Chapter 527 The Entity

The more she thought about it, the more deliberate it seemed. As if it wanted her to taste that power, to feel how intoxicating it was, so she would begin craving it. So she would willingly siphon more vitality from the others next time, not out of necessity, but out of desire.

It was manipulation.

And it was frighteningly clever.

The entity likely understood her deepest insecurity right now, and that is her anxiety over her dormant wolf. She had never shifted even once. That alone was enough to raise suspicion. If the others began questioning her ability, or worse, her legitimacy, their support could waver.

In their race, strength was law. Power commanded loyalty. Weakness invited doubt.

By granting her borrowed strength, strength comparable to someone with an active wolf, the entity was offering her exactly what she feared she lacked. It was tempting her with stability, authority, and confidence.

But at what cost?

If she relied on that power, she would have to keep draining her fated mates. Keep feeding it. Keep allowing it to grow. Eventually, she might start prioritizing that strength over their well-being. Over their limits. Over their lives.

The mere thought angered her.

She refused to become someone who treated her mates as fuel. Refused to let greed dictate her choices.

And yet, the situation wasn’t simple. Even if she resisted consciously, the entity had already shown it could subtly influence her body, amplifying pheromones, manipulating her instincts, pushing things further than she intended. If she outright rejected it, who was to say it wouldn’t attempt to seize more control of her body instead?

That realization made her chest tighten.

It felt as though she was being cornered into a single path, one that slowly deepened the entity’s hold over her.

Unless…

Her fingers slowly curled at her sides.

Unless she broke the seal on her wolf.

If she could awaken her wolf, truly awaken it, then perhaps things would change. Perhaps her wolf could suppress, weaken, or even expel the entity entirely.

For now, that seemed like the only path forward. Not to feed the temptation. Not to surrender to borrowed strength.

But to reclaim her own.

But that was something she would deal with later.

For now, she needed to focus on keeping the entity in check, restraining it, monitoring it, and making sure it couldn’t take advantage of her or her fated mates again the way it had just done. She couldn’t allow it to quietly manipulate situations behind the scenes while they remained unaware.

And that meant one thing: she had to tell them everything.

It would be unfair to let them continue in the dark, unknowingly becoming a source of fuel for something hidden inside her. Before they left for the West region, she had already informed them about the entity and its ability to siphon vitality, but at that time, she hadn’t known the full extent of it. She hadn’t known that it could convert that stolen vitality into strength for her.

Now she did.

And keeping that to herself would feel like another form of betrayal.

Only by being completely honest would she feel balanced, would she know she wasn’t silently hiding something that affected all of them. Maybe, if they were aware, they could help her monitor the changes. Perhaps they could notice subtle shifts before she did. Perhaps they could warn her if the entity began pushing things too far again.

More importantly, they could think together. Devise a way to restrain it. Work on breaking the seal on her wolf while also preventing the entity from growing stronger in the meantime.

After all, four minds were better than one.

If the four of them stood together, Maxwell, Levi, Zion, Chase, and her included, there was no way they couldn’t keep one cunning entity suppressed. They wouldn’t allow it to manipulate, divide, or slowly dominate them.

Because if they let it act unchecked for too long, it might begin to believe it could control them.

And that was something she would never allow.

Addison took a slow, steady breath before explaining everything she had just realized to Maxwell. She spoke carefully, describing how the entity had amplified her pheromones, how it siphoned Levi’s vitality more aggressively than she intended, and how that stolen vitality had been converted into strength for her.

As one of her fated mates, he had the right to know. Keeping this from him would only deepen the imbalance she was trying to avoid.

When she finished, Maxwell’s expression darkened slightly, his brows drawing together as he processed her words. He didn’t interrupt her once. After a moment of silence, he gave a small nod to show he understood the gravity of the situation before lifting his gaze back to her.

“Then… is it possible for you not to use that strength for now?” he asked calmly. “Store it. Keep it dormant. Only tap into it when absolutely necessary.”

He stepped closer, his tone measured rather than angry.

“If you can do that, then this doesn’t have to be purely a disadvantage. It could become an option. A backup. When things turn dire, and you truly need it, you could use it as your trump card.”

He paused briefly before continuing.

“Yes, it requires our vitality to recharge. But if we’re aware of it, if we control when and how it happens, then perhaps the cost is manageable. We just can’t let it control the situation again.”

His eyes softened slightly, though his voice remained firm.

“And don’t misunderstand me. I’m not saying you’re weak without your wolf. You’re strong even now. But there may be situations where raw strength makes the difference between survival and loss. If that borrowed power can bridge that gap temporarily, then it might serve us rather than harm us.”

He exhaled quietly.

“It’s also possible this is an unintended side effect of the curse. Maybe whoever sealed your wolf didn’t foresee this. Or…” his eyes sharpened slightly, “maybe they did. Maybe the entity and the seal are connected. Maybe it was placed inside you deliberately.”

The uncertainty in that possibility lingered heavily between them.

“For now,” Maxwell concluded, “we monitor it. We don’t reject it recklessly, and we don’t rely on it blindly. We keep it contained while we focus on breaking the seal on your wolf. Once your wolf awakens, the balance may shift entirely.”

His reasoning was steady and grounded, not driven by emotion but by strategy.

Addison frowned slightly as she absorbed his words, then slowly nodded. She understood what he meant. Instead of letting the entity dictate the terms, they would redefine them. Instead of being manipulated by temptation, they would treat the power as a controlled resource, something watched, measured, and never allowed to grow unchecked.

“But… it could also be the other way around,” Addison said quietly after a moment, her fingers tightening slightly around the edge of the blanket. “What if the mastermind who placed this entity inside me knew exactly what it was capable of?”

Maxwell’s gaze sharpened.

“What if their real goal wasn’t just to seal my wolf… but to slowly siphon the vitality of my fated mate through me?” she continued, her voice steady but heavy with the weight of the possibility.