Amaya's POV

The sheets are too soft. That's the first thing I notice when I wake up, softness against my skin instead of rough canvas straps. No restraints around my wrists. No cold metal beneath me. Just clean cotton and the smell of lavender instead of antiseptic, oh wow,this is amazing..

My eyes snap open. White ceiling. Sunlight streaming through gauzy curtains. A room that looks like it belongs in a luxury hotel, not a facility.

I bolt upright, and pain explodes through my ribs in a jiffy. My hand flies to my side, finding bandages wrapped tight around my torso. More bandages on my arms, my legs. Someone undressed me. Someone touched me while I was unconscious.

The panic slams into me like a fist. I can't breathe. Unable to think straight. The walls are closing in and I need to get out, need to run, need to..

"You're safe."

I whip around. A woman stands in the doorway, fifties, gray hair pulled back, kind eyes that I don't trust for a second. She holds up both hands like I'm a wild animal.

Maybe I am.

"My name is Principal Thorne. You're at Northridge Ice Academy. You've been asleep for ten days."

Ten days? I jump off the bed, stumble, catch myself against the nightstand. I'm wearing clean clothes, soft pants and a loose shirt that aren't mine. "Who changed me? Who touched me?"

"Our nurse. Only our nurse, I promise." She takes a careful step inside. "We found you on the rocks below Widow's Cliff. You should be dead, but somehow... you survived and that is really a miracle."

The cliff, how I actually jump. The water swallowing me whole. It comes back in fragments, cold, darkness, that strange scent on the wind right before everything went black.

"Where am I?" My voice sounds raw, broken.

"Northridge Ice Academy. A private school for.." She pauses. "gifted students."

Gifted. Code for something. Always code for something. I scan the room, one door behind her, one window to my left. Second floor, maybe third based on the tree line visible outside. I could make that jump if I had to.

"I want to leave."

"You can't." Her voice stays gentle, but firm. "You're registered under the name Amaya Rasford secured. The people looking for you won't find you here."

My blood runs cold. "How do you know people are looking for me?"

"Because girls don't wash up half-dead on beaches covered in medical restraint marks and needle tracks unless they're running from something very bad." Her eyes hold mine. "You're safe here. But you need to stay, blend in, become a student. At least until we can figure out what to do with you."

Blend in? Become a student. Like I'm normal. Like I didn't spend months as a lab rat.

"And if I refuse?"

"Then you walk out that door with no papers, no money, no protection, and they find you within a week max but we both know it will be a lot shorter than that." She steps aside, gesturing to the hallway. "It is entirely your choice."

Not really a choice at all.

+++++++

The uniform is crisp, navy blazer, white shirt, plaid skirt that falls just above my knees. I stare at myself in the bathroom mirror and don't recognize the girl looking back. Clean. Bandaged. Almost normal, if you don't look at the bruises still yellowing on my jaw or the haunted look in my eyes.

My hands won't stop shaking. I grip the sink edge until my knuckles go white. I just need to blend in and act like I have been doing this most of my life. I mean it is just school. What could possibly go wrong.

You can do this. Just breathe. Just survive.

The hallways are massive, vaulted ceilings, stone walls, students in matching uniforms streaming between classes. Rich kids. I can tell by the way they walk, confident and careless, like the world owes them everything and they know it.

I keep my back to the wall, tracking exits. Two at each end of the corridor. Windows every fifteen feet. Fire escape signs pointing to stairwells. My heart hammers against my ribs but I force my breathing steady.

Just blend in. Don't draw attention.

I found my first class, Advanced Supernatural History. The room falls quiet when I walk in. Twenty pairs of eyes lock on me, the new girl, the stranger. I feel their stares like hands on my skin and I want to claw my way out of my own body.

The teacher, Mr. Grayson, according to the board, gives me a tight smile. "Ah, Miss Rasford. Please, take any available seat."

I scan the room. Most desks are full, students sitting in clusters, but there are three empty seats in the back row by the windows. Perfect. I can see the whole room from there, and I'm close to an exit. I move toward them.

