Chapter 27
1007 Words
Vivian’s POV
I stood at the window for a long time after he left.
My hands were shaking. My breath was still coming shallow. My entire body felt like it had been set on fire and then dropped into ice water at the same time.
He almost kissed me.
The Alpha—the man whose father my father had murdered almost kissed me.
And I had wanted him to.
That was the part that terrified me most.
Through the bond, I could feel him in the corridor. Felt his internal war like it was my own. Felt the rage and need all tangled together into something so complicated I didn’t know how to make sense of it.
I sat on the bed and tried to understand what had just happened.
He’d said “And I don’t care.”
About my father killing his father. About the murder. About the bloodline. He said he didn’t care.
But I could feel through the bond that he did care. That it was eating him alive. That the guilt was crushing him because his wolf loved me more than his human side could allow him to hate me.
The night was long.
Every time I closed my eyes, I felt his hands on my face. Felt the way he’d looked at me like I was both salvation and damnation. Felt the raw honesty in his voice when he’d told me about the bond.
“When you hurt, I hurt. When you’re in pain, I’m in pain. When you’re terrified, I’m terrified.”
I didn’t know what that meant. Not really. But I knew it was the truth. I could feel it through the connection between us. Could feel how much he was suffering because of what he felt for me.
By morning, I was exhausted.
Freya came to check my wounds and immediately noticed something was wrong.
“You didn’t sleep,” she said. It wasn’t a question.
“No.”
“The Alpha?” she asked carefully.
“How did you…”
“Because he looks the same way you do,” Freya said.
“Like he’s fighting a war inside his own chest.”
She finished bandaging my back and sat back on her heels.
“The bond between you two is unusual,” she said quietly. “I’ve seen mating bonds before. I’ve seen pack bonds. But what you two have… it’s deeper than either of those. It’s like your very existence is tied to his on a fundamental level.”
“Is that normal?” I asked.
“No,” Freya said. “In my fifty years of healing, I’ve only seen two other bonds like that. And both of them ended in either death or complete transformation of the pack itself.”
She packed up her supplies and moved toward the door.
“Be careful,” she said. “Whatever’s happening between you two, it’s not small. It’s not a passing thing. It’s going to reshape everything around it.”
Kade came later with food.
He took one look at my face and sighed.
“He visited you,” Kade said.
“How can you tell?”
“Because you have that look on your face,” Kade said.
“Like you just had your world shifted sideways and you’re not sure how to feel about it.”
He set the tray down.
“The pack is getting nervous,” he continued. “More nervous than before. Vespera’s been very busy spreading rumors about witchcraft and control. Some warriors actually believe she’s using dark magic on him.”
“I’m not doing anything,” I said.
“I know,” Kade said. “The Alpha knows. But belief is powerful. And Vespera is good at creating belief.”
After he left, I ate some of the food and tried not to think about Dominic.
But It didn’t work.
I kept thinking about the way he’d fought against kissing me. Kept thinking about the guilt in his eyes. Kept thinking about the fact that he was willing to burn the world for me, but he couldn’t forgive my father for murdering his.
The conflict in him was destroying him.
And I didn’t know how to help him find peace with it.
That night, Rowan came to my door.
He was nervous, his eyes darting around the corridor to make sure no one was watching.
“I’m sorry about what happened,” he said. “With the whipping. That was wrong.”
“The Alpha ordered it,” I said.
“I know.” Rowan looked uncomfortable. “I also know why. Everyone with any sense knows why. The bond between you two is obvious to anyone paying attention. And I think that scares people.”
“Does it scare you?” I asked.
“No,” he said. “It makes sense to me. The Alpha’s been alone for a long time. And you… you’ve been alone longer. It makes sense that you would find each other.”
He was quiet for a moment.
“I wanted to tell you that there are people who support you,” he said finally. “Not many. But some. Kade. Mira. Me. We’re not going to let the pack hurt you because of Vespera’s lies.”
“Why would you do that?” I asked.
“Because the Alpha is different with you,” Rowan said.
“Better. Kinder. More human. And I think whatever’s happening between you two is good for him. So it’s good for all of us.”
He left before I could respond.
Through the bond, I felt Dominic’s presence in the tower.
He was awake. He was tortured and fighting something inside himself that I could feel echoing through the connection between us.
And for the first time, I understood something important:
He wasn’t fighting me.
He was fighting himself. Fighting the part of him that wanted to love me against the part of him that thought he should hate me.
And he was losing.
- Writer
