Chapter 15: Blood, Bandages, and one Bed

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*Chapter 15: Blood, Bandages, and One Bed*

We didn’t talk during the drive.

Kieran’s knuckles were white on the steering wheel. Blood was still under his nails. Mine. His. I couldn’t tell.

The silver lines around my mark pulsed every time he glanced at me.

“Are you okay?” he asked finally. Voice rough.

“No,” I said honestly. “But I will be.”

He nodded and turned off the main road.

Two hours later we stopped in front of a small cabin. Deep in the woods. No cell service. No pack.

Just trees, snow, and us.

“It’s pack property,” Kieran said, unlocking the door. “No one comes here in winter.”

It smelled like pine and old wood. One room. One bed. One fireplace.

Just like I knew it would be.

Kieran dropped the bags and immediately started a fire. His hands were still shaking.

“Sit,” I said.

“What?”

“Sit. Let me look at you.”

He stared at me. “I’m fine.”

“You’re not.” I pointed to his side. There was a cut. Deep. From one of the warriors.

Kieran sighed and sat on the floor in front of the fire. 

I knelt behind him. My fingers were clumsy as I cut his shirt open.

The wound was bad. But not fatal.

“You should’ve told me,” I whispered, dabbing it with a wet cloth.

“You were more important.”

The bond pulsed. His pain hit me for a second. Sharp.

I hissed.

“Don’t,” Kieran said. “Don’t take it.”

“I can’t help it.” I pressed a bandage to his skin. My hands were gentle. “You took a hit for me.”

“I’d do it again.”

We fell quiet. The only sound was the fire and our breathing.

When I finished, I sat next to him. Not touching. But close.

“Why did you do it?” I asked. “The ‘I choose you’ thing. Back in the hall.”

Kieran stared at the flames. “Because I was wrong about Mae.”

The words hit me like ice.

“I rejected her because I thought she was weak,” he continued. “Because the pack expected it. Because I was scared of what it meant to love someone.” He turned to me. “And then the moon gave me you. A black bond. A punishment.”

“Is that what I am? A punishment?”

“No.” His hand came up and brushed my hair back, exposing the mark. The silver lines glowed brighter at his touch. 

“This is a second chance. For both of us.”

My heart was pounding. “Kieran...”

“Shh.” He leaned in and pressed his forehead to mine. Just like in the training room. 

The bond flared. Warm this time. Not pain. 

Memories again. But softer. 

Him watching me from across the hall for months.

Him hating that he couldn’t stop.

Him terrified he’d hurt me.

“I don’t deserve you,” he whispered.

“Then let me decide that,” I whispered back.

For a moment, I thought he’d kiss me.

Instead he pulled back and stood up. “You should sleep. I’ll take first watch.”

“Kieran—”

“The bed is yours.”

He laid down on the floor by the fire. Put distance between us.

But in the middle of the night I woke up cold.

And just like before, I was on the bed.

Under blankets.

And he was behind me. 

His arm around my waist. His face in my hair.

He was murmuring in his sleep. My name.

“Rejoice... don’t go...”

The silver lines on my mark glowed. 

And for the first time since he bit me, the bond didn’t hurt.

It felt like peace.

Until a wolf howled outside.

Too close.

Not pack.

Kieran was awake instantly. Eyes gold.

“Get up,” he said. “We have company.”

And outside the window, two red eyes watched us.

Mae.

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*END OF CHAPTER 15*