The Pack's Daughter (Aysel and Magnus) novel Chapter 19

**Midnight Letters by Daniel Crowe**
**Chapter 19**

**Aysel’s POV**

The piercing scream shattered the tranquil silence of dawn.

It was mine.

Before I could even think to escape, a powerful arm encircled my waist, pulling me back into a solid wall of muscle and warmth that radiated behind me.

“What are you yelling for?” The voice that brushed against my ear was low and gravelly, laced with a teasing amusement that made my skin prickle. “Sleep a little longer.”

Sleep? My body was tense, my heart racing like a drum echoing in my chest. The scent of him—cold steel, burnt cedar, and something deeper—filled the air around us. It was the kind of aroma that sent every sensible wolf running for cover. Yet, his grip remained unyielding.

“You—why are you in my bed?” I hissed, pushing against his chest in a futile attempt to break free. It felt like trying to shift a mountain with my bare hands.

He cracked one eye open, a flash of silver glinting like the edge of a blade. “Correction, little Vale—you’re in my bed.”

My jaw dropped in disbelief. “I was sleeping on the couch!”

“You wandered in yourself.” His voice was thick with sleep, lazy and unconcerned as if the world outside didn’t exist. “Didn’t lock the door. You must have sleepwalked.”

“I don’t sleepwalk!” I protested, my voice rising.

“Apparently, you do.” He didn’t even pretend to care, his tone dismissive.

I twisted in his hold, desperate to escape, but the more I struggled, the tighter his arm constricted around me. A low rumble emanated from his chest, a sound that was half warning and half instinct. And then—spirits above—he buried his face into the curve of my neck. His stubble grazed my skin, rough yet intimate, while his breath warmed the pulse at my throat.

My wolf stirred, heat igniting beneath my skin. Every nerve in my body screamed danger. And yet… it wasn’t just fear that made me tremble.

“Relax. Nothing happened,” he murmured, his voice husky, close enough that I could almost taste it.

“Then maybe stop acting like it did,” I managed to retort, striving for composure even as my pulse raced against my will.

He ignored my plea entirely, as if I were nothing more than a lesser wolf protesting an Alpha’s decree.

“Let me go.”

“No.”

“Magnus—”

He interrupted with a sound that could have been a growl or a sigh, a low rumble that vibrated through my very core. “You said you owed me. Sleep beside me for a month—we’ll call it even.”

My eyes widened in shock, staring at him as if he had sprouted a second head. “Excuse me?”

“Just sleep,” he replied with infuriating calmness. “No bite marks. No claiming.” A lazy, dangerous smile curved on his lips. “Yet.”

I froze at that word. Yet?

Saints of the Moon, was he serious?

“Does no one teach you boundaries where you come from?” I snapped, my frustration bubbling over.

“Boundaries?” He finally opened both eyes, the silver within them burning like moonlight filtered through smoke. “I don’t have any.”

I nearly choked on my disbelief. “You—you can’t just—”

“Can’t what?” he drawled, amusement lacing his words. “Share a bed with a wolf who screams like she’s being murdered at sunrise?”

“I screamed because you were in my bed!”

“My bed,” he corrected smoothly, his voice dripping with mock patience. “Try to keep up, little Vale.”

If I could have shifted in that moment, I would have happily taken a bite out of him.

“Don’t you have a mate or a girlfriend or something?” I asked instead, exasperation and disbelief warring within me.

“For what?”

He smiled into my hair, a knowing grin that sent shivers down my spine. “For surviving me.”

Before I could conjure a retort sharp enough to cut through the tension, a loud pounding echoed from the door, jolting us both.

Magnus’s entire body went still, the air shifting around us—thick, electric, and lethal. His eyes snapped open, cold and predatory, completely devoid of the lazy wolf demeanor he had just moments ago.

“Stay,” I whispered, pressing a trembling hand against his chest. “I’ll handle it.”

He remained unmoving. But the pulse beneath my palm was a growl, a warning ready to erupt. Whoever this man was, he was not someone the world believed was still alive.

“Please,” I added, desperation creeping into my voice. “Let me go.”

After a long, tense pause, his grip finally loosened.

I slipped from the bed, my legs unsteady but my resolve unbroken. My body still hummed with the echo of his touch, my skin tingling where his scent lingered—smoke, steel, danger.

Whatever awaited beyond that door, it felt safer to confront it alone than to unleash a wolf like him into the world.

The pounding came again, louder this time, urgent.

I crossed the room, hesitating at the door. Behind me, I could feel him watching, his energy coiled and ready to strike.

Just as I reached for the handle, his voice rolled across the room—low, dark, and almost playful.

“Remember what I said, little Vale.” His tone sent a shiver racing down my spine. “You can run, but you’ll still be mine by nightfall.”

I didn’t turn around.

But the mark his scent left on my skin burned fiercely all the same.