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THE SNAP
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2025-05-17 21:21:01Nova Quinn
Kael Draven’s house looked nothing like I’d imagined.
I expected stone. Cold walls. No windows. A fortress.
What I got was worse.
Warm wood. Black iron accents. Massive glass panels that opened to a view of the forest. It was… beautiful. Quiet. Untouched.
Almost soft.
And I hated that.
Because it meant he wasn’t a monster.
He deliberately made the choice to enact cruelty in his behavior.
Kael opened the door to a spare room at the end of the hall while telling me, “This belongs to you for now.” The flatness of his voice couldn’t hide the tightening grip his fingers took around the handle as our skin almost touched.
Mate bond proximity.
We were too close.
Way too close.
He stepped back like my presence physically bothered him. It almost made me laugh — if I weren’t so ready to set something on fire.
I walked past him into the room without a word.
Neutral tones. Crisp sheets. Not a speck of dust.
I dropped my bag on the bed.
“You don’t have to babysit me.”
“I’m not babysitting you.”
“Right. You’re just keeping me prisoner. Very different.”
I turned to face him, ready to throw the next sarcastic jab — but the moment our eyes met again, everything changed.
The world tilted.
The air between us crackled, thick like honey and smoke.
His eyes locked on mine — not hard, not angry — but starving.
Time slowed.
My breath caught in my throat.
A profound pull reached into my chest and gut and spread to my thighs. Like gravity bending around one person.
Kael stepped forward before he could stop himself. Barely an inch closer — but I felt it like a hand against my spine.
“You need to stay away from me,” he said, voice raw.
“I didn’t do anything.”
“You exist.”
I swallowed hard, heart hammering.
My skin felt tight. My pulse thundered in my ears.
“Why are you fighting it?” I whispered.
He looked at me then — really looked.
And what I saw behind those dark eyes wasn’t just anger.
It was fear.
“I already lost one mate,” he said. “I won’t lose another.”
His words punched the air out of my lungs.
“You think rejecting me protects you?”
“I think rejecting you keeps you alive.”
He turned to leave — but he hesitated.
I saw it in his posture.
That war in his spine.
The part of him that wanted to stay.
The part of him that was breaking.
I didn’t move.
Didn’t breathe.
And that’s when it hit.
The full weight of the bond.
Not the whisper I’d felt before.
This was the roar.
The sensation raced through my body like wildfire while Kael’s facial expression showed he shared the experience.
His hand clenched on the doorframe.
My knees buckled slightly.
Our bond snapped tight like a cord between us, invisible and electric.
His chest rose fast. Mine matched.
Every instinct in me screamed to go to him.
To touch him. Mark him. Claim him.
I didn’t move at first. Neither did he. But the air between us thickened until I couldn’t take it anymore. My legs carried me forward before I even realised.
One step. Two.
Kael raised his gaze with his jaw tightened and eyes emitting a faint light that struggled to stay controlled.
“Don’t,” he growled. But his voice shook.
I stopped inches from him. “Then tell me to leave.”
He didn’t.
His hand shot out and gripped my wrist. Not hard. Not rough. Just… there.
When his thumb touched the inside of my wrist I sensed the living connection between us. Raw. Wild. Alive.
He spoke with a deep and rough voice “This is a mistake.”
“Then why do you feel like home?” I whispered.
Kael’s mouth crashed down on mine.
It wasn’t sweet. It wasn’t gentle. It was fire — teeth, lips, need.
He gripped my hair tightly enough to make me gasp before his tongue swept into my mouth tasting me as if he’d been waiting for this moment his whole life.
My fingers clutched his shirt as my nails pierced his skin deeply enough to create crescent moon patterns and draw blood. “I shouldn’t want this…” I breathed.
“But you do.” He whispered as his lips traced a path down my throat, his breath hot as he murmured, “I’m yours. Whether I want to be or not.”
My tank top was gone before I could catch my breath. His hand splayed over my ribs — not just touching, claiming.
And when his body pressed flush against mine, everything else in the world disappeared.
The bond snapped again — harder. My back arched. His name spilled from my lips like a prayer.
And then —
He stopped.
He whispered “I can’t” while his forehead touched mine. “Because once I start, I won’t stop.”
After turning around Kael walked out and slammed the door shut behind him.
And I sat on the edge of the bed, skin still trembling, heart still burning, breath still shallow.
Mate bond.
Inescapable. Unwanted. Alive.
And I had no idea if it would save me.
Or destroy me.
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Born of Fire and Moonlight THE ESCAPE PLAN
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Nova QuinnThe cuff wasn’t metal.It looked like it was—sleek, black, and cold against my wrist—but it wasn’t iron or steel. It pulsed softly with something older. Something that didn’t belong in this world. Magic.I felt it the second they snapped it shut.My fire recoiled, like a wave pulling back from the shore. The heat in my chest, the rhythm of my veins—it all dulled at once. My body still burned, but under glass. Muffled. Leashed.“You’re serious,” I said, voice flat.Liora didn’t blink. “It’s for everyone’s safety. Including yours.”I looked down at the cuff again. A thin silver rune shimmered on its surface, faintly glowing.“And if I take it off?”“You can try,” Mara muttered behind me. “But I’d wait until you’re ready to regrow your wrist.”Kael stood to the side, arms crossed, expression unreadable.“You agreed to this?” I asked him.He didn’t answer. Didn’t flinch. Just stared at me like he always did—like I was a problem he couldn’t solve.“Right,” I said, stepping away
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