DEATHMATE

CHAPTER 7 The Bond No One Can Break

Word spread quickly through the pack. Some wolves avoided Ariel completely. Some watched her like she carried poison. Others whispered that she was changing the Alpha already.

Kael tried to ignore it, but Ariel saw the tension in his shoulders every day.

One evening, Brielle confronted them openly in front of the training grounds.

Kael, this is madness. The more time you spend with her, the stronger the bond gets. What if the prophecy takes control?

Kael stepped in front of Ariel without hesitation. The prophecy doesn’t control me.

Brielle raised an eyebrow. Really? Because you’ve never protected anyone like this.

Ariel felt her cheeks warm. Protected. By the Alpha.

Kael glared at Brielle. She saved my life. That alone earns my loyalty.

Brielle scoffed. Loyalty is not the same as whatever is happening between you two. Everyone sees it.

Ariel’s heart pounded.

Kael exhaled slowly. This discussion is over.

But as Brielle walked away, Ariel couldn’t shake the fear in her chest. People were noticing. Kael was changing. She was changing.

And the prophecy was waiting.

The forest slept under a blanket of silver moonlight, quiet except for the soft crunch of leaves beneath my boots. I shouldn’t have been out there alone. Every instinct told me to turn back, to stay behind the packhouse walls where it was safe. But after everything that happened with Kade in the training yard, safe felt impossible. His words, his nearness, the way his eyes softened and then hardened again… it haunted me more than the night around me.

I needed space. I needed air. I needed to breathe without feeling the Alpha’s presence chasing every thought in my head.

I had barely reached the riverbank when a low growl rolled through the darkness. Not a soft warning. Not a curious wolf passing by. This growl was cold and hungry.

Rogues.

Before I could react, the bushes parted and two wolves stepped out, their eyes glowing sickly yellow. Their snarls cut through the quiet like a knife. My heart hammered but my training kicked in. I tightened my fists, ready to shift, ready to fight.

Then I felt it.

That electric ripple at the edge of the bond.

Kade.

He arrived like a storm breaking open the night, his massive wolf form crashing into one rogue before I could even shift. Fur, teeth, and snarls tore through the clearing. The second rogue lunged toward me, but I dodged and slammed my elbow into its jaw, shifting mid-air. My wolf hit the ground running.

Kade’s wolf blocked the rogue from circling me. His presence wrapped around me like armor, protective and furious. Together, we fought as if we had been paired for years. His movements met mine. Mine met his. When I leaped, he covered my flank. When he pushed the rogues back, I followed with a strike of my own.

It was chaos, but it was beautiful chaos.

Finally, when the rogues realized they were outmatched, they stumbled away into the trees, retreating into the shadows they came from.

The instant they vanished, Kade shifted back into human form. His chest rose and fell with sharp breaths and moonlight glowed across the scars on his skin. I shifted too, breathless, trembling not from fear but from the bond pulsing between us.

“What were you thinking coming out here alone?” he snapped, stepping closer.

“You don’t own me,” I said, even though my voice shook.

His jaw clenched. “It’s not about ownership, Aria. You could’ve died.”

“And what?” I fired back. “You’d feel guilty? You’d lose a soldier? A pack member?”

Something flickered in his eyes. Pain. Hurt. Something deeper.

“You,” he said quietly. “I’d lose you.”

The night stilled. My breath caught. The Alpha never spoke like that. Not to me. Not to anyone.

“Kade…” I began, but he shook his head.

“You don’t see what it does to me,” he continued, voice low and rough. “Every time you walk away. Every time you look at me like I’m the enemy. I don’t want to fight with you, Aria. I’m tired of fighting.”

My heart softened in a way that scared me. Because I knew exactly what he meant. The spark I felt around him wasn’t going away. Being near him made everything louder. And scarier. And impossibly real.

I stepped back, suddenly overwhelmed. “This bond… I’m not ready for it.”

His gaze darkened but not with anger. With longing. “Then let me wait with you. However long it takes.”

Before I could respond, another howl echoed through the forest. A warning call. Not rogue. Pack. Urgent.

Kade’s eyes snapped toward the sound, his expression shifting from vulnerable to deadly serious.

“That’s from the border,” he said. “Something’s wrong.”

My stomach dropped.

And just like that, the fragile moment between us shattered.

“Kade,” I whispered, but he was already shifting, already running.

The alarm in the air grew sharper and sharper.

Whatever waited for us at that border… it wasn’t finished with us yet.