Page 36 of Sun's Roar

Heat ripped through his body, but beneath it was something more startling—a connection to the flames themselves. They were Helena’s essence, her power, and through their bond, he sensed a path to control them.

Acting on pure instinct, Sol reached out with his mind, connecting to the fire through their mate bond. The flames hesitated, wavering around him as if confused by this new intrusion. Sol felt a strange intimacy as he manipulated Helena’s fire, a connection deeper than physical touch. The flames that should have consumed him instead responded to his will, twisting into an elegant vortex. His wolf prowled with satisfaction inside him—this was proof of their bond, undeniable even to her stubborn human mind.

With a mental push, he redirected their energy, swirling them away from his body and into a controlled spiral between them. The fire formed a perfect cyclone, dancing between them without touching either one.

He watched her expression transition from fury to astonishment, savoring the moment her anger gave way to wonder. Those hazel eyes, now reflecting the dancing orange light, were wide with disbelief.

“That’s not possible,” she whispered. “How are you?—“

“I told you, you and I are connected,” Sol said, his voice gentler now as he maintained focus on the flames. “Your fire recognizes me as yours.”

The fireball rotated slowly, casting flickering shadows across Helena’s face. Sol shaped it further with his mind, condensing it into a perfect sphere that hovered at eye level between them.

“You could have killed anyone else with that outburst,” he said, not as an accusation but a statement of fact. “But not me. Never me.”

Fear crept into Helena’s expression, her earlier anger dissolving as she fully comprehended what she had done. “I could have hurt you,” she whispered, her voice cracking slightly.

“You need to learn more control,” Sol replied, his tone softening despite his wolf’s persistent urging to assert dominance. “Take this fire back, Helena. Put it out.”

She shook her head, backing away slightly. “I don’t know how.”

Sol stepped closer, the fireball moving with him. “Yes, you do. The power is yours. You created it, you can end it.”

Helena’s gaze shifted nervously between Sol and the flames. Her hands trembled at her sides. “I can’t?—“

“You can,” Sol insisted. “And you will.”

Her chin lifted defiantly, that spirit that had first drawn his wolf surging back. “Don’t order me around, Sol. I’m not one of your pack members.”

Sol flashed her a predatory smile. “No, you’re not. You’re my Luna—something far more powerful.”

He moved the fireball closer to her, watching her flinch slightly. “I’ll make you a deal,” he said, the negotiations feeling foreign on his tongue. As alpha, he had rarely needed to bargain. “Put out this fire, and I’ll let you call your friend—Tyanna, was it?”

Hope brightened Helena’s features. “You promise?”

“An alpha’s word is binding,” Sol replied with solemn certainty. “I never break my promises.”

Helena took a deep breath, her shoulders relaxing slightly. She reached toward the fireball, her slender fingers extended but stopping short of touching the flames.

“Focus on your connection to it,” Sol instructed. “Feel the heat as part of you, not separate from you.”

Her brow furrowed in concentration, and Sol felt a peculiar tug through their bond as if she were drawing energy back into herself. The fireball wobbled, shrinking slightly.

“That’s it,” he encouraged, his voice low and intimate. “Take back what’s yours.”

Sol watched transfixed as Helena closed her eyes. The fireball quivered, then rapidly contracted until it was no larger than an apple. With a final inward gesture of her hand, the flames winked out completely, leaving only a wisp of smoke that curled up between them.

“I did it,” she whispered, opening her eyes to look at him with newfound confidence.

Pride swelled in Sol’s chest—pride not just in her accomplishment but in her fieriness, her refusal to back down even when faced with his alpha nature. His wolf recognized this as a worthy quality in their Luna, even if the man occasionally found it maddening.

“You’re a quick study,” Sol acknowledged, closing the remaining distance between them to cup her face in his hands. “That’s good. You’ll need to be.”

FOURTEEN

HELENA

Helena’s legs trembled slightly as she and Sol walked up the steps of the castle. The lingering adrenaline from accidentally hurling fire at him still pulsed through her veins. Though her panic had subsided, knowing that he had such control over her flames.

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