The bite between us

Not desire

chapter 20

Zainab pov

It hits me like a wave.

One second I’m standing in my apartment, keys still in my hand, rain dripping from my hair onto the floor. The next—my chest tightens so sharply I gasp.

Something is wrong.

Not here.

Him.

I don’t know how I know that. I just do.

My knees weaken, and I grip the wall to stay upright as heat floods my veins, not burning—pulling. Like gravity has shifted and I’m no longer standing on solid ground.

Rowan.

The name forms in my mind without permission.

My heart starts racing, panic and urgency tangling together. It feels like standing too close to a storm—power rolling, unstable, dangerous.

And beneath it—

Pain.

Not mine.

His.

“Stop,” I whisper, pressing a hand to my chest.

“Please… stop.”

Images flash through my mind that don’t belong to me: stone walls, shadows stretching too long, a presence so heavy it bends the air.

He’s losing control.

The realization terrifies me.

But instead of running from it, something else rises inside me.

A need.

Strong. Clear. Unshakable.

Go to him.

I grab my phone with shaking fingers and call Kael.

He answers immediately. “Zainab?”

“I—I don’t feel right,” I say breathlessly.

“Something’s happening to Rowan. I don’t know how I know, but I do. Please.”

There’s a pause. Short. Loaded.

“You feel him,” Kael says quietly.

“Yes,” I whisper. “And he needs—” My voice breaks. “He needs to calm down. I can help. I know I can.”

Silence again.

Then: “Stay where you are. Don’t move.”

“I can’t,” I say. Tears sting my eyes. “If I don’t go to him, something bad will happen. I can feel it.”

Another voice murmurs in the background—low, sharp.

Amina.

“She’s right,” she says. “The bond is stabilizing through her.”

My breath shudders. “Bond?”

Kael exhales slowly. “Zainab… listen to me carefully. If you go to him, things will change. There’s no pretending after.”

“I don’t care,” I say, surprised by how steady my voice sounds. “I just know he’s hurting. And I know I can keep him grounded.”

Because somehow—deep in my bones—I know this too:

I don’t make him weaker.

I make him hold together.

The pressure eases slightly, as if he’s heard me. As if distance doesn’t matter the way it should.

Rowan’s presence brushes against my mind—raw, restrained, dangerous.

And beneath all of it, something almost like fear.

For me.

“I’m coming,” I whisper into the empty room, even though I don’t know where there is yet. “Just hold on.”

Across the city, the storm hesitates.

And for the first time since this began, I understand something clearly:

Whatever he is—

Whatever we are—

I am not just caught in his gravity.

I am the anchor.