"Not there!" A girl with perfect blonde curls grabs my arm.

I flinch so hard I nearly hit her. My body moves on instinct, pulling back, hands coming up defensive. She drops my arm immediately, eyes wide.

"Sorry, I just.." She lowers her voice. "Those seats are taken."

I look at the empty chairs. "They're not here."

"They're never here. Not for first period, anyway." She glances around like she's worried someone might hear. "Those are the Alpha Heirs' seats. You don't sit there. You don't even look at them too long. Trust me."

Alpha Heirs. The way she says it, all reverent and nervous, makes my skin crawl. Another hierarchy. Another system where certain people have power over others. I spent six months being powerless.

"I'll sit where I want," I say, and take the window seat. The blonde girl makes a small sound of distress and hurries back to her desk. Whispers ripple through the classroom. Mr. Grayson clears his throat but doesn't tell me to move.

Good. Let them whisper. I'm done being afraid of bullies and alphas and anyone who thinks they own me.

The class drags on. I don't hear a word of it. My mind keeps drifting, back to the facility, to Sera's screams, to the scalpel sliding between the guard's ribs. My hands curl into fists under the desk. When the bell finally rings, I'm the first one out.

I need air. Need space. Need to get away from all these eyes and voices and the walls that feel too much like confinement.

I take the stairs two at a time, following signs until I find a door marked ROOF ACCESS - AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY.

Perfect. I shove it open and step out into sunlight and wind. The roof is flat, scattered with ventilation units and..

Smoke.

Three figures lean against the far railing, cigarettes glowing between their fingers. Males. Large. Powerful in the way predators are powerful, all coiled muscle and easy confidence.

They turn slowly as the door clangs shut behind me. Three devastatingly beautiful faces. Three sets of eyes that catch the light like it fantasy, too bright, too intense. The air around them feels heavy, electric, like the moment before lightning strikes.

The one in the middle, dark hair, sharp jaw, eyes like winter storms, takes a long drag and smiles. "Lost, little wolf?"

My mouth moves before my brain catches up. "You're the Alpha Heirs."

The smile widens, Dangerous, Guilty. We stare at each other across the rooftop. The wind whips my hair back. Something in the air shifts, tightens, pulls.

Then it hits me, a wall of scent so strong my knees nearly buckle. Pine and smoke and something wild, something that reaches inside my chest and wraps around my lungs. My abdomen clenches, heat coiling low and insistent.

No. No, this isn't..

All three of them go rigid. Cigarettes fall from fingers. Their eyes start to glow, actual light bleeding through their irises, turning them inhuman. My heart stops. Starts. Hammers so hard I think it might break through my ribs.

The dark-haired one steps forward, nostrils flaring, pupils blown wide. When he speaks, his voice is barely human, rough and resonant and haunting.

"Mate."

Amaya POV

I ran before I could even think of anything.My feet slam against hallway floors, not caring who sees me, not caring about the stares or the whispers that follow. My chest is tight, too tight, like someone's wrapped iron bands around my ribs and they're squeezing tighter with every breath.

Mate.

That word. That single word echoing in my skull in a voice that wasn't quite human.

I didn't survive six months of hell just to be claimed by three alphas who think I belong to them because of some biological accident. I'm not anyone's mate. I'm not anyone's anything I'm just me...

I burst through a door, my assigned room, the one Principal Thorne showed me this morning when I woke up. I slam it shut, twist the lock, and immediately start pulling open drawers. There's not much, a few uniforms, basic toiletries, nothing that's actually mine because I don't have anything anymore.

My hands are shaking so badly I can barely grip the bag I find in the closet. I shove clothes inside, not folding, not caring. Just need to move. Getting out of here is the next big thing.

Heat. It slams into my abdomen like a fist, sudden and vicious. I double over, gasping, the bag falling from my fingers.

No. Not now. Not yet. It's too soon.

But I know this feeling. The facility made sure I knew it intimately, the artificial heats they triggered with their injections, over and over, studying how my body responded, how far they could push before I broke.

