Free Web NovelChapter 19: The Rising
Four hours turned into three turned into two and suddenly I was back in Kael’s room with the sun setting outside and my skin trying to crawl off my bones while four alphas watched me like I might shatter.
Maybe I would.
The heat had gone from manageable to brutal in the span of twenty minutes and now every breath felt like fire in my lungs, every touch of fabric against skin like sandpaper, and the ache low in my belly had turned into a demand my body wasn’t asking politely about anymore.
"Off." My hands were already pulling at my shirt, fingers clumsy and shaking. "I need—everything off. Now."
Riven was there before I could blink, helping me strip out of clothes that felt like they were suffocating me, and then I was in nothing but underwear and even that felt like too much.
"Better?" His hands hovered near my shoulders, not touching but close enough I could feel the cool of his skin.
"No." I wrapped my arms around myself even though it didn’t help. "Nothing helps. It just keeps getting worse and I can’t—" My voice cracked. "I can’t do this. I thought I could but I can’t."
"Yes, you can." Kael’s hands cupped my face, tilting it up so I had to meet his eyes. "You’ve survived everything life has thrown at you. You can survive this."
"What if I don’t want to just survive?" The confession tore out of me. "What if I’m tired of fighting?"
"Then don’t fight." Draven’s voice from somewhere to my left. "Let us carry it for you."
"I don’t know how to do that."
"We’ll teach you." Thorne’s hands settled on my hips from behind, grounding me when I didn’t know I needed grounding. "Starting now."
The heat pulsed and I whimpered — actually whimpered like I was dying — and Kael’s jaw went tight in a way that meant his control was fraying.
"How much longer?" My voice came out desperate.
"Soon." Draven moved closer. "Your body’s preparing for the bond. It knows what’s coming."
"I don’t." I fisted my hands in Kael’s shirt. "I don’t know what to expect and that’s—" I couldn’t finish because another wave hit and my knees gave out entirely.
Kael caught me, sweeping me up and carrying me to the bed while I shook in his arms.
He laid me down carefully and the sheets felt cool against my overheated skin for about three seconds before that stopped helping too.
"Tell me what you need." His hand stroked through my hair.
"You." It came out broken. "All of you. I need—God, I don’t know how to ask for this."
"You don’t have to ask." Riven appeared on my other side, his hand finding mine. "We know what you need."
"The bond wants to form," Draven explained, settling at the foot of the bed. "Your heat is driving you toward it. Fighting that is what’s making it hurt."
"So stop fighting," Kael murmured, his mouth finding the pulse point on my neck. "Let it happen."
His teeth scraped over the spot where the claiming bite would go and phantom sensation of what that would feel like sent lightning through my nervous system.
I arched off the bed with a gasp that turned into a moan.
"There you go." His voice had gone rough. "That’s what your body wants. What it’s been screaming for."
"But we’re not claiming you yet," Riven added quickly when my eyes went wide. "Not until the peak. But we can show you what it’ll feel like. Prepare you."
Thorne’s hand slid up my thigh and stopped just below where I needed him most. "With permission."
"Yes." I didn’t even hesitate. "Please. Anything. Just make it stop hurting."
"It’s going to hurt more first," Draven warned. "When the peak hits. When the bond starts trying to snap into place. But after—" His eyes met mine. "After, you’ll never hurt like this again."
Promise or threat, I couldn’t tell.
Didn’t care.
Kael’s mouth was on mine again and this time I kissed him back with everything I had, pouring two years of loneliness and fear and desperate need into it until we were both breathless.
When he pulled back his control was gone, replaced by raw want that matched what was burning through me.
"I need you to understand what’s about to happen." His voice had gone gravelly. "All four of us are going to touch you. Prepare your body for the claiming. It’s going to be overwhelming."
"I don’t care." My fingers found his collar, pulled him back down. "Do it anyway."
That snapped whatever leash the other three had been holding. frёewebηovel.cѳm
Suddenly there were hands everywhere — Kael’s on my face, Riven’s splayed over my ribs, Draven’s cool fingers wrapped around my wrist checking my pulse, Thorne’s grip on my thighs spreading them wide.
Four points of contact that all blurred together into sensation so intense I couldn’t separate who was who anymore, just knew that I was surrounded and claimed and finally, finally not alone.
The heat built and built and I writhed against their hands, chasing friction I couldn’t quite find.
"Not yet." Kael’s voice in my ear. "Wait for the peak." freeωebnovēl.c૦m
"I can’t." Tears pricked the corners of my eyes. "Please. I can’t wait anymore."
"You can." Riven’s mouth found the inside of my wrist, kissing the pulse point there. "And you will. Because after this, you’re ours forever."
Forever.
The word should have terrified me.
Instead my biology sang.
Draven’s hand slid up my stomach, between my breasts, settling over my heart. "It’s almost time. Your heartbeat’s shifting. Synchronizing."
"With what?"
"With ours." Kael’s forehead pressed to mine. "The bond is already forming. You’re already ours. The claiming just makes it permanent."
The heat spiked so hard I screamed.
Kael’s arms banded around me while I shook apart, while my body decided it was done waiting and was going to force the issue whether I was ready or not.
"That’s the peak." Draven’s voice, clinical even through whatever was happening to me. "Her body’s ready for the claiming."
"Are you ready?" Kael pulled back enough to look at me. "Really ready. Because once we do this, there’s no going back."
"I’ve never been sure of anything in my life." My hands fisted in his hair. "But I’m choosing this anyway. I’m choosing you. All of you."
His pupils dilated until there was almost no color left.
"Then we claim you." Not a question. A vow.
The other three moved into position — Riven on my left, Draven on my right, Thorne still between my legs.
Four alphas. Four claiming bites. Four bonds about to snap into place and change everything.
Kael’s mouth found my neck again and this time when his teeth scraped over the pulse point, it wasn’t teasing.
"Last chance." His breath was hot against my skin. "Tell me to stop."
I tilted my head back, baring my throat in submission I’d never given anyone.
"Don’t you dare stop."
His teeth sank into my neck.
And the world exploded.
