Chapter 1- Let's See if They Bite
Sahriya POV
“Let’s see if they bite."
I whispered it with a grin, crouched on a moss covered branch overhead, my fingers still damp with river water and rabbit blood. The ten males below me had no idea I was watching them. They were all big, scarred, broad shouldered beasts of men who moved like predators and smelled like sweat, smoke, and steel.
Gods, they were loud.
Barking orders. Slamming packs down. Arguing over fire placement. One of them, the one with gold streaked hair and a scowl sharp enough to cut bark, was definitely the Alpha, or at least he thought he was. Another one kept pacing, scenting the air like he couldn’t settle, while two others play wrestled near a growing fire like pups too full of testosterone to sit still.
Their energy pulsed through the clearing like stormwinds, hot, erratic, and wild. But not untouchable. I breathed them in. They were beastborn, just like the ones who'd chased my mother’s screams through the forest all those years ago. Just like the ones I had learned to forgive. And yet… they were different.
They had language. Tactics. Weapons forged from stone and metal, not just fang and instinct. They were civilized beasts, dangerous in a way I didn’t quite understand yet. And still…my fingers itched to touch them. To calm the tension rippling under their skin. To press a hand to a heaving chest and say, you’re safe now.
Gods, what was wrong with me? I crouched lower, letting my aura slip just slightly, like a scent drifting across the wind. A test. A tease. A whisper of calm laced with curiosity. Instantly, the pacing one froze mid step.
He lifted his head, nostrils flaring. Shit.
I pressed my back to the branch, willing my presence to fade, to blend, but it was too late. Another one, stocky and scarred, with a jagged blade strapped to his thigh, sniffed the air and let out a low, warning growl.
They were scenting me.
And not just me, my aura. My pull. The thing I still didn’t fully understand but had watched make enraged direwolves go limp in my arms. The thing that made even wounded panthers purr when I pressed my forehead to theirs.
They were feeling it now. And none of them knew what I was. Hell, I didn’t know what I was. I’d spent the last nine years living in the wild, sleeping in caves or under stars, learning how to shift from the beasts themselves, how to let go, how to fall into the bones of something other, something more.
My first shift had broken my ribs and burst the blood vessels in my eyes. The second time, it had felt like fire licking down my spine.
But by the third? I howled. I ran faster than the winds. Hunted alongside direwolves. Swam with panthers. Flew in my dreams. I didn’t even know it was unheard of for females to shift.
No one told me I couldn’t. So I did.
Below me, the Alpha barked a command, and the men spread out, two toward the river, two toward the trees, one walking straight toward the thickbrush below my perch.
They were hunting me. And I… well. I should’ve run. Should’ve shifted. Should’ve vanished like smoke. But instead, I stayed.
Grinning. Curious. Heart pounding, but not in fear.
Because I wanted to see what would happen. Because something deep inside me whispered....
“One of them might be yours.”
They moved like predators. Smooth. Silent. Coordinated in a way that told me they weren’t just hunters, they were trained, bonded, and lethal when needed. I counted four peeling off into the woods, another three circling wide, two covering the exit trails, and one, the golden haired Alpha, walking straight toward me with his chin lifted and nostrils flaring.
I stayed exactly where I was. Let them find me.
I slid down from the branch without a sound, landing on bare feet in soft moss. The firelight glowed ahead. My heart beat slow and steady. By the time the first one stepped into the clearing, I was standing in the open, waiting.
He froze. Eyes locked on mine. His beast surged forward, confused, aroused and unnerved.
More followed. One. Then three. Then all ten. Weapons lowered. Chests rising. Muscles twitching.
“What the...” someone started, voice hoarse, but then I let it go.
Just a sliver. I let my aura slip from behind the walls I’d always kept it tucked behind. A soft pulse. Like warm rain and moonlight. Like safety, like home.
They dropped. All ten. Not violently. Not in pain. But to their knees, like their beasts recognized something older, stronger, and unquestionably sovereign.
I didn’t move. I let them feel it.
Their eyes were wide, some glazed, some wet, one even trembling, but none of them could speak. Their bodies were still, locked in a haze of submission and a need they couldn’t understand.
I moved to the closest one, a scarred panther type with shadow black eyes. He flinched as I approached, but I reached out and ran my fingers along his jawline, soft and slow.
“Shhh,” I whispered. “You’re safe.”
His entire frame shuddered. Shoulders dropped. The tension melted from his body like wax near flame.
I moved to the next. And the next.
One by one, I touched them, and every time I did… they relaxed. Not in fear. Not in pain. But in complete, instinctive trust. Beasts didn’t bow. But right now? Every one of them was fucking kneeling.
I circled slowly until I stood back where I started, directly in front of the golden haired one with the Alpha’s presence and the jagged scarred one at his right.
Both of them had their heads bowed, but their eyes were on me, burning with something different.
