with Silas wasn’t a choice.
Not yet.
My stomach tightened.
Where the fuck had that come from?
Not yet?
I shoved the thought away.
No.
We were not unpacking that while my vagina was apparently staging a coup.
Drake shifted in the passenger seat.
“Question.”
“No,” Kade said.
“You don’t know the question.”
“I know you.”
“Fair.”
Drake lasted approximately three seconds.
“Why are Silas and I getting hit this hard?”
There it was.
Damien didn’t answer immediately.
Drake looked toward the console.
“I’m not asking what it means.”
Silas turned slightly.
Gold still threaded through his gray eyes.
“Neither am I.”
His voice was almost normal again.
Almost.
“We know unrelated males respond to her scent. This appears disproportionate.”
Drake looked at him.
“Thank you for making my impending mental breakdown sound peer-reviewed.”
“You’re welcome.”
Despite myself—
I laughed.
Then Damien said:
“I noticed.”
“Helpful,” Drake said.
“I don’t know why.”
Drake’s expression changed.
Not joking now.
“Fantastic.”
“Don’t make more out of it than we know.”
Silas nodded once.
Of course that answer worked for him.
No assumptions.
No false certainty.
No prophecy deciding anything.
Information.
Nothing more.
My scent affected both of them more strongly.
My wolf had actively reached for Silas.
She had noticed Drake.
Those were facts.
What they meant?
Nothing yet.
Another wave hit.
Hard enough that I folded forward.
“Trey.”
His arms came around me.
“Here.”
The bond opened.
Warm.
Steady.
Mine—
No.
Fuck.
That word.
I shoved it away.
“Trey.”
“I’ve got you.”
“Make it stop.”
The entire truck changed.
His body went rigid.
Silver flooded his eyes.
My wolf surged.
Here.
HERE.
I pressed closer.
Every part of me wanted closer.
His breath hitched.
“Amelia.”
“I know.”
His forehead touched mine.
“You sure?”
“Yes.”
Not my wolf.
Not Damien.
Not heat.
Me.
“Yes.”
His eyes closed.
“Okay.”
Kade accelerated.
“Three minutes.”
“Make it one.”
“Working on it.”
Drake gripped the door.
“Please make it one.”
Purple burned in his eyes.
Despite everything, I laughed.
It lasted half a second before another pulse stole my breath.
The scent in the truck changed again.
I knew because Drake swore.
Silas’s eyes flashed gold before he squeezed them shut.
Trey shuddered, silver bright beneath lowered lashes.
Kade’s shoulders tightened, blue reflected in the windshield.
Silver.
Blue.
Purple.
Gold.
Every fucking one of them could smell what my body wanted.
And now I could see exactly what it did to them.
Humiliation had apparently died somewhere around mile seven.
“Trey.”
“Yeah?”
“If this works—”
“It will.”
“You don’t know that.”
“No.”
I looked up.
Silver eyes.
His mouth curved.
“But I’m willing to conduct extensive research.”
I stared at him.
Then laughed.
Actually laughed.
“You’re an asshole.”
“Here.”
“Fuck you.”
The silver in his eyes blazed.
Oops.
Kade made a sound from the front.
Blue flashed in the mirror.
Drake covered his face.
Silas whispered something that sounded suspiciously like a prayer.
“Jesus Christ,” I muttered.
Trey grinned.
For one second—
normal.
Us.
Then pavement became gravel.
Trees swallowed the truck.
No houses.
No people.
No wolves.
Just forest.
And us.
Four male wolves inside one truck with a Lycan in heat.
When phrased that way—
Damien’s plan sounded considerably less intelligent.
The cabin appeared through the trees.
“Thank fuck,” Drake muttered.
Kade barely had the truck in park before Drake’s door opened.
He was out immediately.
Thirty feet.
Then forty.
He stopped facing the trees, hands braced on his hips, dragging clean air into his lungs.
Purple flashed when he looked toward the tree line.
Silas opened his door more carefully.
Of course he did.
He stepped out.
Closed it.
Walked in the opposite direction.
Distance.
Control.
Gold flashed once before he turned his face away.
Neither looked back.
Trey watched them.
“So that’s not concerning.”
“Nope.”
Kade killed the engine.
Damien’s voice still came quietly through the speakers.
“You there?”
“Yes,” Kade said.
“Good.”
“Dad,” Trey said.
