Bella knew the truth: only a wolf could fully sate her desires. Only a wolf could match her hunger and the primal intensity that came with it. Tim was big for a human, but her last lover had been bigger, hungrier, and utterly insatiable. He’d never stopped until she was screaming hoarsely, utterly spent, and unable to move.
That bastard had ruined her for all others.
After checking on her babies, safe and sound in their beds, Bella strolled into her bedroom. She turned on the shower, letting the sound of the water drown out her thoughts. Tonight, she would settle for taking care of her needs herself. But Sunday? Sunday was for Tim.
She already knew how it would play out. She would be on top, in control—just how it always was with them. And Tim didn’t seem to mind.
Meanwhile, Luke’s phone rang, jarring him from the restless sleep he had finally managed to fall into. He growled, glaring at the glowing device on his bedside table.
It was nearly 1 a.m. He had been asleep for barely two hours, and the caller’s name flashing on the screen—Macky—told him this wasn’t going to be a call he could ignore. Nor was it one that would allow him to go back to sleep afterward.
With an irritated snarl, he slapped the answer button and activated the speaker. Burying his head back into the pillow, he growled, “What?”
“Um, boss, we’ve got a slight problem. Nothing too serious… human and all,” Macky said hesitantly.
Luke sighed, running a hand over his face. It was past 1 a.m., and he was already exhausted. A “human problem” could only mean one thing—something was happening that he wasn’t going to like. The hesitation in Macky’s voice grated on him.
“Just say it, Macky,” he growled, trying to cling to the remnants of his sleep.
“Well…” Macky began cautiously. “Bella just came out of her apartment with some human guy. We saw him go in around 7, but we didn’t know it was to see her. They looked… well… hot and heavy, boss, and—”
“And?” Luke prompted sharply, his tone cutting through the line.
There was a muffled sound of argument on the other end—a heated exchange between Macky and Benzy.
“Don’t do it, man.”
“I have to. He needs to know.”
“It’s not a good idea.”
Luke’s patience snapped. Maddis was already stirring within him, rage bubbling to the surface. “What?” The word came out as a snarl, more his wolf than him. Maddis demanded answers, his possessive fury unrelenting.
Macky exhaled, his voice dropping slightly. “He yelled out to her, ‘When are you going to marry me?’ And she replied, ‘When are you going to propose?’”
And that was it. Sleep was gone—obliterated.
Luke felt Maddis clawing for control, his wolf’s fury erupting at the revelation. His Mate, laughing and joking with some human? Some man asking her to marry him?
“Find out who he is and send me a picture,” Luke managed to grind out. But that was all he could say before Maddis surged forward, ripping control from him entirely.
Maddis tore free from the pack house, his massive form bolting into the night. His rage was unrestrained, wild and feral. The wolf was on the hunt, ready to destroy anything in his path.
Luke, trapped in the recesses of his own mind, tried to reason with himself. She doesn’t know we’re her Mate, he reminded Maddis, though the thought did little to soothe either of them. She has no idea. And if that man is her boyfriend? It would make sense for her to spend time with him.
But logic meant nothing to Maddis. The wolf’s possessive instincts burned white-hot. He’d tried to call to Tyler, to tell her she was his Mate, to claim her in any way he could. But Bella had been in full control that day, cutting the call the moment Maddis roared Tyler’s name.
Luke grimaced internally. Whatever was going on in Bella’s mind regarding him and Maddis, it wasn’t good. They were losing ground, and fast. If they didn’t act soon, Maddis’s patience would snap entirely.
Maddis wouldn’t wait much longer. If he saw Bella with another man, whether human or wolf, it wouldn’t matter. Maddis would claim her—forcefully if necessary—and mark her as his, no matter the consequences.
Luke knew he’d struggle to stop it if that moment came. Maddis wanted her, desperately. He wanted his Mate back. He wanted the woman who had once been theirs, the woman whose screams of his name had echoed through the walls as they made her theirs.
They hadn’t just touched her—they’d consumed her, possessed her. Maddis hadn’t mated Tyler, not in the wolfen sense, but he’d watched, fully aware of how much Luke had enjoyed every moment. He’d memorized the way her body responded, the way her soft moans and cries had filled the air.
The memory only fed Maddis’s fury. He needed her back. Now.
She’d only been 19, and he had been her first. That hadn’t surprised him—he’d known her all her life. She’d never had a boyfriend, at least none he’d seen. She had just come home from a semester at university and was spending time with him and the boys, like always. But that night, the others had peeled away, drawn to their own flings and leaving just the two of them.
It had been late on a Friday night, and they were stretched out next to each other on his bed, watching a movie in his room. It was something they’d done countless times growing up, nothing unusual.
Luke’s wandering thoughts seemed to have a calming effect on Maddis. The wolf had been pacing, restless and furious, but now he stilled as Luke allowed himself to revisit the memory in full.
He remembered how he’d glanced down at her, about to ask if she wanted snacks or a drink. But the words never came. Instead, he caught her staring at him, her expression unguarded and filled with l**t and desire.
She looked away quickly, a fierce blush creeping across her cheeks as she bit her lower lip. He knew that look—he’d seen it on plenty of she-wolves before. But he had never expected to see it on her.
