FORBIDDEN BOND

WOLVES

CHAPTER 4

Draven’s POV

Silence sat like a curse between us.

She hadn’t moved in a while. Just sat there, curled in on herself, shoulders shaking like the grief was trying to claw its way out of her skin.

I should’ve felt something.

Guilt, maybe.

Regret.

Instead, I just felt tired.

Blood crusted in a line down my side, dried into my shirt and sticking like a second skin. The fight had taken more out of me than I wanted to admit, but I wasn’t about to say it out loud. Not when she looked like she was one wrong breath away from shattering.

She picked me.

And then she defended him.

Now she was crying like she had lost something important.

I didn’t understand wolves.

And I definitely didn't understand whatever type of bond was between us. The last time my kind and hers tried something stupid like this, her kind became meal the next day, emptied as her supposed lover couldn't find it in him to stop.

He ended up killing himself out of guilt and shame.

Good riddance to bad rubbish.

“We should move,” I said finally, voice rough from disuse. “If he went back to your pack, it won’t take long before others show up.”

She didn’t answer.

I pushed myself to my feet with a wince and leaned heavily on the cave wall. My legs felt like wood. My ribs ached with every breath. But I was alive. And that had to count for something.

Adela still didn’t look up.

“Look,” I muttered, “I didn’t ask for your help. I don’t even know why you did it. Maybe you’re just reckless. Maybe you thought you could fix whatever mess you made.”

She still didn’t move.

“But I’m not going to die here,” I snapped. “So either you come with me, or stay here and cry until they find you.”

That got her.

Her head snapped up, eyes blazing, red-rimmed and furious.

“Don’t you dare,” she hissed. “Don’t you dare talk to me like I’m weak.”

I raised both hands. “Didn’t say you were. Just said you were slow. Which, I guess, is close enough.”

She stood too fast, wobbling a little, brushing past me toward the mouth of the cave.

“I only saved you because I need to understand what this stupid bond is,” she threw over her shoulder. “That’s it. I didn’t do it because I care, and I sure as hell didn’t do it because I like you.”

I followed, slower, biting back a groan as my side screamed. “You have a strange way of showing it, then.”

She whirled. “Don’t test me. I swear to the gods, once I figure this out, I'm doing what I came here for in the first place. I’m going back to my pack, back to Ronan, and I’m going to prove I’m not the weak little girl who betrayed her pack he thinks I am.”

I paused.

“Then what are you still doing here?”

Her jaw clenched.

“Because for now,” she said, low and shaking, “I need you. That’s it. That’s all this is.”

I stared at her.

And for the first time since this whole mess started, I saw it.

Not fear. Not anger.

Desperation.

She was hanging on by a thread, torn between loyalty and instinct. Between whatever we were and whatever she thought she had with that wolf.

And maybe it should’ve made me feel something. But it didn’t.

Because I didn’t want to be needed.

I wanted to be chosen.

Or I didn't want anything at all, just out of this mess.

So I didn’t say anything.

Just turned and started walking.

The forest was cold and quiet, moonlight filtering through the trees in fractured pieces. I heard her footsteps behind me after a moment.

Good.

She could hate me all she wanted.

But we had to move.

We had to survive.

And I wasn’t planning on dying with her hate echoing in my ears.

We walked in silence. Leaves crunched underfoot. A low wind brushed against us, sharp with pine and smoke.

After a while, she asked quietly, “What do you need to get better?”

I didn’t look at her.

Just let the corner of my mouth curl.

“A drink,” I said.

She blinked. “There’s a stream a few miles east–”

“Not that kind,” I cut in.

Her expression shifted slowly as it clicked.

Oh.

“For you to have been sent to kill me, I thought you'd be more…..smart, you're quite slow. I feel insulted.”

She stared at me with so much anger that if looks could kill, I probably wouldn't have made the next step.

“Please shut up.You mean blood.”

I didn’t answer. I didn’t need to.

We both knew what I was.

Awkward silence stretched between us like a fence.

I let it hang a second longer, then turned just enough to catch her eye.

Smirked.

“Unless you’re offering your neck.”

She made a face–half disgust, half disbelief. “You’re unbelievable.”

“Thanks. I try.”

But before I could say more, a sound split the air.

A branch snapped behind us.

Then another. And another.

I stopped. My body tensed on instinct, ignoring the pain, locking into survival mode.

The scent hit next–foul and sour, like rotten meat and blood wrapped in fur.

Adela’s eyes locked on mine. Her scent shifted–fear, sharp and clear.

“They found us,” I said.

But it wasn’t Adela's pack coming for retribution.

No, this was something else.

A voice slithered through the darkness. “Well, well. He wasn’t lying.”

Figures stepped out from the trees, too many to count, cloaked in shadows and moonlight. Some were wolves, snarling, twisted–halfway between man and wolf. Faces misshapen. Eyes glowing an odd shade of yellow. Others were something in between.

Half Bloods.

Kael’s hounds.

“s**t,” I breathed.

The one in front grinned at me, cracked lips stretching wide, canines too long.

He didn’t speak.

Didn’t need to.

I took a step forward, ignoring the scream in my ribs.

And smiled back.

Because under the pain, under the hunger, something ancient clawed to the surface.

My fangs slid free.

My voice was low, lethal.

“Finally,” I said.

“I get to feed.”