Page 55 of Unclench Me Softly

Why are they so in it?

Jonah steps forward first. Of course he does.

He raises his face to the sky, eyes closed, jaw set, and lets out a low, rising sound that vibrates in my sternum. It’s not a howl. Not at first. It’s more like a hum. A rumble. Then it grows into something longer, deeper, richer, and by the time it peaks, head tilted back, throat open, I’m clenching muscles I forgot I had.

I think I black out for half a second.

Then Jax joins in.

Loud. Sharp. Unapologetic. Like it’s a challenge and a confession at once.

Seb follows, low, guttural, soft around the edges. Like thunder muffled by trees.

Then Asher, sweet, wobbly, but so earnest it makes my chest ache. He actually holds a hand to his heart when he does it.

Miles waits until everyone else has gone.

And then, finally, lifts his head and lets out a short, precise, absolutely perfect howl that somehow manages to sound condescending and cathartic at the same time.

They stand there after, breathing hard. Not looking at each other. Not moving.

I forgot to breathe somewhere in the middle of all that and now I’m lightheaded and possibly aroused and maybe also crying?

Then Asher turns to me, eyes glowing. “What about you?”

I blink. “What?”

“You haven’t howled yet,” he says. “Don’t you want to?”

They’re all looking at me. Expectant. Open.

Five emotionally awakened kneepad-wearing forest princes waiting for my wildness.

I hesitate, close my eyes, lift my face to the sky, and let out the weirdest, loudest, most unexpected sound of my entire life.

It’s not pretty. It’s not graceful.

It is raw. It’s a yell, a cry, a laugh, a scream. It’s a noise that belongs to all the versions of me that have never been taken seriously, who’ve been too weird or too much or too wild to fit.

It tears out of me like I’ve been holding it in since birth.

And when it’s over, I drop the chime.

And they all just… stare. Mouths parted. Eyes wide.

Jax actually whispers, “Holy shit.”

Asher looks like he might cry again.

Seb gives me a single nod, like he respects me now on a primal level.

Miles blinks once and mutters something about auditory somatic response.

Jonah smiles. Not wide. Not smug. Just the faintest, faintest upward tilt of his mouth, like he’s seeing something he already suspected was true.

And then Asher claps. “Hell yes!” he shouts. “That was so powerful! I felt that in my root chakra and my feelings!”

And just like that, the moment breaks.

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