Hope Is Not Optional — Manuel Flores 79
Chapter 79
Selene
I pressed the tips of my fingers against my temples, massaging gently, trying to calm the heat crawling beneath my skin. My elbow rested on the table while my fingers drummed against the wood in an uneven rhythm, anything to distract myself from the fact that my body was betraying me.
The rhythm sounded like the pacing of a caged beast. Because that’s what I was.
A doomed, cornered, irritated beast.
“Selene Bloodrose,” I muttered under my breath. “You are a doomed woman. So doomed that even you might not find a way out of this one. Congratulations.”
I slumped forward, my forehead almost hitting the table. Of all the disasters I had anticipated, this one wasn’t even on the
list.
It wasn’t an exaggeration, or self-pity. It was simply the truth.
The moment I woke up drenched in sweat, my heart pounding wildly in my chest, I knew something was wrong. When the wet dream came back in full detail, and I felt how soaked I was, I knew I was fucked.
I was in heat.
Women in heat always dreamed of someone they desired or were drawn to, but of all the men in this world, why him?
Why Alpha Dominic?
A man whose hands had ended my life more times than I wanted to remember. A man whose face, voice, and presence had always meant the end for me. If my body wanted to kill me, there were gentler ways to do it. Dreaming about him felt like
torture.
There is no way I’m attracted to that demon. I would rather mate with a tree.
I leaned back in my chair and stared at the ceiling, letting out an exhausted groan. “Why couldn’t it be Adrian like before? Or… literally anyone else I’m not terrified of?”
My body felt feverish, every heartbeat heavier than the last. It made no sense. I wasn’t attracted to Dominic. I was terrified of him. No sane woman in their heat wanted a walking calamity disguised as a man.
Once a year, every werewolf woman faced it, the overwhelming surge of need, pressure, and pain. Women in heat wasn’t something you could just push through. If ignored, it built and built, a relentless force that coiled inside you until it became impossible to contain. In the worst cases, it could knock a woman unconscious, or kill her if it spiraled too far.
And as if that wasn’t bad enough, when I went into heat, my scent became stronger than most.
In my past lives, Adrian always marked me before my heat arrived. He handled it by sleeping with me. And I allowed it, because back then, I thought he was my salvation. I thought he was the only one who could keep me safe. I was so stupid.
This time, I refused to let him touch me. Which meant only two methods were left to survive this,
Intercourse, which was the fastest and most effective way, or the moon-whisper plant, a rare herb that numbed the heat until it passed.
The first option was out of the question. And the second should have been my salvation. But as that thought crossed my mind, the door burst open.
Evelyn stumbled inside, panting as if she’d run across the courtyard. Her face was flushed, her hair sticking to her forehead and sweat clung to her temples. She shut the door behind her with trembling hands before dropping straight to her k ces.
“M-my lady,” she gasped, shaking her head desperately, “you were right. Like you said, I couldn’t find any She swallowed hard. “The moon-whisper plant doesn’t grow during the winter. I searched everywhere. I even went to the market. Nobody
has it.”
I exhaled slowly, my shoulders sinking.
I had already guessed the outcome, but Evelyn still ran through the cold for me anyway. The plant didn’t grow in winter.
I pressed my lips together as a warm wave crawled up my spine, my body reminding me that time was not something I had the luxury of wasting.
Evelyn looked at me again, and fear flickered across her face. “My lady, what are we going to do?” Her voice cracked as she spoke, her eyes wide and full of worry. “Your body is trembling and red. If we’re not careful, your scent will become worse, and once it gets strong enough, the men around here will start sensing it. Even though you’re the moonborn, and touching you means death, some of these men will still try. Men are stupid when it involves a woman in heat.”
She wasn’t wrong. Men were stupid when it came to a woman in heat. Lust clouded any rational thought they had. Even in my past lives, there were many times when a man tried to touch me because they were drawn to my scent, but the only thing that stopped them back then was the fear of Adrian.
Touching the mate of the future Alpha was a death sentence. But in this life, I didn’t have Adrian’s protection. And what terrified me wasn’t fending men off, it was controlling myself around them. If I wasn’t careful, I wouldn’t be fighting them off. I’d be throwing myself at them.
My wolf stirred restlessly beneath my skin, claws scraping at my control, and I clenched my fists to hold her back.
I glanced at Evelyn again. She was still breathing hard, panic written all over her face as she scrambled for a solution. I forced a small smile for her, though it didn’t reach my eyes.
“You’re looking more scared than I am,” I told her. “It’s okay. You don’t need to worry about me. Nothing will happen. I have a lot of self-control. For now, I can still keep my scent under control. As long as I stay indoors until it passes, I’ll be fine. No one visits me anyway. I’m sure nothing will happen.”
“My lady-”
Evelyn’s shoulders eased a little, though her worry didn’t disappear. She opened her mouth, but the door suddenly swung open again.
Both of us looked toward the entrance, and, of course, standing there was none other than my twin sister, Sienna, pushing the door open like she owned the entire temple. And behind her stood Kane, my equally insufferable brother.
I stared at them, already mentally drained.
You’ve got to be kidding me. This day cannot get any worse.
Evelyn instantly jumped to her feet and moved behind me, posture tight with tension. She understood exactly how dangerous they were. Sienna and Kane were the last people I needed anywhere near me right now.
Sienna’s face lit up the moment her eyes landed on me, her lips curling into a warm, affectionate smile, one that would’ve
fooled anyone who didn’t know her true nature. She practically floated into the room, hands clasped together like I was her beloved sister instead of the girl she spent most of her life ruining.
“Selene!”
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