“Yeah?”
“We’ve got her.”
A pause.
“I know.”
Something warm moved through Here.
Damien continued.
“Call me if anything changes that doesn’t fit what I told you.”
“You mean besides the whole Lycan part?”
“Yes.”
“Great.”
“And Trey?”
“Yeah?”
“Keep Drake and Silas away from her until she’s stable.”
Trey looked through the windshield.
Drake was already halfway to another zip code.
Silas had apparently entered a committed relationship with a pine tree.
“Not currently an issue.”
“Good.”
The line clicked off.
Silence.
Actual silence.
No Damien.
No graduation crowd.
No random wolves.
Just us.
Kade opened my door.
Cold mountain air rushed over my skin.
I moaned.
Actually moaned.
Kade froze.
Blue slammed through his eyes.
I closed mine.
“Temperature.”
His voice came out rough.
“Yep.”
“Don’t make that face.”
“What face?”
“That one.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Liar.”
His mouth twitched.
He held out his hand.
Didn’t grab me.
I took it.
Chosen flared.
The blue in his eyes brightened.
My body answered immediately.
Fuck.
My knees weakened as I stepped down.
Kade caught me.
Trey came around the truck.
Here hit from the other side.
Silver.
Blue.
Both.
Jesus.
I grabbed their shirts.
The heat changed.
Not gone.
Focused.
My wolf stopped pacing.
Kade felt it.
His blue eyes snapped to Trey.
Silver met them.
Neither said anything.
Something passed between them.
Not hostility.
Not jealousy.
Awareness.
Another wave hit.
I gasped.
Trey caught my waist.
Kade steadied my other side.
“Trey.”
“Here.”
“Kade.”
“Chosen.”
Fuck.
My body shook.
“I need—”
I stopped.
Ridiculous.
After everything we’d done.
After everything we’d survived.
After Kade had been inside me.
After Trey had seen every fucking part of me.
Still—
this felt different.
Because I wasn’t asking because I was simply turned on.
I was asking because my body hurt.
Because instinct was screaming.
Because Damien had given us the ordinary-wolf answer.
Trey touched my face.
Carefully.
Silver softened but didn’t disappear.
“Say what you want.”
I looked at him.
Not because he needed permission to love me.
Because I needed to hear myself choose.
“You.”
Silver flared.
Here surged.
Then Kade.
His eyes were completely blue.
Waiting.
“And you.”
Chosen opened.
Kade swallowed.
“Okay.”
Simple.
No argument.
No competition.
No deciding for me.
Trey glanced toward the cabin.
“Who first?”
Fuck.
The question went through me like lightning.
My wolf answered instantly.
Trey.
Here.
My body followed.
I grabbed his shirt.
Silver swallowed his eyes.
Kade saw it.
No jealousy.
No retreat.
Just understanding.
“Go.”
Trey looked at him.
Blue met silver.
Kade nodded toward the cabin.
“She’s asking for you.”
Fuck.
There it was.
Not she’s yours.
Not take her.
She’s asking.
Growth shouldn’t have made my chest hurt that much.
But it did.
Then Trey looked at me.
“You good?”
“No.”
He almost smiled.
“You know what I mean.”
“Yes.”
That was all he needed.
He lifted me.
I wrapped my legs around him automatically.
The pressure made me whimper against his neck.
Trey swore.
Silver burned.
Kade opened the cabin door ahead of us.
Cool air.
Dark rooms.
Quiet.
Trey carried me inside.
Kade followed.
Behind us, somewhere beyond the windows, Drake and Silas stayed in the trees.
Giving us space.
Giving me space.
My wolf noticed anyway.
Gold.
Purple.
She could notice whatever the fuck she wanted.
She wasn’t choosing.
I was.
Trey carried me toward the hallway.
I tightened my arms around him.
Here.
My first choice.
My home.
“Trey.”
His mouth brushed my temple.
Silver eyes met mine.
“Here.”
I closed my eyes.
“Make it stop.”
His arms tightened around me.
“I’ve got you.”
And I believed him.
That was the problem.
Because all five of us were still operating on the same assumption.
That Damien had given us the answer.
That Trey and Kade could satisfy whatever my body had become desperate enough to demand.
That if they gave me enough—
the heat would stop.
We hadn’t figured out yet that ordinary wolves and Lycans apparently had very different definitions of enough.
