Chapter Five

Aurora POV

For a long while after he’s left, I don’t move. I just stand here alone. The bond pulses through my chest like a second heartbeat, thudding in deep, quiet waves. I can still feel his touch where his hands were, where his lips brushed.

Keeping my back pressed to the wall, I try to breathe but my hands won’t stop shaking. Everything in me feels like it’s on fire.

How can something that feels like that be a curse?

The moment he touched me, everything changed. I didn’t have to guess; I just knew, and so did he.

His hands, voice, and even the way he pressed into me like he was losing control all prove he felt it. The worst part is that he wanted it. He craved to touch me, to do so much more.

The only issue is he walked away before I could get my mind in a place to ask what happens now?

Sucking in a breath, I force my legs to move and I walk back to my room. Every step though is heavy. My thoughts are a mess, completely tangled with things that I’m not ready to understand.

I collapse onto the bed and curl into a ball, trying to quiet the storm inside of me.

It doesn’t help.

The bond won’t let me forget, it still lingers in my blood, in the air, just everywhere.

Staring at the ceiling is boring, I change to the wall, then to the blanket beside me. Sleep doesn't come, and the rest of the night crawls by.

I want to believe it was a dream, but I know it wasn’t. It’s real.

I’m not safe anymore, how can I be when the bond is no longer seen as sacred but forbidden? It’s not even that, how many forbidden’s does there need to be?

The fated bond is forbidden. He’s my mother's husband, which is forbidden. He’s older than me, which makes it forbidden. Then, to top it all off, he’s viewed by everyone else as my father figure since I was a child, so it’s forbidden again.

He wasn’t, he was in no way a father figure, more a boss who ordered me to clean the pack house, then to clean his offices, fetch him and his men tea while they had meetings.

Fate is cruel to bind me to him.

As the sun rises, I sit up slowly. My head aches and my limbs are heavy. I can’t stay here, I need to move and get my head sorted.

Getting dressed, I wrap a shawl around my shoulders and walk through the house.

I just want a few minutes to breathe without everyone watching me. Not when tonight, everyone will be watching me get married and be claimed by Caelan.

I don’t hear Caelan until he speaks. “Happy birthday.”

Freezing, I look at him as he stands beside one of the columns. He’s dressed in black and deep green. He moves and holds out a small box wrapped in a dark ribbon.

“I thought I’d find you out here,” he says as he steps closer. “Your mother said you were always drawn to quiet mornings.”

I am, but this kind of ruins it. I didn’t want him here with me; I wanted to be alone. He offers me the gift and I take it, unsure of what to do. I don’t and never have been given gifts.

“Thank you,” I say, voice soft. “You didn’t have to—”

“I wanted to.” His smile is careful, charming in a way that’s always felt a little too smooth. “Today is important.”

Of course it is, because I’m marrying him. Notice he said today is important, not my birthday? He only bought me a gift because he feels he should.

Moving, he steps forward, and I feel his gaze sweep across my face like he’s studying how I’m holding myself.

“I’ll see you tonight,” he says, voice low now. “After everything’s prepared to make things official.”

I go to answer, but don’t get a chance to. His hand reaches up to brush a strand of hair from my cheek, then his mouth covers mine.

The kiss is warm, controlled and measured. All things that represent him. His hand rests lightly at my jaw, and I let the kiss happen because I don’t know what else to do, and this is expected of me.

He’s preparing himself for later, when we mate for the first time, and I can understand why. He doesn’t want it to get to tonight and us not having even kissed properly.

As I begin to lean into it, everything shifts and a jolt crashes through my chest, it’s deep and sudden and unmistakable as the bond ignites, burning me. There’s pain, jealousy and something else twisting within the bond.

Killian can sense it, I know he can. I pull away from him so hard that I stumble half a step while gasping.

Freezing, Caelan looks at me like he’s seen something unnatural flash behind my eyes. I hope he didn’t notice the bond. He doesn’t say a word, though, so maybe he didn’t?

Instead of speaking, he just steps away, turns on his heel, and walks back through the glass doors without looking back. I get it, he thinks I pulled back, that I stopped the kiss myself, and I guess that’s a better story for him to believe.

Standing here, the box feels like it's burning my hands.

"Why aren't you dressed appropriately?" Killan snaps, his tone is cold and clipped.

I’m still standing there with the box in my hands when I hear his voice. “You’ve got work to do.”

Work? I turn and see him walking toward me. His eyes are locked on me, and he doesn't look like the man who pressed his face into my neck early this morning. He is back to being the Alpha of this house, and there's something furious under his gaze.