Bound by secrets, broken by love

CHAPTER EIGHT

Astrid

The air between us is electric.

Cold air whips past my skin. My dumb-ass choice of a sports bra does nothing for insulation, but all I feel is him.

The heat pouring off his body? Maddening. It’s like it’s burning through mine, crawling up my spine, coiling in the pit of my stomach. My blood seems to know him—even if I pretend every goddamn day that I don’t.

I can’t breathe right. My chest rises and falls too fast, and my legs? Honestly, they feel like they’re about to give out. I’m so close I can hear his breathing—low, rough, controlled—but barely. I feel it brushing over my cheek.

He smells like sandalwood and pine. Warm. Earthy. Wild. The kind of scent that could make a wolf crawl just to get a taste.

My wolf purrs. Of course, she does.

Growling softly under my skin, hot and loud. She’s been quiet since I told her to back off earlier—but she’s still there, buzzing in the back of my skull like she’s just waiting to take over the wheel. One bad move, and she’s driving.

She doesn’t care about subtlety. Or strategy. Or consequences.

She sees him. Our mate.

And she wants. No—she needs.

“Tell me your name,” I whisper in my head. Nothing.

“You’ve been clawing through my damn chest since he touched me. At least tell me your name.”

Still silence. That thick, intentional wall between us.

“Please,” I try again. “Just... say something. Anything.”

A flicker of heat rolls through my gut. She’s listening. I know she is. I can feel it. But she’s so damned stubborn—she won’t speak. She won’t tell me her name.

But she pushes. I suck in a breath—thick with his scent and the leftover smoke from his cigarette.

Aiden’s eyes are different now. Sharper. Like he sees right through me, like he’s watching the whole war going on inside my mind.

My heart thuds, pounding hard like a war drum. It’s the kind of thrill that makes your head spin. Like standing on the edge of a cliff—breathtaking view, but one wrong step and you’re gone.

My thighs press together, warmth flooding through them when my core tightens and I bite my lip. My wolf stirs again. This time louder. Primal. Hungry.

“No,” I mutter under my breath. “I’m not doing this. He rejected us, remember?”

She huffs, clearly unbothered.

I stare at the sharp curve of his jaw, the pulse at the side of his neck, the way his lower lip curls just slightly when he exhales.

He shifts and I flinch—not because I’m scared of him, but because I’m scared of me.

Goddess knows I might actually lose control.

My heart is slamming against my ribs so hard I’m surprised I’m still standing. My fingers twitch at my sides. My mouth goes dry. I lick my lips—

Aiden notices in that annoying, silent way. He doesn’t smirk. Doesn’t blink. Just watches me like a damn hawk.

“Mate,” my wolf finally growls.

“Not now,” I whisper, panic cutting through the haze.

“He’s ours!” she snaps.

“For the love of the Goddess,” I hiss back. “I can’t blow my cover. You know what’s at stake. Even if we want him, this isn’t the way. Not now.”

And then... just like that, she’s gone. The invisible walls raise back.

“Why do you look so flushed?” he asks, clearly amused. His hand grips my chin, tilting it up. When I look away, he jerks my face to meet his.

“Does my presence mess with you that bad?”

Warm heat spreads along my neck as he inches closer, his nose barely an inch from my face.

“Don’t flatter yourself.” I toss my head, prying his fingers away from my chin, but his grip is firm.

Aiden leans in a little closer, breath brushing mine. “If I wanted to flatter you, Mouse, you'd be on your knees by now.”

I gulp, not daring to speak yet.

Aiden tilts his head, and then he says it—low, slow, that British accent curling around every word like a goddamn spell.

“You act like you’re hard to read, but your body tells on you louder than your mouth ever could.”

I blink. “What the f**k does that mean?”

He steps in, an arrogant smirk curving along his lips.

“Exactly what you think it means.”

I blink fast, sucking in a sharp breath. f**k this stupid bond. Now he’ll think I’m just another horny b***h.

He doesn’t follow. Not immediately. He just watches me like I’m entertainment. Then slowly—he raises a lit cigarette to his lips again, pulling in smoke like a damn movie villain.

White, cloudy vapor floods my vision, choking me in the process. My eyes sting as I squint through the haze, waving my hands to clear the air.

I cough. “Is this training over now? Because I’d love to get away from you and your f*****g smoke.”

“You don’t look like you want to leave,” he says airily, blowing his stupid smoke—probably going to give him lung cancer—off in another direction.

Just his voice and that damn smoke curling around us—it’s a storm cloud waiting to break.

And my body? I don’t think I’ve ever felt this turned on. It’s like there’s an invisible magnet dragging me toward him.

My brain—the only functional part of me—says run, but the rest of me won’t budge.

I close my eyes, lips parting slowly.

Take a deep breath, Ashley, before you do something stupid.

I repeat the words in my head, and when I open my eyes, he’s no longer in front of me.

I catch his figure, moving toward the male dorms. Unlike me, he’s composed as hell, that stupid confident spring still in his step like he didn’t just turn me on and leave.

“Rat me out, Mouse, and you’ll regret your stay here,” he doesn't even look back, but his voice drifts like smoke.