The Pull That Should Not Exist
1189 Words
The silence between Lyra and Rowan did not feel like an ending.
It felt like a pause before something irreversible.
The forest around them remained still, but it was no longer calm. It was attentive, as if every leaf, every shadow, every breath of wind was waiting for something neither of them could name.
Lyra stood a few steps away from him now, her posture controlled, but her senses unsettled.
That feeling had returned again.
Stronger than before.
Not just in her chest anymore.
It had spread.
Like something inside her had begun answering something outside her.
She pressed her fingers lightly against her collarbone.
“It is getting worse,” she said quietly.
Rowan did not respond immediately.
His eyes were fixed on her, sharper now, more focused than before. Not in judgment, but in recognition of something he himself did not fully understand.
“It is not worse,” he said finally. “It is becoming clearer.”
Lyra frowned.
“Clearer,” she repeated. “That is your explanation.”
Rowan stepped slightly closer, then stopped again as if careful not to cross an invisible boundary.
“What you are feeling,” he said, “is not random.”
Lyra gave a short, humorless laugh.
“Nothing about my life has been random lately,” she replied. “So try again.”
Rowan’s jaw tightened slightly.
“It is a bond reaction.”
The words landed heavily between them.
Lyra froze for a moment.
Then slowly turned her head toward him.
“No,” she said immediately. “No. That is not possible.”
Rowan did not deny it.
That silence was enough.
Lyra stepped back slightly.
“I was rejected,” she said firmly. “That is not how bonds work.”
Rowan exhaled slowly.
“This is not a normal bond.”
The forest wind shifted behind them.
Lyra shook her head.
“Stop saying things like that,” she said. “As if that makes it acceptable.”
Rowan’s expression darkened slightly.
“I am not trying to make it acceptable,” he said. “I am trying to explain what is happening.”
Lyra looked at him for a long moment.
Then spoke quietly.
“Explain it properly then.”
A pause.
Rowan looked away briefly, as if gathering thoughts he did not fully trust.
When he spoke again, his voice was lower.
“A bond does not always form at the expected time,” he said. “And when it is tied to… unstable bloodlines…”
He stopped.
Lyra narrowed her eyes slightly.
“Unstable,” she repeated.
Rowan corrected himself slightly.
“Unaligned,” he said.
That did not help.
Lyra’s chest tightened again.
“You are saying this is because of me.”
“I am saying it is because of both of us.”
Silence followed.
Not heavy this time.
Tense.
Lyra turned slightly away.
“I do not accept this,” she said.
Rowan stepped closer again, more carefully this time.
“Acceptance is not required,” he said quietly.
That answer made her anger flicker briefly.
“Everything is required to be accepted in your world,” she said. “Except when it is inconvenient.”
Rowan did not respond immediately.
Instead, his gaze shifted slightly.
“You are resisting it,” he said.
Lyra turned back sharply.
“Of course I am resisting it.”
The air shifted again.
That same pressure inside her chest pulsed harder this time.
But now it was not just internal.
Rowan felt it too.
His body tensed slightly at the same time.
Both of them froze.
Lyra inhaled sharply.
“There,” she whispered.
Rowan’s voice was quieter.
“Yes.”
The connection between them surged again.
Stronger than before.
More direct.
Lyra’s breath hitched.
It was not painful.
It was overwhelming.
Like something invisible had wrapped itself around both of them at once.
She took a step back instinctively.
The sensation followed.
Not physically.
But emotionally.
Linked.
Rowan stepped forward without thinking.
The moment he did, the sensation intensified.
Both of them stopped again.
Lyra’s eyes widened slightly.
“This is not normal,” she said again, but this time her voice was quieter.
Rowan nodded once.
“No,” he said. “It is not.”
The bond pulsed again.
Stronger.
Clearer.
Lyra pressed her hand against her chest harder this time.
“Make it stop,” she said.
Rowan’s expression tightened.
“I cannot.”
The words hit differently this time.
Not as refusal.
As truth.
Lyra looked at him sharply.
“You cannot or you will not.”
Rowan held her gaze.
“I cannot.”
That honesty unsettled her more than anything else so far.
The wind around them shifted again.
The forest felt closer.
Smaller.
As if it was closing in on the moment between them.
Lyra exhaled slowly.
“Then what am I supposed to do with this,” she asked quietly.
Rowan did not answer immediately.
When he did, his voice was lower.
“You feel it too strongly to ignore now.”
Lyra frowned.
“That is not an answer.”
Rowan stepped closer again, slowly.
Not forcing.
Not pulling away.
Just present.
“It will grow,” he said.
Lyra’s breath caught slightly.
“Grow,” she repeated.
Rowan nodded once.
“Until it stabilizes.”
Lyra shook her head slightly.
“Or destroys us,” she said.
Rowan did not deny that either.
That silence was the most honest thing between them.
The bond pulsed again.
Harder.
Lyra gasped softly, her knees almost weakening.
Rowan reacted instantly, stepping forward—
The moment he got closer, the sensation spiked.
Both of them froze again.
Lyra’s eyes widened.
“Stop moving,” she said.
Rowan stayed still.
The pull stabilized slightly.
Not gone.
Controlled.
Barely.
Lyra swallowed hard.
“So distance affects it,” she said.
Rowan nodded.
“Yes.”
She let out a short breath.
“That is inconvenient.”
A faint flicker appeared in Rowan’s expression.
Almost amusement.
Almost.
Then gone.
Lyra looked away slightly.
“So I just avoid you forever,” she said.
Rowan answered immediately.
“That is not possible.”
Lyra frowned again.
“Everything is possible.”
Rowan’s gaze sharpened slightly.
“Not this.”
Silence followed again.
But this time, it felt heavier.
More personal.
Lyra turned slightly toward him again.
“Why now,” she asked quietly.
Rowan paused.
“Because something changed,” he said.
Lyra narrowed her eyes.
“What changed.”
Rowan looked at her directly.
“You did.”
The words settled heavily.
Lyra did not respond immediately.
Because deep inside—
She knew he was not wrong.
Something inside her was waking.
Something she had never been taught to recognize.
Something that did not belong to the life she thought she had.
She exhaled slowly.
“This is not over,” she said quietly.
Rowan nodded once.
“No,” he agreed.
The bond pulsed again between them.
Quieter now.
But constant.
Waiting.
And neither of them moved away this time.
Not fully.
Not yet.
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