This is worse. This is real.

My skin is on fire, crazy and intense. Every nerve ends screaming. The room spins and I stumble to the desk, yanking open the drawer where I hid the suppressant I stole from the facility's medical wing during my escape. Three syringes left. My hands shake as I grab one.

Tears blur my vision. I can barely see the needle as I pull off the cap with my teeth, can barely find the vein in my arm. The first jab misses. The second..

The needle slides in. I press the plunger, sobbing as the cold liquid burns through my bloodstream.

"Please work," I whisper, pressing my forehead against the desk. "If you don't,I'm totally in a big and crazy mess."

For a moment, the heat reduces. Just a moment. Then it roars back twice as strong.

I screamed, biting down on my arm to muffle the sound. My body is betraying me again, just like it did on that table, and I can't, I can't do this again.. The door explodes inward. Wood splinters. The lock tears free. Three bodies fill the doorway, massive, powerful, eyes glowing that inhuman gold.

Alvaro in the center, the dark-haired one from the roof. Javier to his left, blonde and brutal-looking. Luciano on the right, black hair, silver eyes that are currently fixed on me like I'm prey.

"Get out," I rasp, backing against the wall. "Get out,I said get out.."

Alvaro nostrils flare. His eyes lock on the syringe still dangling from my arm. His face twists, rage and something else, something that looks almost like pain.

"What did you inject?" His voice is rough, barely controlled.

"Suppressant." I rip the needle out, throw it at him. It bounces off his chest. "To stop this. To stop you."

Javier moves faster than I can track, suddenly right in front of me, gripping my chin and tilting my head back. His touch burns. Everything burns.

"You're hurting yourself," he growls. "We can smell the chemicals in your blood. What the hell were you thinking?"

"I was thinking I don't want to be claimed!" I shove at his chest but he doesn't budge. "I don't want this bond. I don't want any of you. Just, reject me. Please. Say you reject me and let me go in peace,I promise I won't fight you all."

"No." Alvaro voice cuts through the room like a blade.

"Mates are sacred," Luciano adds, his voice quieter but no less intense. "We don't reject our mate."

"Then I reject you!" The words tear out of my throat, desperate. "I, Amaya, reject..."

Pain explodes through my chest. Not physical pain, something deeper, something that feels like my soul is being ripped apart. I collapse, and Javier catches me before I hit the floor.

"Stop," he orders, lowering me onto the bed. "You're killing yourself. The bond won't allow rejection. Not this strong. Not this fast."

"I don't care." I'm crying now, full sobs that shake my whole body. "I can't do this. I can't be owned again. I can't.."

The heat surges again, vicious and uncontrollable. My back arches off the bed. A sound rips from my throat, half scream, half something else, something needy that I hate.

All three of them go rigid. The air in the room thickens, charged with tension so heavy I can barely breathe through it.

"Out," Alvaro snaps at the other two. "Both of you, out now."

"Like hell," Javier growls, but there's strain in his voice. His hands are clenched into fists at his sides, shaking with the effort of not moving.

I can't think. Unable focus. My body is moving on instinct, reaching for the closest one, Luciano . My fingers dig into his shirt, clawing at fabric and the muscle beneath. He catches my wrists, holding them away from him, but I'm already leaning in, pressing my face against his throat, breathing in his scent. Pine and night air and something dark that makes my wolf howl inside my skull.

"Amaya." My name on his lips sounds like a prayer and a warning. "You need to stop."

But I can't. I'm kissing his throat, his jaw, tasting salt and smoke. He makes a sound low in his chest, half growl, half groan.

Alvaro is there suddenly, pulling me back, pinning my arms against my sides. "You're not in control. This isn't you."

"I know!" I thrash against his hold but he's too strong. They're all too strong. "I know this isn't me. The facility, they did something to me. Broke something. I can't control the heats, they come too fast, too strong.."

