Chapter 5

Benjamin

The forest was too quiet, the kind of stillness that made every rustle of leaves sound louder than it should.

I walked its path as though the earth itself bent to my will, my boots crunching against the fallen leaves but inside my chest’s chaos. Chaos that wore the name Nova Stark.

I had thought rejecting her would be the end. A clean severing of the bond, fate had tied between us. I have to keep rejecting her. That was the only way to keep control, to keep from unraveling. Yet my body betrayed me at every turn, aching with a hunger I couldn’t resist.

She’s ours, Draven snarled inside me, voice sharp and commanding. Stop fighting it. Claim her, mark her, she belongs to us.

I clenched my fists together. “No,” I muttered under my breath. “She’ll only break me. She’ll only make us weak.”

But even as I said it, my mind betrayed me, conjuring her face, her scent and her very presence.

Her beauty was the kind that shouted for attention. It was the kind that drew the eye and refused to let go. Fiery red hair framed her face, and her eyes, those fierce red eyes glowed like embers, both soft and alluring at once. And her scent.. Goddess help me. She smelled of wild roses and fresh rain, soft but sharp enough to linger in the air long after she’d passed. It clung to me, drove me mad, made every nerve in my body crave her.

I pressed a hand to my chest, as if I could steady the storm raging there. No matter how much distance I put between us, she was in him, etched into my bones, woven into every breath I took.

My mind went to the kiss we shared the other night, the way she’d trembled beneath my touch. The heat of her lips, the sound of her soft gasp as my control had slipped for just a moment. My body still burned with it. Draven howled at the memory, demanding more, demanding everything.

I shut my eyes, forcing my wolf back. “I can’t. I won’t,” I all but growled through clenched teeth.

I had spent my whole life building walls, mastering control, carrying the burden of leadership. My pack needed a strong Alpha that is untouchable, unshakable not one tethered by a bond he couldn’t sever.

And yet the more I tried to resist, the stronger it pulled.

When Nova had refused my rejection, something inside me had cracked. She stood before me with defiance in her eyes, a fire that matched her wolf’s, and for one reckless moment, I’d admired her courage and fire.

Because every refusal only tightened the chain around my throat.

Draven prowled restlessly, she is our Luna. Stop fighting the bond, the Moon Goddess has destined her for us.

I clenched my jaws so hard it felt like it was gonna crack any minute now, my chest rising and falling with ragged breath. I remembered the taste of her soft red lips, the way it had moulded perfectly with mine as if it was made just me. The heat of her body pressed against mine. I remembered pulling away, forcing myself to break the kiss, watching her confusion and hurt as I walked away.

It had nearly destroyed me.

“She deserves more than me,” I muttered.

More than this curse, more than the blood on my hands.”

Draven’s voice turned into a growl so low it rattled my bones. She deserves the truth, she deserves the bond, she deserves us.

I dragged a hand through my hair, my thoughts a tangled mess. Every time I saw her, every spar, every stolen glance across the training grounds, my resolve cracked a little more. And when Jareth had pinned her during the fight earlier that week, I had nearly leapt into the arena myself, it took every bit of restraint I had to force myself to sit still while pure undiluted anger roared in my blood.

Why should it matter if another man touched her? She wasn’t my mate, not anymore, not if his rejection stood.

But watching her fight back, eyes blazing red, victory burning in her veins.

I had never felt so torn.

Pride swelled in my chest that I couldn’t voice, even though my face had remained stoic and unreadable. And beneath it, a hunger that threatened to undo me.

I stopped at the edge of the lake, staring at my reflection rippling in the moonlight. The face that stared back at me was etched with a visible scowl on my face with sharp eyes, controlled lines, carved of duty and stone. But in the depth of my gaze, I saw it.. the fracture. The hollow ache where nova should be.

“You’re breaking,” I whispered to myself.

Draven snarled in agreement. And she is the only one who can mend us.

And yet every time I looked at her, every time I so much as caught that intoxicating scent on the wind, I knew my resistance was crumbling. I was lying to myself and soon, Draven will no longer let me deny the truth.