The Distraction
802 Words
Raven POV
Three days later...
It's been three days since the bar, since I've smelt his scent that tore through me like lighting. Three days of pretending it hadn't happened, of chain-smoking, riding till dawn, and burning herself out at the gym until her hands bled. But the ghost of him still clung to her lungs.
Sandalwood and fresh apples.
Ash never shuts up about how addicting his scent was. She has been prowling endlessly inside her mind, repeating the same word until I wanted to drive my head into a wall just to make it stop.
Mate. Mate. Mate.
So I did what I always did when her world tilted sideways. She fought.
The underground was packed for a Saturday night. Men pressed shoulder-to-shoulder, women hanging over the rails, beer spilling onto the concrete floor. The air stank of sweat, cheap cigarettes, and adrenaline. The cage in the center thrummed with noise. The crowd chanting my name like a war drum.
Raven. Raven. Raven.
I rolled my shoulders, shaking out her taped fists. Her opponent tonight was bigger—thicker-necked, with a jagged scar across his eyebrow. He'd already clipped her in the ribs in the first round, but she wasn't worried. Fights were the one place her head went quiet. In the cage, there was no past, no secrets, no wolf whispering about destiny. Just fists and fire.
Or at least, that's how it used to be.
The second round opened with a swing. I dodged, countered, caught him with a hook that split his lip. Blood sprayed, the crowd roared. And for one blessed second, I felt normal again.
Then the air shifted.
Her lungs froze mid-breath.
No not here. Not now.
The scent hit her like a freight train — sandalwood and apples, rich and raw, sliding under her skin, setting every nerve ablaze. Her stomach dropped. Her knees nearly buckled.
He's here.
Ash's voice wasn't a whisper. It was a howl, ripping through her chest. "Our mate. He came for us."
My eyes flicked wildly to the crowd, faces blurred, shoving and shouting. Then-Him. There is no denying that the moment her eyes connected with his for the first time, the bond solidified.
Leaning against the back rail like he owned the place, broad shoulders under a leather cut, cigarette dangling from his fingers. His eyes were locked on mine, dark and unyielding.
Jax.
The sight of him stole the air from my lungs. Ash surged, slamming against the walls of her control, desperate to leap across the cage and onto him.
"Ours. Claim him now. Let me out!"
My opponent's fists cracked against my cheek, my head snapped sideways stars exploding her vision. She stumbled, shaking it off, but her focus was splintered.
"Come on Raven!" someone from the crowd shouted.
I blinked back at the man in the cage with me, forcing myself to move to fight. But my gaze keeps going back to the crowd again. Jax hasn't moved. He watched her like the fight was just background noise, like the only thing that mattered was her reaction to him.
Ash growled within her, molten and hungry. "He sees us. He knows. Stop resisting, Rae"
"I don't need him," I replied, hissing under her breath, blocking another punch. Her ribs scream from where she was hit earlier.
"Liar" Ash laughs low and cruel. "Every inch of you is burning for him. You tasted Logan three nights ago and felt nothing. But this? You're trembling. You want him, even as you deny it."
I launched forward, slamming a jab into my opponent's jaw. The man staggered back, but I barely noticed. My pulse hammered too loud, the cage spinning, the scent wrapping around her like a noose.
Another hit clipped my temple. My vision was blurred. I cursed under my breath, shaking it off, but she wasn't fast enough — she was distracted. For the first time in years, she wasn't in control of the fight.
The bell rang saving her.
The crowd roared with approval, but I wasn't listening. I was doubled over, spitting blood onto the mat, chest heaving. My eyes lifted, searching, finding him again instantly.
Jax didn't smile. Didn't nod. Didn't move.
But I swore I saw something in his gaze. Recognition. Possession. A silent promise I was already his, whether I admitted it or not.
Ash purred in satisfaction. "He found us. You can't run forever, Rae."
I ripped off my gloves the second I was out of the cage, fury and panic twisting together inside her. Her crew clapped her on the back, handed her water, shouted about how she nearly had him. She didn't hear a word.
Because the only thing that mattered was her mate had come.
And now, everything she'd been running from was closing in.
- Writer