Not fear. Something… deeper. Something that stirred the part of me that had always ached beneath my skin.
What are you? their eyes asked.
I don’t know, my heart whispered. But I think you’re mine.
I took a deep breath, aura still heavy but calm now, and spoke clearly.
“My name is Sahriya.”
My voice rang like a spell.
“If I let you stand, you will not touch me. You will not growl. You will not snap or circle or posture like overgrown pups. You will behave. And you will speak to me like adults.”
Silence. Then one of them, scarred jaw, rich voice like smoke, spoke first.
“Understood.”
The golden haired Alpha looked up, slow and reverent.
“You have my word.”
And gods help me…I felt it. A pull.
Not just desire, not just instinct. Something magnetic. Inevitable. Like the string of fate wrapped around my ribs and tied itself to them.
Just those two. Their eyes met mine. And I knew, they felt it too.
They stood slowly.
Not all ten, just the two I’d pulled from whatever invisible thread connected us. The others stayed kneeling or crouched low, eyes wide, pulses still thudding beneath skin I could feel from feet away.
These two, though? They were different.
The golden haired one straightened first. His movements were smooth, deliberate, but there was something… careful in his posture now. A warlord watching a goddess, not a wild male sizing up prey.
“Sahriya,” he said, voice deep and rough with restrained power. “I’m Kylen.”
The name hit like a rumble of thunder, low, sharp, full of something ancient. His eyes were molten gold with rings of ember red, and drank me in like I was both feast and fire.
He looked like a lion and moved like something born to rule.
The second one stepped up beside him. Taller. Broader. Scar carved across his collarbone, dark hair tied back messily, gaze like a storm cloud just before lightning strikes.
“Jaxen,” he said simply. His voice was quieter than Kylen’s, but no less dangerous. “Diremark. Shadowhowl.”
His eyes flicked to the others still on their knees. Then back to me.
“What are you?” It wasn’t rude. It wasn’t cruel. It was…honest.
I tilted my head. What did he mean? “I told you. My name is Sahriya.”
Jaxen’s jaw ticked. Kylen took a step closer.
“You made ten high tier males drop like pups in a storm. You touched us and the rage left. That doesn’t happen.”
“Not even with bonded females,” Jaxen added. “And we’re not weak.”
My brows lifted. “Did I say you were?”
Kylen’s lips twitched. Not quite a smile, more like a man not used to being amused… and not knowing what to do with it.
“We’re Diremarks,” he said. “All ten of us. The strongest you’ll find this side of the continent.”
“That’s cute,” I said softly, brushing hair from my face. “So am I.”
The silence after that? Thick. Heavy. Holy.
Kylen blinked slowly. “You’re… a Diremark female?”
“No,” I said, and grinned. “I’m… more than that.”
Jaxen’s eyes narrowed. “Impossible. No female ranks that high. The aura alone would...”
“Burn her from the inside,” Kylen finished, quietly. “Unless…”
They both looked at me then. Really looked.
“Unless she’s not just a soother,” Kylen said.
“Unless she’s something else,” Jaxen echoed.
I shrugged one shoulder, nonchalant. “I shift too.”
Both men froze. Kylen’s jaw locked. Jaxen stopped breathing.
“You… what?”
“Shift,” I repeated, like I was talking about the weather. “Wolves taught me. At first I thought it was going to kill me, but it got easier after the third time.”
“You’re lying,” Jaxen said, but it sounded more like a plea than an accusation.
Kylen took a slow step forward. “Females can’t shift.”
I arched a brow. “Can’t they?” Another pause. And then Kylen laughed.
It wasn’t cruel. It wasn’t even full. It was stunned. A deep, choked sound that rumbled from his chest like his beast didn’t know whether to bow or worship.
“You have no idea, do you?” he asked.
I frowned. “Idea of what?”
Jaxen’s voice dropped an octave. “Of how powerful you are.”
I tilted my head. “Powerful enough to make you drop. Powerful enough to touch your rage and make it disappear. Powerful enough to shift into something with claws if you don’t calm your energy.”
Both of them went completely still. Their beasts were rising....I could feel the buzz of it under their skin. Not threatening. Not angry. Just… drawn. Like gravity. Like heat.
“Fuck,” Jaxen muttered. “You’re… you’re not registered.”
“Registered for what?” I asked.
Kylen’s mouth parted. “You really don’t know.”
I shook my head slowly. “I’ve lived with beasts since I was ten. None of them mentioned registration forms.”
Kylen let out a breath like it physically hurt to look at me. “Sahriya…” he said, like saying my name was something sacred, “...you’re not just powerful. You’re a fucking extinction level event.”
I blinked. And then I smiled.
“You’re sweet,” I said, brushing past them to crouch near the fire. “Now, are we going to talk like adults? Or do I need to drop your whole camp again?”