I break off, gasping, as another wave hits. My entire body trembles violently. I'm burning from the inside out and the only thing that would help, the only thing my instincts are screaming for, is them.

"Please," I beg, but I don't know what I'm begging for anymore. For them to leave? For them to stay? For this to stop? For it to never stop?

Javier kneels in front of me, his hand cupping my face with surprising gentleness. "Tell us what they did to you."

"Experiments." The word is barely a whisper. "Heat experiments. Breeding program. They wanted perfect hybrids. Needed, females who could.."

I can't finish. Can't say it out loud. But they understand. I can see it in their faces, the fury, the horror, the murderous rage that makes their eyes glow brighter.

"We're going to kill them," Alvaro says quietly. "Every single one of them."

"I don't want revenge." My voice cracks. "I just want this to stop. I don't want to want you. I don't want this bond. I don't want.."

But my body betrays me again, pressing back against Alvaro chest, seeking his warmth, his scent, his touch. My wolf is clawing at the inside of my skull, snarling one word over and over.

Claim them. Claim them. Claim them.

"I don't want this," I sob, even as my body trembles violently, even as heat coils tighter in my abdomen, even as every instinct I have screams the opposite. "Please..."

But deep inside, underneath the fear and the trauma and the desperation, my wolf whispers with absolute certainty:

Claim them.

Alvaro POV

She's dying in my arms. Not literally, but close enough. Her body is burning up, shaking so violently I can feel it through my shirt. The scent of her heat is driving my wolf insane, clawing at my insides, demanding I do something, fix this, claim what's mine.

But she doesn't want to be claimed. She made that clear to us.

"We need to move her," Luciano says, his voice tight. He's standing by the window, deliberately not looking at us. Smart. One wrong move and we'll all lose control.

"Where?" Javier eyes are pure gold now, his wolf too close to the surface. "Where the hell can we take her that's safe?"

"The cabin." I shift Amaya in my arms, trying to ignore how perfectly she fits against my chest. "It's private. Warded. No one can get in so easily and that is the safest place for her, at least for now.."

She makes a small sound against my neck, half whimper, half purr. Then her lips press against my throat, hot and soft, and my entire body goes rigid.

"Alvaro," she breathes, and I nearly drop her.

"Don't," I grit out, forcing myself to move toward the door. "Don't talk. Don't, just don't."

But she's not listening. Her fingers are tangled in my shirt, her face buried in the crook of my neck, breathing me in like I'm oxygen and she's drowning..

We make it three steps into the hallway before I smell them, other males. At least a dozen, drawn by her heat like moths to a flame. They round the corner ahead of us. Eyes glowing. Postures aggressive.

"That's the new girl," one of them says, nostrils flaring. "She's in heat. Unmated."

"Back off," Javier snarls, stepping in front of me. His body is already shifting, claws extending, canines lengthening. "She's ours and ours alone. We don't share."

"You haven't marked her yet." Another male steps forward, older, probably a senior. "That means she's fair game for everyone here."

Fair game. Like she's prey. Like she's something to be hunted. The rage that explodes through me is unlike anything I've ever felt. My wolf surges forward and I let him, still holding Amaya against my chest with one arm while my other hand extends, claws ripping through skin.

"Touch her and I'll rip your throat out and make you watch."

My voice isn't human anymore. It's all wolf, all alpha, all murderous intent. The males hesitate. They can feel my power, we're Alpha Heirs for a reason. Our bloodlines are ancient, our wolves stronger than most.

But her scent is strong too. Intoxicating. They're weighing their options, deciding if claiming her is worth dying for or not.

Luciano doesn't give them time to choose. He moves like liquid, slamming the first male against the wall hard enough to crack stone. "She Is Ours, touch her and you are no more than dead meat."

That breaks the standoff. Two more lunge forward. Javier meets them mid-charge, all fang and fury.

I can't help. Can't put Amaya down. Can't risk someone grabbing her while I'm distracted. So I run, cradling her against my chest, taking the back stairwell two steps at a time while my brothers handle the fight behind me.

