Chapter 4: New Bonds
970 Words
They moved quietly through the forest, the rising sun casting golden light across the thick canopy. Aria followed closely behind Kade, her hand never straying too far from the dagger he had given her.
She still didn’t understand him.
Rogue. Protector. Stranger.
And yet, something about him made her feel… less broken.
“You’ve gone quiet,” he said over his shoulder.
“Thinking,” she murmured.
“Dangerous habit.”
She gave a faint smile, but it faded quickly. “They’ll send more after me.”
“They will,” Kade said. “But I won’t let them take you.”
Aria hesitated. “Why do you care so much? You don’t even know me.”
Kade stopped walking.
He turned, eyes serious, voice low. “I know what it feels like to be hunted. To be betrayed by the ones who should have protected you. That’s enough for me.”
She stared at him, her heart tightening.
“Come on,” he said, softer this time. “We’re close.”
They arrived at what looked like the ruins of an old cabin, nearly hidden by vines and overgrowth. Kade pushed the door open, and they stepped inside. Dust and shadows clung to the air, but there was a strange warmth to the place.
Aria’s gaze swept the space — a cot, a stone fireplace, old books stacked in a corner.
“This is yours?” she asked.
Kade shrugged. “It was my mother’s. Before the pack banished her.”
Aria looked at him sharply.
“She wasn’t a rogue by choice?” she guessed.
“No rogue ever is,” he muttered.
He walked over to a cabinet, pulled out a jar of dried herbs, and handed it to her.
“Drink this,” he said. “It’ll help your body recover. Your aura’s still unstable from the rejection.”
She took it and sniffed it. “Smells like rotten mint.”
“Means it’s working.”
She rolled her eyes but drank anyway, choking it down. Kade smirked and walked toward the fireplace.
As the fire began to crackle to life, Aria settled onto the cot, wrapping herself in a worn blanket.
“I dreamed of the ceremony for years,” she said quietly. “Becoming Luna. Bonded. Accepted. And then…”
“You were rejected in front of the whole pack.”
She flinched, but nodded. “Like I wasn’t even worth a second thought.”
“He made a mistake.”
She met his gaze. “How would you know?”
Kade looked at the fire, shadows dancing across his face. “Because if you were mine, I wouldn’t have let go.”
The room fell into a thick silence.
Her chest fluttered—unexpected and confusing. She shouldn’t feel anything. She was supposed to be healing, not falling for the first wolf who looked at her like she mattered.
But Kade wasn’t just any wolf.
He didn’t demand her submission.
He didn’t look at her like she was broken.
He looked at her like she was dangerous — and he liked it.
“Rest,” he said, turning away. “You need it.”
But she didn’t sleep.
She watched him from the corner of her eye as he cleaned a blade, his expression unreadable. Something told her Kade had secrets buried deeper than the ruins around them.
When night came, the forest came alive with howls.
Aria jolted upright.
Kade was already on his feet, eyes glowing faintly in the dark. “They’re circling.”
Her heart thudded. “The Silverfang?”
“No. Someone else.”
She moved toward the door, but he blocked her.
“Shift and run?” she asked.
“Not yet.”
He opened a small trapdoor beneath the floorboards and motioned for her. “Stay quiet. No matter what you hear.”
Aria climbed down into the narrow crawlspace, heart racing.
Kade covered the opening just as heavy footsteps crashed through the trees.
She pressed a hand over her mouth, every instinct screaming to fight or run.
Voices above.
“Find the girl,” a harsh voice growled. “She’s the Alpha’s mark. He wants her back.”
“Too bad she ran off with that half-blood mutt,” someone sneered.
Rogues?
No — bounty wolves.
Mercenaries hired to hunt defectors. If they found her, she was as good as dead. Or worse — dragged back to Jaxon like property.
She shut her eyes, clutching the dagger Kade had given her.
Suddenly, the trapdoor opened and Kade dropped in beside her. His clothes were torn, and there was blood on his arm.
“You fought them?” she whispered.
“I stalled them.”
She stared at the gash on his side. “You need healing.”
“No time.” He pulled out a cloth, handed it to her. “Bite on this.”
“What—”
Before she could finish, he pressed his palm against the mark on her shoulder. A blinding pulse of heat surged through her.
Pain. Fire. Power.
She screamed into the cloth.
The mark glowed—brighter, fiercer—and then faded again, leaving her gasping.
“What did you do to me?” she choked out.
“I anchored you.”
“What does that mean?”
Kade looked at her, eyes unreadable.
“It means… your soul won’t shatter anymore. The bond Jaxon broke is sealed. By mine.”
Her breath caught.
“What bond?”
But before he could answer, a loud c***k exploded above them. The floor splintered, dust rained down.
“They found us,” he said grimly.
The trapdoor shattered open — and standing above them, golden eyes blazing, was Jaxon.
“Did you really think I’d let you go that easily, Aria?
- Writer
