Chapter 6: When the Bond Bites Back

The knock wasn’t loud.

That was what terrified her.

Three soft taps. Polite. Patient.

Ari backed away from the door, heart slamming so hard it hurt. The symbols carved into the walls hummed faintly, a vibration she felt in her bones. Outside, the city breathed—distant sirens, the whisper of wind between buildings—but the hallway beyond the door was silent.

Too silent.

“Chosen girl,” the voice came again, closer now, amused. “I can smell you.”

Her throat tightened. She pressed her palm to the wall, grounding herself, trying to remember Dante’s words. Do not open the door. The tug in her chest pulsed again, sharper this time, like a hook catching in muscle.

The handle turned.

Stopped.

Snarling echoed from the stairwell—fast, furious. A body slammed into the wall outside, followed by a guttural growl that rattled the frame.

Kai’s voice cut through the chaos. “Back away from the door, Ari!”

Relief hit her so hard her knees nearly buckled.

Another crash. A scream—wolf, not human. The sound scraped down her spine.

She slid to the floor, arms wrapped around herself as the fight tore through the hallway. The bond inside her flared hotter, brighter, yanking her attention outward. She felt Kai’s rage, Lennox’s cold focus, Dante’s commanding presence like a shield.

Then pain—sharp and sudden—shot through her ribs.

Ari gasped.

Not her pain.

His.

“Kai,” she whispered, clutching her side.

The realization hit like a blow. The bond wasn’t just pulling. It was connecting.

The door flew open.

Kai stumbled inside, blood darkening his shirt, eyes blazing gold. He slammed the door shut and locked it, chest heaving. For a split second, he just stood there, staring at her like he was seeing her for the first time.

“You felt that,” he said hoarsely.

She nodded, tears burning. “I did.”

His jaw clenched. “It’s accelerating.”

Before she could ask what that meant, Lennox appeared in the doorway, uninjured but furious, eyes still glowing. Dante followed last, calm but lethal, a smear of blood across his knuckles.

“Rogue’s dead,” Lennox said flatly. “But others will come.”

Dante’s gaze snapped to Ari. “You’re bleeding.”

She looked down. A thin line of blood had appeared on her palm where her nails had bitten into skin. But that wasn’t what scared her.

“I felt him,” she said. “When he got hurt. I felt it.”

The room went still.

Kai dragged a hand through his hair, pacing. “That shouldn’t be possible yet.”

“Yet?” Ari echoed.

Dante swore under his breath. “The bond is biting back.”

Her pulse thundered. “Explain. Now.”

Lennox leaned against the wall, arms crossed. “When a human is chosen, there’s usually time. Weeks. Months. Tonight, the moon fast-tracked it.”

“Because I was attacked?” she asked.

“Because you were threatened,” Dante corrected. “The bond exists to protect what the pack values.”

Ari’s laugh came out shaky. “So I’m a thing now.”

“No,” Kai said sharply, stopping in front of her. “You’re the center.”

That was worse.

The heat surged again—stronger this time. Her vision blurred. The room tilted as sensation flooded her senses: the city’s heartbeat below, the smell of rain and metal and wolf, the pull toward them so intense it hurt.

She cried out, clutching her chest.

Kai caught her before she fell.

The contact was a mistake.

Fire ripped through her veins. His arms around her felt right in a way that terrified her, like her body had been waiting for this exact shape, this exact heat. Her heartbeat synced with his instantly.

Kai froze.

“Don’t,” Dante warned.

Too late.

Ari gasped as images slammed into her mind—Kai standing over her, bloodied but victorious; his teeth at her throat, not in violence but devotion; a mark blooming hot against her skin.

She clutched his shirt. “Kai—”

He growled, low and broken. “I can’t—”

Lennox crossed the room in a blink, gripping Kai’s shoulder, yanking him back. “Step away. Now.”

Kai did, barely.

Ari collapsed onto the couch, shaking.

Dante knelt in front of her, hands hovering, careful. “Listen to me,” he said softly. “You have a choice. Right now.”

Her breath came in ragged pulls. “What choice?”

“The bond is open,” he said. “You can fight it. Or you can anchor it.”

“What does anchoring mean?”

“It means choosing who it ties to,” Lennox said quietly. “Before it chooses for you.”

Her heart stuttered.

Kai looked away, jaw tight, like it was taking everything in him not to touch her again.

Dante’s gaze held hers, steady and dark. “If you don’t choose, the city will. A rival pack. A rogue. Someone who doesn’t care if it breaks you.”

Fear coiled in her stomach—but beneath it, something else stirred.

Want.

Not just desire. Pull. Gravity.

She looked at all three of them—at Dante’s control stretched thin, at Kai’s barely leashed hunger, at Lennox’s silent intensity.

“Is choosing… claiming?” she asked.

Dante didn’t lie. “It’s the first step.”

The moonlight spilled across the floor, bright and insistent.

A howl echoed—farther away this time, but not gone.

Ari wiped her tears, heart pounding. “If I choose… do I stop being me?”

Dante shook his head slowly. “You become more.”

She laughed weakly. “That doesn’t sound comforting.”

“It is,” Kai said softly, finally meeting her eyes. “If it’s done right.”

The bond pulsed again, demanding.

Outside, the city waited.

Ari closed her eyes, breath trembling.

Run—or surrender.

Fight—or choose.

And for the first time since the night began, she realized the truth:

The danger wasn’t the wolves.

It was how badly she wanted them.