CHAPTER 201: HEAT

Emira collapsed onto the ground the moment she returned home, her legs giving out the second the door closed behind her.

She barely managed to brace herself with her hands before her knees touched the floor. Her breath came in hard, uneven bursts, her chest rising and falling as if she had run for miles. The familiar scent of the room did nothing to calm her racing heart.

She had wanted to challenge him for so long. She had waited for this moment from the moment she learned the truth about what he had done, and the price her mother had paid for it.

Every day since then had moved her closer to this moment. Each step had been carefully and deliberately planned to bring confront him.

Every single thing she and her mother had endured in Moonville had been for this. For revenge.

She had imagined herself feeling satisfied when it finally happened. She had thought that facing him, looking him in the eye, and showing him that she was here to make truth of his biggest fear would feel good.

But it didn’t.

Now that she was home, the weight inside her chest only grew heavier. The room felt too quiet. The air felt too still. And her hands, pressed against the floor, trembled more with every passing second.

Because confronting him had not made her feel victorious. It had made her feel even more helpless.

She could still see his expression as clearly as if he stood in front of her. The moment their eyes met, she saw it—he wanted to kill her. The rage in his gaze had been real. The intent was real. If he had gotten the chance, he would have ended her life right there, without hesitation.

And the only reason he hadn’t... the only reason she was still breathing... Was her face. Not her strength or her power. His mate’s face was what made him weak. She gave a bitter smile as she curled up on the floor.

The werewolves believed that a mate was what made them stronger. But all she saw was that the mates were the biggest weakness. It made the strong werewolves foolish.

***

A few hours later, Emira woke up shivering and frowned. She tried to move, but her body refused to cooperate. Her fingers twitched weakly, but that was all. A cold wave ran through her, sharp enough to make her gasp. She curled slightly on the floor, confused.

Was she in heat? But...This wasn’t normal. She had gone into heat two times already and she knew how her body usually reacted. The slow warmth, the aching build-up, the heavy scent and the need that hit her. But this... this felt nothing like that.

Her body temperature seemed to have dropped... or maybe it was the cold from the floor that made her feel like it... but she felt as if she was submerged in ice.

She lifted her arm with effort, but the moment she moved, heat rushed through her body in one violent surge. It burned through her chest, her stomach, then lower still. Her breath caught. The cold vanished instantly, replaced by a feverish heat that made her skin feel too tight.

Emira pressed her hand to her chest, trying to steady her breathing, but the warmth only grew hotter. Another wave spread through her, and she let out a shaky breath.

This wasn’t just her normal heat. This was a backlash from the use of her pheromones. Something her mother had already warned her about. A witch’s body was not meant to handle a werewolf’s power.

She squeezed her eyes shut as her muscles trembled again. It felt like she was burning from the inside while her skin shivered from the outside.

Carefully, she moved towards the bed and fell onto it with a groan. The soft bedcover sent a shiver through her.

She knew what she had to do, of course. Ryn had told her. All she had to do was close her eyes and help her body find some release. She turned her head to look at the bag full of various tools that were sitting on the table beside the bed.

She didn’t even know yet what those were.

So, instead, she closed her eyes and did what ’they’ had done to her... She traced her fingers lightly over her neck, her hands trembling, as she imagined Zen’s hand doing that to her.

And then, her fingers moved lower still, stopping over her breasts as she brought them together...Her skin, now flushed, felt alive with an intoxicating heat. Her nipples hardened into firm peaks, standing in sharp contrast to the flush of her skin.

And then, let her hands move lower, imagining Kael holding her hips as she moved her hands lower still. Next, her fingers moved to the waistband of her shorts, tugging them down with her panties as she threw them aside. She didn’t need those...She needed ’them’ to fill her up...their fingers... Her fingers had barely touched her when she felt the ache between her legs grow more insistent. She didn’t put her fingers inside her, instead mimicking the way Lance had done it to her...

Just tracing the outer lips slowly...Her body jerked at the slightest touches until finally she was not able to take her own teasing. She pushed one finger inside her... wanting more. Needing more. And just then, as she was about to move and make herself come, she sensed a presence inside the house. She stiffened as her eyes moved towards the door...

And standing there, staring at her hand inside her, pleasuring her were the three men she had been imagining... In that moment, she felt her body break apart. Just the heat in their eyes made her moan and close her eyes, as pleasure washed over her.

She spread her legs more, wanting more of their gaze and she watched with hooded eyes as they slowly stepped closer. Even though she’d felt pleasure just now, it did nothing to satiate the heat rising within her at the sight of them...

She raised her hips then, as if offering and breathed the words she had never thought she would, "Take me."