The consequences
568 Words
Zevran didn’t drag me.
He didn’t need to.
One look and my feet moved. Down cold stone corridors, past guards who dropped their eyes the second they caught his scent on me. News traveled fast in Valecrest Keep.
By the time we reached his room, the whole keep probably knew: the unbound Omega touched the bond. Willingly.
He shut the door. No slam. Just a soft click that felt louder than thunder.
Then silence.
He turned. Gold eyes scanned me like I was a weapon he hadn’t decided how to hold yet.
“You feel it now?” he asked.
I hated that I did. The bond sat under my skin, warm where it had been ice before. A thread pulled taut between us. Every breath he took, I felt it in my chest.
“Yes,” I said. My voice came out steadier than I felt.
He crossed his arms. “Good. Because they’ll test you again. Harder next time. Mara won’t let this go. You let an Alpha in. That means you’re either pack… or you’re his.”
“Or both,” I said before I could stop myself.
His jaw ticked. For a second the mask slipped and I saw it — frustration, anger, something tired underneath.
“Don’t,” he said. “Don’t make this into something it isn’t, Veyra.”
“Then what is it?” I stepped closer. Stupid. But I was done pretending I wasn’t burning. “Because in that circle you didn’t save me. You marked me. And now every wolf in this keep thinks I belong to you.”
“I marked you to keep you alive.”
“Did you?” My pulse spiked. The bond flared in answer, like it liked the fight. “Or did you do it because you couldn’t stand watching me break?”
The room went still.
Zevran moved fast. Not to touch me. To put the desk between us, like he needed the distance as much as I did.
“You don’t understand what you’ve done,” he said, low. “The bond isn’t just scent and heat. It’s blood. It’s claim. It’s forever, Veyra. And you just tied yourself to me in front of fifty witnesses.”
Forever. The word hit harder than Mara’s command.
I laughed. It came out sharp, broken. “So kill me then. That was the deal, right? If I’m a danger, end it. But you won’t. Because you need me alive.”
His eyes flashed. “I need a lot of things. Doesn’t mean I get them.”
He stalked to the window, putting his back to me. Shoulders rigid.
“Tomorrow the pack will demand proof,” he said finally. “That the bond is stable. That you won’t lose control and turn the keep into a slaughterhouse.”
“And if I can’t?”
“Then I’ll do what Alphas do.” He didn’t turn around. “I’ll put you down myself.”
The bond between us pulsed, heavy and hot. Like it was listening.
I wrapped my arms around myself. Not for warmth. For control.
“You should’ve let them kill me in the Sunken Hall,” I whispered.
“No,” he said. Just that. No explanation.
Outside, the wind picked up. It howled through the keep like wolves answering a call.
And somewhere deep in my chest, the bond answered too.
- Writer