She's kissing my neck again, little desperate sounds escaping her throat that are making it impossible to think straight.

"Stop," I beg, kicking open the exit door. "Amaya, please stop."

"Can't," she whimpers. "Hurts. Everything hurts."

The cabin is across the courtyard, tucked into the tree line where the school grounds end and wild forest begins. It's ours, a sanctuary we claimed years ago when the dorms became too suffocating, too full of politics and posturing.

I cover the distance in seconds, shouldering through the door just as Javier and Luciano catch up. Luciano's knuckles are bloody. Javier has a cut across his cheek that's already healing.

"Lock it," I order, carrying Amaya toward the back bedroom. "Ward it. No one gets in."

The bedroom is dark, cool, the bed bigger than necessary because we're all too large for normal furniture. I lay her down as gently as I can, but she won't let go of my shirt.

"Don't leave," she gasps, pupils blown wide. "Please don't.."

"I have to." I pry her fingers loose, hating myself for it. "You asked us not to claim you. So we won't. But that means we can't stay in here with you, not while you're like this."

"Alvaro.."

I'm out the door before she can finish, closing it between us. My hands are shaking as I turn the lock. Javier and Luciano stand in the main room, both looking as wrecked as I feel.

"This is insane," Javier mutters, running both hands through his hair. "She's our mate and we just locked her in a room alone during her heat."

"She doesn't want us." Luciano voice is flat, but I can hear the pain underneath. "She asked us to reject her."

"She's scared." I lean against the door, trying to slow my racing heart. "Whatever they did to her in that facility, it broke something. She's terrified of being owned, of being used."

"We wouldn't.." Javier starts.

"She doesn't know that." I close my eyes, but that's a mistake because all I can see is her face, her eyes, the way she looked at us like we were the monsters.

Maybe we are..

A sound comes through the door, soft at first. A whimper. Then another. Then a cry that makes my wolf howl in response to the sound,this is really awkward..

"Alvaro," she calls, voice breaking. "Please..."

My hands curl into fists. Every instinct I have is screaming at me to go to her, to comfort her, to give her what her body needs. But she said no.

"We should mark her," Javier says quietly. "It would help. The bond would ease her heat, make it controllable."

"She doesn't want the bond," Luciano counters. "Doing anything now would be going against her wishes. I want her to like us not see us as people who took advantage of her "

"She doesn't want to suffer either." Thorn's eyes are desperate. "Listen to her. She's in fucking pain. Only the Moon knows how many agony she is in."

The cries are getting louder now. Desperate. My chest feels like it's being ripped apart.

"We can't," I force out. "Not without her consent. Not when she's not in her right mind. That would make us no better than the bastards who hurt her."

"So we just let her suffer?" Javier voice rises. "That's our mate in there, Alvaro. Our mate. And she's.."

He cuts off as the crying suddenly stops. The silence is worse than the noise. My heart stops. Literally stops for a beat before slamming back to life double-time.

"Amaya?" I call through the door.

Nothing. Nothing at all.

"Amaya!"

Still nothing. My hand is on the lock before I can think. Javier grabs my arm.

"Don't. She could be sleeping. The suppressant might have.."

"She's not sleeping." I can feel it through the bond, that thin thread connecting us. Something's wrong. "Move aside."

I twist the lock and throw open the door. Immediately a blurry figure tackles me before I can react. One second I'm standing, the next I'm on my back with Amaya straddling my hips. And she is...naked. Completely, devastatingly naked. Her skin glowing with heat, eyes wild and gold, her scent so strong it's choking me.

"Please," she breathes, hands pressed against my chest, trembling. "I can't fight it anymore. I tried. I tried so hard but it hurts and you're right here and I need.."

Her voice breaks. A tear slides down her cheek. She leans down, her hair falling around us like a curtain, blocking out everything else. Her lips hover over mine, so close I can feel her breath, hot and desperate. Our hearts are racing, beating in sync.

"I need you," she whispers. "All of you. Please."

Her mouth brushes mine, the barest touch..