Chapter 5
Glowing yellow and silver and pale blue, embedded in faces both human and something else. They stood in a half-circle like a ring of fire, tall, silent, pulsing with energy that made the hair on my arms stand up.
They were beautiful and terrifying.
Men and women with skin inked in pack markings, their bodies dressed in combat gear or nothing at all. And every single one of them smelled like predator.
“Welcome,” Vexx said, stepping forward. “To my inner circle.”
Nobody clapped.
They didn’t smile either.
Their gazes shifted to me, and I felt stripped. Like they were trying to scent me for lies.
Vexx gestured to me with one hand. “This is Kessia Thorn.”
A few heads tilted. Sniffed the air.
“She was auctioned to me,” he said, his voice calm and ice-cold. “But I didn’t just buy her.”
He looked right at me now. “I bound her.”
Someone growled low from the crowd.
A female with silver hair stepped forward. Her eyes were wolf-bright. “Bound? To a human?”
“She’s not just human,” Vexx said, still staring at me. “She’s a siren.”
Silence.
A few wolves shifted uncomfortably. One spat on the floor. Another bared his teeth.
“She’s dangerous,” a man muttered. “She could turn on us.”
“She already turned me,” Vexx said with a half-smile.
More growls.
“She could command us like sheep!”
“She could make us kill each other.”
Vexx held up a hand. “She could.”
His tone darkened.
“But if she sings for us… we’d be gods.”
I swallowed hard.
“No,” I said, stepping forward. “I’m not singing for anyone. I didn’t ask to be here. I didn’t ask to be bought. And I’m not some magical speaker system you can plug into war.”
The room rumbled with wolf-chuckles and murmurs.
Vexx raised a brow. “Tell them, Kessia. Show them.”
“Hell no.”
“Then I’ll make them kneel.”
I didn’t understand until he lunged forward, fast as lightning, and grabbed my arm.
Hard.
Pain exploded up my wrist.
“Let go!” I cried out.
And just like that, they all froze.
Every single pack member.
Mid-step.
Mid-snarl.
Mid-breath.
Frozen like statues.
Vexx blinked.
And slowly looked around.
His grip loosened on me.
“You didn’t even try to command them,” he whispered.
“I - I didn’t mean to,” I stammered.
But he wasn’t listening to my words.
He was watching my power.
“You’re syncing,” he murmured.
“What?”
He stepped closer. “With the pack. Without speaking. Without singing. They feel you now.”
I looked around, heart in my throat. Every wolf in that room had gone rigid. Their faces blank. Their bodies waiting. As if all it would take was one word from me, and they’d burn the city down.
“I don’t want this,” I whispered.
“I do.”
That was Vexx.
He was smiling now.
Proud. Hungry. Wicked.
“You want to run, little siren,” he said, brushing hair from my face. “But I think the truth is… you like the power. You like what you are.”
I hated how close he was.
I hated that he was right.
Because part of me, some quiet, hungry part, did like the power. I didn’t know how to stop it.
And the pack?
They were still frozen.
Still waiting.
Until I said the words.
“Let them go,” I whispered.
And they did.
Every wolf dropped their shoulders, blinked, staggered as if they’d just snapped out of a trance. Breathing returned to the room. But the fear hadn’t left.
One thing was clear:
They would never see me as one of them.
Only as something more dangerous.
And Vexx?
He looked at me like I was a wildfire he couldn’t wait to release. After the pack meeting, the elevator doors sealed shut behind us again.
Vexx didn’t speak.
Neither did I.
His shoulders were tense, jaw locked. He looked like he was holding something back, something primal. Not rage. Something worse.
Craving.
I folded my arms tight across my chest, still shaking from what I’d just done. What they had seen. That power wasn’t something I knew how to use or control. I didn’t even want it.
But it kept answering me anyway.
“They hate me,” I finally said, voice low.
“They fear you,” he replied.
“Same thing.”
He looked at me. “No. Hate is easy to kill. Fear... lasts longer.”
“Great,” I muttered. “So now I’m just your shiny new fear toy.”
He turned toward me fast. “Don’t twist it, Kessia.”
“Twist what? You paraded me in front of your wolves like a damn threat display. You made me freeze them like I was some kind of, of leash around their throats!”
His voice dropped to a whisper. “And they listened.”
I stared at him. “You don’t get it. I don’t want to command people. I don’t want this... this power. It’s not a gift. It’s a freak show!”
“No,” he said. “It’s survival.”
The elevator stopped.