LOGINThe stillness didn’t last.It never really did in a place like this.Even when everything looked calm on the surface—sunlight spilling through the trees, birds singing like nothing in the world was broken—there was always something underneath. Something shifting. Waiting.I felt it before I heard him.The bond tightened.Not painfully.But sharply enough that my breath caught in my throat.Raven stirred instantly.He’s close.My fingers curled into the fabric of my sweater as I sat up straighter on the bench, my spine going rigid. My pulse picked up, each beat echoing too loudly in my ears.“I know,” I whispered.And then—Footsteps.Slow.Measured.Heavy enough to belong to someone who didn’t bother hiding their presence.Hunter.Of course it was him.I didn’t turn immediately. I couldn’t. Something inside me resisted—the memory of last night still too fresh, too raw. His rage. The way his hands had tightened around the beta’s throat. The darkness in his eyes.And then the way he had
Sarah’s POVI woke with a start.Not slowly. Not gently.It was the kind of waking that felt like being ripped out of something—like the dream had claws and didn’t want to let me go. My breath came sharp and uneven, chest rising too fast, my heart pounding like it was trying to escape my ribs.For a second, I didn’t know where I was.Darkness.Silence.The faint outline of the room slowly came into focus—the high ceiling, the soft curtains, the unfamiliar comfort of a place that still didn’t feel like mine.The mansion.Reality settled back in.Heavy.Unavoidable.The dream clung to me like fog, thick and suffocating. I couldn’t remember all of it—just fragments. Pieces. Hunter’s voice, but softer. His eyes, not black with rage but… something else. Something lost. Something that didn’t belong to the man I had seen last night.That version of him—It felt wrong.Or maybe more dangerous.Because it made me hesitate.The bond was quiet now.Not gone.Never gone.Just… quieter.A faint hu
I looked down at my wrist again.The bruises.The evidence.“And what about this?” I asked quietly.Raven’s tone darkened slightly.That… is instinct.“Possession.”Yes.“Control.”Yes.“Danger.”A pause.Yes.I let out a humorless breath.“Great.”Silence settled again.But this time—It wasn’t empty.It was full.Of thoughts I didn’t want.Of feelings I didn’t trust.Of questions I couldn’t answer.I pushed myself up, moving toward the bathroom. I needed to get the night off my skin. Needed something—anything—to feel normal again.The water started running, the sound filling the silence, giving me something to focus on.But even as steam began to rise—The bond didn’t fade.Didn’t quiet.Didn’t loosen.If anything—It grew sharper.Like distance wasn’t weakening it.It was strengthening it.I stepped under the water, letting the heat wash over me, trying to force my muscles to relax.It didn’t fully work.Because my mind kept circling back.To him.To that moment.To the way he stop
Sarah's POV I stood there long after he left.The echo of his footsteps faded into the halls, swallowed by the mansion’s endless silence—but the tension he left behind didn’t go with him. It lingered. Clung. Wrapped around me like something unseen but very much alive. The bond pulsed again. Not violently this time. Not like before. But steady. Heavy. Present. Like a reminder. He was still there. Somewhere in this house. And no matter how far apart we stood, there was no real distance between us.I exhaled slowly, dragging a hand down my face, trying to ground myself. It didn’t work. Nothing felt steady. Nothing felt normal.My wrist throbbed again, drawing my attention down. The bruises had darkened into an ugly shade now, the imprint of fingers clearer than before. Proof. Of what happened. Of how quickly things could spiral. Of how little control I actually had in a place like this.A flicker of anger rose again.Not just at the beta.At Hunter.At this bond.At everything.“I’m not
Sarah's POV The walk out of the gathering felt longer than it should have.Or maybe it was just the silence.No—Not silence.Because the bond wasn’t quiet.It was louder than ever.It throbbed between us like a living thing, heavy and relentless, carrying everything Hunter wasn’t saying. Every restrained instinct. Every violent urge he was forcing down. Every flicker of control that felt like it could snap again at any second.I walked beside him.Not behind.Not ahead.Beside.But it didn’t feel equal.It felt like walking next to a storm that had decided—for now—not to destroy everything in its path.No one stopped us as we left.No one spoke.The moment we stepped back into the main hall, the energy shifted. Conversations dipped. Laughter dulled. Eyes followed.Alphas.Betas.Everyone.Watching.Me.Watching him.Watching us.And I felt it—the shift in perception. The silent understanding passing through the room like a whisper no one dared to speak aloud.Something had happened.
“I’m not,” I repeated, slower now, stronger. “You don’t get to decide that.”Hunter stepped closer again.Now there was no space left.None.His presence pressed into me fully, suffocating, overwhelming, but I refused to move.“You think this bond is a suggestion?” he asked, his voice dropping even lower, darker. “You think it’s optional?”“I think,” I said, holding his gaze despite the storm threatening to swallow me whole, “it doesn’t erase who I am.”That did it.Something cracked.I felt it.Not loud.Not explosive.But real.A fracture.Inside him.Inside whatever control he had left.His hand lifted.Slowly.And for one split second—I thought—He’s going to grab me again.The bond flared violently, anticipation slamming through me, heat rushing under my skin, my body tensing—But he stopped.Mid-motion.His fingers curled in the air, like he was physically restraining himself, before slowly lowering back to his side.Control.Forced.Painful.Deliberate.And that—That shook me







