Shadows

CHAPTER 5

Shadows

AVA'S POV.

I felt a hand like iron wrap around my ankle. Before I could fall, I was pulled backward. Draken had flown up the ivy. He caught me mid-air as I tumbled from the wall. his body shielding mine as we slammed into the grass at the foot of the wall. He rolled, taking most of the impact, but i still felt pain in my left shoulder. “Fuck. ” I gasped.

Another arrow had grazed me right as he caught me. Blood was already soaking through the navy gown. Draken’s body hardened beneath me. A low, dangerous growl rumbled from his chest. From the pain he just felt through the bond. I could feel it echoing back at me, his anger mixing with mine until I couldn’t tell whose emotions were whose.

“Ava.” Kael’s voice shouted from somewhere behind us. Guards came running, torches flickering in the night.

Kael found us first, eyes wide with worry. “Is she hurt? Let me see—”

“Don’t you dare touch her,” Draken grumbled, He stood up with me still in his arms, holding me tight against his chest. His golden eyes were glowing, fangs extended. He looked ready to kill someone.

Kael raised his hands and stepped back. His face full of concern. “I was only trying to help, brother.”

Draken didn’t answer. He just carried me back toward the palace like I was a wounded animal he refused to let go of. Every step sent pain through my shoulder, and I could feel how much it pissed him off through the bond. Good. Let him feel it. Back in the suite, he shut the door and put me down on the bed.

“Stay still,” he ordered.

“I don’t need your help,” I snapped, trying to push his hands away even though blood was dripping down my arm. His jaw clenched. “You almost got yourself killed climbing that damn wall, and now you want to bleed out just to prove a point?”

He grabbed a clean cloth and a bowl of water from the table, ignoring my protests. His touch was surprisingly gentle as he cleaned the wound, but his face was pure storm. Every time I winced, his own shoulders tensed like he was feeling the sting too.

“Why do you even care?” I muttered, glaring at him. “You bought me. I’m just property, remember?”

His hand froze on my shoulder. Those golden eyes lifted to meet mine.

“Because you’re mine,” he said, voice rough. “Whether you like it or not. And every time you hurt, I feel it like someone’s reaping my chest open. So stop fighting me for five damn minutes.”

I wanted to scream at him. I wanted to tell him I didn’t ask for any of this. not this stupid bond that kept pulling me toward him even when I hated him. But my throat tightened.

Draken finished bandaging my shoulder in silence. When he was done, he sat on the edge of the bed, watching me like he was waiting for me to try running again. “I’m tired,” I whispered. “Then sleep.”

He placed my head gently on the pillow. I opened my mouth to argue again. But the moment my head hit the pillow, my eyes grew heavy.

Sleep pulled me under fast.

****

Everything was blurry.

I was running in the ballroom again, but the floor kept shifting. Jax was laughing somewhere far away. Then Draken was there, reaching for me, his face desperate. Blood on his hands.

I turned away and suddenly I was in the garden again, climbing. Thorns cutting my fingers. Someone was whispering behind me kind words, promising freedom. I couldn’t see the face clearly. Just a hand reaching out.

Then I was falling again.

Draken’s voice echoed, broken. “Don’t…”

Shadows moved. A crown falling and breaking halfway. My Lydia’s voice saying “Be useful for once.”

Ache in my shoulder. Ache in my chest. I tried to scream but no sound came out.

****

I woke up gasping, My heart beating too fast. My shoulder throbbed, and the claiming mark on my neck burned hotter than it had in days.

Draken was still sitting right there, eyes glowing in the dark, watching me closely.

But this time, there was blood on his own shoulder, exactly where I had been wounded.

The bond had transferred the injury to him. “What the hell…?” I whispered my eyes widened. “Bad dream?” he asked quietly. I didn’t answer. I just pulled the blanket tighter around myself, trying to ignore how safe his scent made me feel at the moment. “Now you understand, little mate.

If you keep trying to run.

I might not survive it.”