AIDEN'S POV
"You ready for this, Alpha?"
Ace's voice rumbled in my head the moment my claws touched Jasmine's skin.
"Do I have a choice?" I replied tightly.
"You always have a choice. But this one? You're already hers. You've been hers since the second she looked at you like you weren't just another cursed wolf."
"Then we're doing this."
As my claws pierced the base of her neck, everything disappeared.
The room. The couch. Alara's voice.
Gone.
All I could hear was Jasmine's heartbeat, thundering through our bond like a war drum.
Everything was replaced by a blinding surge of raw, incandescent light that yanked me off my feet and into the void.
I wasn't falling.
I was being pulled.
Dragged.
Until—
I landed hard, boots skidding on slick pavement. Rain pelted down in icy sheets. Thunder cracked in the sky overhead.
The smell of burning rubber, blood, and ozone hit me all at once.
The road beneath my feet shimmered with oil and stormwater.
