CHAPTER 4

CHAPTER FOUR.

Nova’s POV

I should have ran when I had the chance.

Cassian hasn’t said it, but I can feel it in the way he won’t meet my eyes, the way his jaw works like he’s chewing down on something. Every step he takes toward the clubhouse feels final. Heavy. Like he is dragging me into the kind of secret you don’t walk away from alive.

My chest is still beating frantically with what I saw—the silver-eyed wolf, the impossible fight, the way my heart didn’t break in fear but split open in admiration. I keep replaying it, as if I can scrub it into logic. 

I can’t.

He leads me through a door I didn’t notice before, it was too hidden even to be. Tucked in the back hall of the clubhouse, away from the noise, smoke and fights. The air feels strange..

“Where are we going?” I try to be casual and fail.

Cassian doesn’t answer. He just grips the handle of another door and pulls it open. A stone stairwell goes downward, lit by torches that shouldn’t exist in a world with electricity.

Every part of me says no. But I followed anyway because he looked like he was going to force me down if I didn’t.

The stairwell led us into a chamber carved straight into the floor. The walls are raw stone, blackened in places as if scorched. Sigils crawl across them—etched, burned, painted, I can’t tell. They are seen faintly under the influence of the torchlight, like veins under skin

At the center stands a stone basin, wide and long, filled with water so dark it barely gives any reflection.

The hair on my arms rises.

Cassian finally speaks. “This is where you forget.”

I freeze. “Excuse me?”

His eyes are gold even in the low light, merciless. “You saw too much tonight. You weren’t supposed to. The pack can’t risk—”

“You’re going to brainwash me?” My laugh cracks. “Seriously? Just Men in Black my memory away and send me back out there like none of this happened?”

His jaw tightens. “It’s mercy.”

“Funny, doesn’t feel very merciful.”

“You don’t understand—”

“You’re right, I don’t.” My voice snaps, louder than I intended it to be. “What I do understand is you dragged me here without asking. And now you are about to dunk my head in creepy wolf water so I forget you?”

That lands. For a moment, something flickers in his face. But it’s gone too fast.

He takes a step closer. “Nova. If you keep what you saw, you’re not safe. Not from them. Not from me.”

And then it hits me—the thing under his words. 

It’s not just about what I saw. It’s about what I felt. The way his gaze keeps snagging mine. The way the space between us has felt thinner since the highway.

My pulse trips.

“Don’t do this,” I whisper.”Please”

For the first time since I have met him, Cassian looks away. His hand clenches at his side. He looks like a man tearing himself apart. And then he reaches for me anyways.

His palm cups the side of my head, firm, and pushes me toward the basin.

“No—” My hands shove at his chest, but it’s like pushing a wall. It is not working.

Panic spikes hot. Not because of fear of drowning, but because the thought of forgetting him tears through me. “Cassian, don’t you dare—”

The water catches the torchlight as he lowers me toward it. The sigils flare. My reflection ripples in the water.

And then everything breaks.

Not me. Not him. Us.

Something snaps tight between us, so tight I gasp. It feels like a tether sinking hooks into my chest, pulling hard, pulling him with it.

Cassian staggers back like he has been struck. His hand flies to his chest and his eyes go wide, blazing.

The bond.

I don’t know how I know, but I do. Every nerve in my body screams it. The tether isn’t just a metaphor—it’s real, electric, alive. It hums under my skin, ties me to him so tight I can feel the echo of his breath in my lungs.

Cassian swears, low and raw. “No. No, not this.”

“What the hell did you do to me?” My voice is shaking, furious.

“I didn’t—” His words cut off. His hands fist in his hair. “It wasn’t supposed to happen. Not with you.”

“Sorry to disappoint.” My laughter is broken. “What is this?”

He looks at me then, and the hunger in his eyes isn’t something human men carry but he has proved that he wasn’t human anyways. 

“The bond. Mate bond.” The words scrape out like they cost him. “You’re mine.”

My chest seizes. Anger, heat, something darker tangles in my throat. “The hell I am.”

But the tether pulls, tight and undeniable, and my body betrays me. I step toward him, even as my mouth spits words my body doesn't mean. “Undo it.”

“I can’t.” His voice is rough, frayed. “It’s permanent. It’s—” His breath shudders. “It’s for life.”

Everything in me goes hot, anger sparking every nerve in my body. I want to hit him. I want to claw the bond out of my chest. I want to tear him closer and press my mouth to his until I can’t breathe.

I do the first thing.

My hand cracks across his jaw. The sound is loud through the chamber. My palm stings.

His head turns with the slap, but he doesn’t strike back. He straightens slowly,his tongue swiping blood from the corner of his lip. His eyes are wild now.

“You shouldn’t have done that,” he says, voice low.

“Or what?” I hiss.

The tether snaps again, pulling me forward. His hand catches my wrist mid-swing, grip tighting. His other hand clamps the back of my neck, pulling me in, and just like that, his mouth crashes against mine.

It isn’t a kiss. It’s a collision. A war. His teeth catch my lip, sharp enough to taste blood. My fingers fist in his jacket, not pulling him closer, not pushing him away—just holding on like it is enough to ground me.

The bond hums, again, searing through every nerve. His tongue slides against mine, desperate, punishing. My body answers with equal need.

I bite back, hard enough that he growls into my mouth, the sound reverberating straight down my spine.

Passion turns feral.

He shoves me back against the stone wall, the impact knocking the air out of me, but my legs hook around his hips before I can think. He presses closer, the heat of him, the impossible strength, the tether pulling us like gravity.

His mouth leaves mine only to trail down my jaw, teeth scraping the delicate skin of my throat. My pulse hammers there, loud, reckless. His breath is fire and his lips hover over the place where neck meets shoulder.

“Don’t,” I whisper.

“Can’t.” His teeth graze my skin, a shiver tearing through me. His voice is ragged. “It’s the bond. It wants the mark.”

I should shove him away. I should scream. Instead, my hands drag through his hair, nails digging into his scalp, dragging him closer.

“Then fight it,” I snapped.

“You fight me.” His words are half growl, half plea.

And I do.

My nails scratch down his back, my teeth catch his shoulder. He groans, low and guttural, like it tears him apart and stitches him whole at once. His hands grip my thighs, his hips pinning me harder against the wall. The chamber spins.

And I realize that the bond doesn’t ask. It demands.

And when his teeth finally sink into my shoulder—not deep enough to cut, just enough to brand—I gasp so loud then moan afterwards.

The pain and pleasure making my toes curl.

Cassian pulls back, blood on his mouth, eyes marking me like his mouth didn’t do enough justice for him. His chest heaves. 

His voice is raw, broken when he speaks.

“It’s done,” he says. “You’re mine. And I’m—” His voice fractures. “I’m yours.”

I should feel trapped. Branded. Owned.

Instead, the world narrows to him. To us. To the impossible bond burning in my veins like wildfire.

And for the first time, I don’t want to run.