LOGINHe smelled like danger. He looked like power. He made Ari's instincts scream one thing—run. But it was already too late. Ari just wanted a normal college life. For a timid bunny hybrid who startles at loud sounds and avoids eye contact like it’s a sport, "normal" means flying under the radar, keeping his ears tucked under hoodies, and staying far away from alphas who smell like trouble. But trouble finds him anyway—in the form of Thorn, a tiger-panther hybrid with a stare sharp enough to slice, and an aura so intense it shuts Ari's brain off completely. Thorn doesn’t ask. He doesn’t beg. He claims. And from the moment he catches Ari’s scent, he decides one thing: Mine. Now Ari’s peaceful life is spiraling into something else. Something darker. Something hungrier. Thorn is everywhere—on campus, in his dreams, always one step away from baring his fangs. But there’s something worse than being hunted by a predator. Wanting one.
View MoreThorne's POVThe blood was stubborn. It clung to my skin like a memory I couldn’t wash away, streaks of red mingling with the grime of the mission. The hot water in the shower felt almost cruel, burning my skin, and yet it wasn’t enough. Not nearly enough. The smell of iron hung in the air, and I closed my eyes, letting the steady stream pound down over me, trying to scrub out what I had done.And all the while, Ari was in my head. Seven days. Seven fucking days without him in my arms. My mind couldn’t let him go. Every twitch of his ears, every tiny movement, every small, fragile thing I knew about him—I replayed it over and over, as though it could anchor me in something pure amid the chaos of my world.I could still feel the hollow ache in my chest from leaving him, the constant tug of the bond gnawing at me, relentless and demanding. Every drop of blood on my hands was a reminder that my duty had no room for weakness. That I could never let Ari see what my life really was. And yet
Ari's POVIt had been a week since Thorne left. Seven long, quiet days where every corner of my room seemed to ache with his absence. The bed was cold, the blankets heavy with emptiness, and even the faint smell of him lingering on the sheets had faded to nothing. I tried to keep myself busy, telling myself he must have his reasons, but the bond—our bond—was relentless. Every heartbeat, every pulse of longing reminded me that I wasn’t whole without him.I went through the motions of the day like a ghost. Classes felt longer, the chatter of other students distant and hollow. I kept my head down, books clutched tightly to my chest, pretending the world wasn’t spinning faster than I could keep up with. The bond was always there, tugging, a constant reminder that Thorne wasn’t here. That he had gone somewhere without me—without explanation.By the time I returned to my dorm that afternoon, my legs felt leaden, and my chest ached in a way words couldn’t describe. I unlocked the door, expec
Thornes POVI slipped out of bed before dawn.Ari’s breathing was steady against my chest, warm and soft in a way that almost made me stay. Almost. His ears twitched once when I moved, but he didn’t wake. He trusted me too much for that. Trusted me enough to curl against me and fall asleep without fear.And I was about to break that trust.The air outside the blankets was cold, biting against my skin, but it was nothing compared to the heaviness pressing down on my chest. I told myself it was necessary—this absence, this distance. My people demanded things from me that Ari couldn’t begin to understand. Things I couldn’t drag him into, not without painting a target on his back.So I left. Quiet, efficient. A shadow slipping through the door without looking back.But the second the latch clicked behind me, I felt it.The bond.It tugged sharp, like a thread snapping taut. A pull low in my chest, alive and insistent. It told me Ari was waking, that the warmth he reached for wasn’t there.
I woke up to emptiness.The sheets were cold where Thorne should have been, and my heart sank before my mind even caught up. My fingers reached for the space beside me, clumsy and desperate, but there was nothing there—not even the faintest trace of warmth. Just the hollow weight of absence pressing down on me.My chest tightened. For a second, I thought I might cry right there, curled up in bed like some abandoned thing. Pathetic. Weak. I bit down hard on my lip, but the ache in my throat was harder to silence.He was gone.And I… I didn’t even know what to do with myself without him.The morning light trickled weakly through the curtains, pale and indifferent, and I hated it. I hated the way the world kept moving, like it didn’t care that my one anchor had slipped away.Dragging myself out of bed felt pointless, but I did it anyway, like some puppet going through motions. My uniform felt stiff against my skin, my ears heavy against the side of my head. Every movement was slow, delay
Ari’s POVThe corridor was a narrow squeeze between the dorm blocks, the dim lights flickering like they were ready to give out at any second. Paint peeled from the walls in long, curling strips, the floor sticky beneath Ari’s shoes from some long-forgotten spill. Every sound echoed louder here, bo
Ari’s POVThe fading sunlight paints the dorm room in warm, tired colors, but inside me, a storm brews, loud and relentless.His touch—it’s still there. A ghost that won’t let go.I close my eyes and try to will it away, but the memory clings tighter than I expect.The brush of his fingers against
Thorne’s POVIt starts like a whisper in a crowded room, something so quiet it almost slips past notice.The way Ari’s body no longer tenses when my fingers graze his wrist—no more sharp flickers of fear or flinching away like I’m a threat.His breath, once shallow and hurried, now slows, steady an
Thorne’s POVThe walls of my parents’ house were built like a labyrinth, not of stone, but of lies and chains dressed up as duty.Every word they spoke dripped with the same poison I’d grown up swallowing: you owe us, you belong to us, you are nothing without us.They didn’t need bars to make a pri






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