Chapter 8: The Bond That Burns
798 Words
It started with the scent.
Not his, but hers—changing.
Subtle, then sharper. Brighter. Like wild rain on warm stone.
Kade noticed it before anyone else. How the air shifted when she entered a room. How his wolf stood at attention even when Aria said nothing at all.
But the worst part—the part that made it real—was that she noticed, too.
And she was avoiding him.
***
She skipped breakfast.
Training.
The evening run.
She stayed close to the dorms, claiming to be recovering from the Gauntlet, but he knew better.
So when he caught her slipping out late that night, hoodie drawn up, boots barely laced, he didn’t wait.
He followed.
Out of the dorms. Past the edge of the main compound. Through the trees until the Academy lights disappeared behind them.
She didn’t notice him until she stopped beside the lake.
She didn’t turn around.
“I knew you’d follow.”
Kade stepped into the clearing. “I almost didn’t.”
A pause. Then she laughed, soft and sad. “No, you didn’t.”
He sighed. “You’ve been avoiding me.”
“I’ve been… thinking.”
“About what?”
She turned finally, eyes unreadable. “About the scent.”
His chest tightened.
He nodded once. “It’s changing.”
“Mine or yours?”
He didn’t hesitate. “Both.”
Silence settled between them. Not awkward, but thick. Charged.
The lake glinted with moonlight, silver rippling across black water. Aria sat on a fallen log and pulled her knees to her chest.
“I thought it was just proximity,” she said. “Adrenaline. Shared danger.”
“It was.”
“But now…”
He sat beside her.
She didn’t move away.
He studied her face in the pale light—strong jaw, bruises still fading beneath her skin, eyes so full of questions it nearly broke him.
“I don’t want a mate bond,” she whispered.
“I know.”
“I can’t want it.”
“I know that too.”
And still, neither of them moved.
Her voice was quieter now. “If it’s real…”
“It is real.”
“…what do we do?”
Kade’s hands were clenched in his lap. His wolf paced just beneath the surface, restless. Hungry. Not just for her, but for the bond itself—for the completion, the tether, the certainty.
But he wouldn't take what she didn’t give.
So he said nothing.
And then, softly, she leaned her head against his shoulder.
“I feel like I finally found my own name,” she said. “And now the universe wants to write someone else’s next to it.”
Kade didn’t speak. Just turned his head and let his cheek rest against the crown of her hair.
“You don’t have to claim it,” he said at last. “Not now. Not ever, if you choose.”
“But it’s there,” she murmured. “Even when I try to push it down… I can feel it. Every time you’re near.”
Kade’s voice was low. “Me too.”
She pulled away and looked up at him.
“Kade…”
He met her gaze.
And for one breathless second, they didn’t speak.
Didn’t move.
Until her fingers brushed his.
Until her lips parted.
Until his control snapped like a drawn bowstring, and he kissed her.
The world tilted.
Not harsh. Not desperate.
Just… real. Solid.
His hands framed her jaw, thumbs brushing her cheeks. She melted into him like she had belonged there all along. And gods, her scent—it was fire and salt and soft, wild wind—and his wolf howled with the joy of it.
When they pulled apart, both were trembling.
She didn’t speak at first.
Just pressed her forehead to his.
“I’m scared,” she whispered.
“I am too.”
Her voice broke. “What if it’s a mistake?”
He took her face in his hands.
“Then we make it ours,” he said. “Not a bond that cages—but one that frees. One we choose.”
Tears shone in her eyes.
Then she nodded once.
Not surrendering.
Not sealing a fate.
But allowing herself possibility.
***
The next morning, they returned to the Academy together.
They didn’t say what happened.
They didn’t have to.
But everyone saw the shift.
How Kade walked half a step closer.
How Aria no longer kept her eyes on the floor.
And how when Ryker passed them in the corridor, sneering and bitter, neither of them flinched.
Because something was changing.
In them.
Around them.
And the bond—once feared—was beginning to burn not as a curse, but as a promise.
- Writer
