Page 13 of The Pack

She stiffened as I took another step toward her, her fists clenched tightly at her sides. I could see her calculating, weighing her options, but there were no options here. Not for her.

“Your name,” I commanded, calmly but firmly.

Her lips parted, her cutting retort already forming, but she faltered. Her eyes darted to the wolves behind me—Tobias, Callum, Thorne, and Killian—all still in their wolf forms, watching her like predators ready to pounce.

I could feel their tension through the pack bond, their unspoken questions pressing against the edges of my mind, but I pushed them away. This moment was mine.

“Zara,” she said finally, quieter now.

I let the faintest smirk tug at the corner of my mouth. “There. That wasn’t so hard, was it?”

The fire flashed in her eyes again, but she didn’t say anything further.

I closed the remaining distance between us in a single step, my body towering over hers. Her breath hitched, and I felt the spike in her scent again, tangy and sweet, and so potent it made my chest tighten and my cock ache.

Before I could think better of it, I reached out and wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her flush against me.

She gasped, her hands coming up to press against my chest, but I didn’t let go. Her body was warm, trembling slightly, but strong. She was fighting the instinct to give into her fear.

I leaned down, my lips brushing close to her ear.

“You’re going to tell me everything,” I said, softly enough that only she could hear. “Why you’re here. How you got here. And why the hell it is that you smell like this.”

Her scent spiked again, stronger this time, so intense it made my head spin and my dick jump with raw desire.

She shoved at my chest, trying to break free, but I didn’t loosen my grip.

“Let go of me,” she snapped, her voice shaking with a mix of anger and something else she didn’t understand yet.

But in that moment, I did.

The realization hit me like a freight train. That tangy, sweet note in her scent, the way it seemed to grow stronger the closer I got to her—it wasn’t fear. No. It was something else.

It was her going intoheat.

My entire body went rigid as the truth settled in. Zara—this human woman, standing in the middle of the wild countryside of Ireland—was going into heat.

Just like a shifter.

“What the hell?” I muttered under my breath, my mind racing. This wasn’t possible. Humans didn’t go into heat. They didn’tgive off this kind of scent, didn’t experience this kind of thing. And yet… here she was, doing that exact fucking thing.

“Magnus,”Tobias’s voice growled in my head, sharp and urgent.“What’s going on?”

I didn’t answer him. My focus was entirely on Zara, on the way her body tensed against mine, on the way her scent filled the air around us like an extremely potent drug than none of us was prepared for, least of all me.

She glared up at me, confusion and fury warring in her expression.

“What are you talking about?” she pressed.

I ignored her question, my grip on her waist tightening slightly as I leaned back just enough to meet her eyes.

“Do you feel it?” I asked, my voice quiet but insistent.

“Feel what?” she snapped, but her cheeks flushed, and her breathing hitched again.

“You don’t know what’s happening, do you?” I murmured, more to myself than to her.

Her scent was unmistakable now, so strong it was impossible to ignore. My pulse quickened, my wolf stirring beneath the surface, its instincts roaring to life.

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