Chapter 9
807 Words
The room went dead silent.
Midnight felt Kael’s body lock beside her.
Not fear.
Rage.
Violent, immediate rage.
“You’re wrong,” Kael said flatly.
Lucien held his gaze without flinching.
“I hope I am.”
The demon inside Midnight stirred with interest.
Fed it.
The words echoed through her chest like a curse.
That couldn’t be right.
The bond was the only thing making her feel stable at all.
Wasn’t it?
Midnight slowly pulled her hand from Kael’s.
The second contact broke—
pain hit instantly.
Sharp.
Empty.
The wolf inside her snarled in protest while the demon surged angrily beneath her skin like a storm denied oxygen.
Black smoke curled briefly around her wrist.
Several wolves stepped backward automatically.
Midnight’s stomach dropped.
Kael saw it too.
His expression darkened into something lethal.
“Touch her again,” Lucien said quietly.
Midnight looked at him sharply. “Excuse me?”
“To confirm the reaction.”
Kael’s growl shook the room.
“No.”
Lucien ignored him. “You felt the difference immediately, didn’t you?”
Unfortunately…
Yes.
Before Midnight could stop herself, her eyes lifted back to Kael.
The mate bond pulled hard.
God.
It pulled so hard.
Kael stood completely still, silver eyes locked on hers with terrifying intensity.
Like he felt it too.
Every instinct inside Midnight screamed to close the distance between them again.
The wolf wanted him.
The demon wanted him.
And somehow those two things together felt catastrophic.
Lucien noticed everything.
“Well,” he murmured darkly. “That’s concerning.”
Kael finally snapped.
“You have five seconds before I remove you from this room.”
Lucien smirked slightly. “There’s the possessiveness.”
“Lucien,” the older wolf warned quietly.
But Lucien kept his attention on Midnight.
“You need to understand what you are before the bond deepens further.”
Midnight crossed her arms tightly. “Then explain it.”
For the first time, Lucien hesitated.
That alone made her pulse spike.
Kael noticed too.
“Speak.”
Lucien exhaled slowly.
“Mate bonds are supposed to balance wolves,” he said carefully. “Emotionally. Physically. Spiritually.”
Midnight frowned slightly.
“But?”
Lucien looked directly at Kael now.
“But demon energy feeds on emotional intensity.”
The room felt colder instantly.
Kael’s jaw tightened hard.
Lucien continued carefully.
“The stronger the bond becomes… the stronger her demon side may become with it.”
Midnight’s chest tightened painfully.
“So the closer we get…” she whispered.
Lucien nodded once.
“The more dangerous you become.”
Silence crashed over the room.
Kael didn’t move.
Didn’t blink.
But Midnight felt the shift inside him through the bond instantly.
Conflict.
Because now there was a choice.
Her…
Or the world.
And for one horrible second—
Midnight was terrified he would finally look at her the way everyone else did.
Like a threat.
But Kael surprised her again.
His expression hardened.
Then he reached for her.
Without hesitation.
Midnight stared as his fingers closed around her wrist again.
Warmth exploded through her body immediately.
The demon purred beneath her skin.
The wolf settled.
And Kael?
Kael looked absolutely furious about all of it.
Lucien blinked slowly. “That’s your solution?”
Kael’s silver eyes never left Midnight’s.
“She needs stability.”
“She needs distance.”
“No.”
The word came out sharp enough to cut.
Midnight felt the possessive edge beneath it instantly.
So did everyone else.
Lucien sighed. “You’re going to get attached.”
Kael finally looked at him.
Cold.
Deadly.
“Too late.”
The room went silent again.
Midnight’s heart stuttered painfully.
Because he meant that too.
And somehow—
that should have scared her more than it did.
A sudden sharp pain tore through her chest.
Midnight gasped violently.
Black smoke burst around her feet.
Kael caught her instantly as she stumbled.
“Midnight.”
Her breathing turned uneven.
Something was wrong.
Very wrong.
The demon wasn’t reacting to Kael now.
It was reacting to something else.
Something beneath the mountain.
The same thing that answered her earlier.
Midnight’s eyes slowly lifted toward the floor beneath them.
And then she heard it.
Whispers.
Hundreds of them.
Ancient voices clawing through stone.
Wake her.
Wake her.
WAKE HER.
Midnight screamed as crimson symbols suddenly ignited beneath the floorboards across the entire estate.
The wolves panicked instantly.
“What the hell—”
The mountain shook violently.
Dust rained from the ceiling.
Kael grabbed Midnight harder.
“Look at me.”
But she couldn’t.
Because suddenly she could see through the floor.
Deep beneath the estate.
Beneath the mountain.
Something enormous moved in the dark.
Something chained.
Something ancient.
And it had just felt her arrive.
Midnight’s glowing red eyes widened in horror.
“It’s alive.”
- Writer
