NOAH.

I stepped into the room with a certainty I hadn’t even questioned, an expectation so strong it bordered on instinct. I had expected to see Maria there. Sitting quietly. Waiting. Existing in the same space as me the way she had begun to do so naturally, effortlessly, as though she belonged there.

But the room was empty.

The silence hit harder than I anticipated.

A dull ache spread across my chest, slow and heavy, forcing me to pause just inside the doorway. My gaze swept the room once, then again, as if she might suddenly appear if I looked hard enough. She didn’t. And with that realization came something far more dangerous than anger.

Longing.

I exhaled sharply and shut the door behind me, dragging a hand through my hair. I wanted her around me, wanted her presence filling my space, my senses, my day. The thought of her being elsewhere, out of my sight, unsettled me more than I was willing to admit.

I wasn’t sure anymore how I had lived before Maria.

The truth sat uncomfortably in my chest: I didn’t think I could live without her now.

Somewhere along the line, I had stopped holding back. I had unleashed everything, every feeling, every instinct, every reckless desire I had tried for years to keep chained. I was going against the Quadruplets, against reason, against the carefully constructed order of things... all for her.

"Fuck," I muttered into the empty room.

I paced once, then twice, my thoughts spiraling faster than I could control. I wanted Maria to be completely mine. Not hidden. Not whispered about. Mine in the open, undeniable, unquestionable. I wanted to hold her without restraint, to draw her close and feel her respond to me without fear or hesitation.

I wanted her lips, soft, warm, familiar, to be the only thing I tasted. I wanted to kiss her until the world narrowed to nothing but the sound of her breath and the way she melted against me. I wanted to forget rules, forget consequences, forget everything except the fact that she existed and she was mine.

I wanted her as my Luna.

The thought alone steadied me and unbalanced me at the same time. To stand beside her openly. To claim her properly. To let everyone see what she meant to me.

I turned toward the bed and dropped onto it, lying flat on my back, staring up at the ceiling. My chest rose and fell slowly as I tried—and failed—to calm the storm inside me.

Moon Goddess... you have to help me win this competition.

The prayer slipped from my mind silently, carrying more desperation than I cared to acknowledge. I needed this. Needed the right to choose her without interference. Needed the power to protect her from everyone who thought they could use, hurt, or discard her.

My eyes drifted shut as memory took over.

The way she had curled beneath me when I kissed her. The way her body had responded before fear and reality crept back in. The softness. The warmth. The way she had felt like she fit against me in a way nothing else ever had.

A smile tugged at my lips before I could stop it.

Finally...after all these years, I have her heart.

The certainty of it sent a rush of satisfaction through me. She might not have said the words yet, but I felt it, in the way she looked at me, in the way she reacted, in the way her presence called to something deep and primal inside me.

I was still lost in that thought, still suspended in that dangerous, intoxicating certainty, when the door opened.

I didn’t need to look to know who it was.

The scent reached me first, sweet, familiar, unwelcome.

Anabel.

My jaw tightened instantly. I hissed under my breath and turned my face away, deliberately fixing my gaze on the far wall as though she hadn’t just stepped into my space uninvited.

I didn’t acknowledge her. Didn’t greet her. Didn’t even shift.

If I pretended hard enough, maybe she would take the hint and leave.

But the air in the room changed, tension slipping in where longing had been moments before. And no matter how still I lay, no matter how firmly I ignored her presence, I knew this moment, like so many others, was about to demand something from me.

Something I no longer wanted to give.

She took a step closer, and despite every intention I had to keep my back turned, my body betrayed me. I turned. Slowly. Reluctantly. My anger was right there on my tongue, sharp and ready, but the moment my eyes met her face, the words died.

Tears.

They clung to her lashes, pooled in her eyes, made them shine in a way that punched straight through my chest. Anabel rarely cried like this, quietly, without theatrics. And seeing her like that softened something in me I hadn’t realized was still vulnerable.

My jaw tightened. I wanted to shout. To demand why she was here. To tell her to leave me alone. But my heart, damn it, my heart faltered.

I opened my mouth to ask what was wrong, but she spoke first.

"Noah, I am sorry."

Her voice was small. Fragile. Nothing like the entitled tone everyone else knew her for. She moved closer, each step cautious, as if afraid I might disappear if she came too fast. Then, to my shock, she knelt in front of me.

My breath caught.

"I realize I was wrong," she continued, her voice breaking as she wiped a tear from her cheek. "I’ll apologize to Maria. I promise I will."

Her shoulders trembled. "From now on, I’ll be your good little sister." She sniffed softly, lifting her face to look at me. "I’ll do things the way you taught me. I’m sorry, Noah. Please... please don’t shut me out."

The words landed heavily in my chest.

I let out a long, weary sigh, one that felt like it came from the depths of my soul. I had been so angry. So conflicted. But this—this was Anabel. The girl I had watched grow. The sister I had protected without question.

I reached for her without thinking, gripping her arms and pulling her up. She stumbled slightly before settling beside me on the bed, and I wrapped my arms around her, holding her close as she broke down completely.

Her sobs soaked into my shirt.

"It’s all right," I murmured, my voice softer than I intended. "It’s a good thing you finally realized it."

She clung to me, fingers gripping my clothes like she was afraid I’d vanish if she loosened her hold.

"I promise," I continued, stroking her hair the way I used to when she was younger, "I won’t shut you out of my life."

Her sobs eased, replaced by quiet sniffles.

"Thank you," she whispered, tightening her arms around my waist.

We stayed like that for a long while. The room was quiet except for the sound of her breathing evening out and my own heart slowing from its earlier storm. I stared ahead, my thoughts drifting despite myself, back to Maria, to the emptiness I had felt when I didn’t find her here.

Then something shifted.

A scent.

Subtle at first. Sweet. Unfamiliar.

My brows furrowed as I inhaled again, my chest tightening. The room seemed to tilt slightly, the edges of my vision blurring as a strange dizziness washed over me.

"What the..." I muttered.

My head spun. The ceiling above me swayed, and I blinked hard, trying to clear my sight. Heat crawled under my skin, not the familiar pull of desire or rage, but something heavier, disorienting.

I stiffened.

My grip on Anabel loosened as instinct screamed at me that something was wrong.

I pushed her away abruptly, placing my hands on her shoulders to steady myself as I pulled back. She looked up at me, her expression unreadable in that moment, and my heart began to pound, not with affection, but alarm.

The scent was stronger now.

My stomach twisted.

"Anabel..." My voice came out rough, strained. "What did you..."

The room spun again, harder this time. I clenched my jaw, fighting the wave of dizziness, forcing my eyes to stay on her face. My thoughts scattered, struggling to piece together what my body already seemed to know. 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

My pulse thundered in my ears.

Something wasn’t right.

And whatever it was, it had started the moment she wrapped her arms around me.