CHAPTER 7

CHAPTER 7: THE MATE BOND AWAKENS

Scene 19: Sleepless Night

Sleep refused to come.

I lay on my back beneath my grandmother’s quilt, listening to the cottage breathe around me.

The pipes clicked inside the walls. Wind pressed damp fingers against the windows. Beyond the garden, waves struck the cliffs with a slow rhythm that matched the pulse beneath my skin.

The silver ring rested on the bedside table.

I had taken it off twice.

Both times, it had reappeared around my neck.

The first time, I blamed exhaustion.

The second time, I stopped trying.

A blue glow moved across the ceiling.

I sat up.

The light came from my palm.

Golden lines curved over my skin, but blue light pulsed beneath them, answering something far beyond the cottage.

Raiken.

The thought arrived without warning.

Heat spread through my chest.

Then pain struck my ribs.

Sharp.

Sudden.

I gasped and folded forward.

The pain vanished.

A second later, it returned lower, across my side, exactly where the attacker’s knife had cut Raiken.

I pressed both hands against the place.

My skin was unbroken.

His was not.

Kiyomi appeared in the doorway holding a saucepan.

I stared at it.

She lifted her chin. “It was the closest weapon.”

“You have knives.”

“I did not want to stab you by accident.”

“That is reassuring.”

She lowered the pan. Her brown curls were tied high, and one side had already escaped. “You screamed.”

“I did not.”

“You made a sound.”

“What kind?”

“The kind people make when something is wrong.”

I looked toward the window.

The glass reflected my pale face and the golden mark burning on my hand.

Kiyomi entered and closed the door with her foot.

“Is it him?”

My eyes shifted back to her.

“That rich man with the impossible eyes.”

“I know who you mean.”

“You touched him and healed a stab wound.”

“I remember.”

“Then every wolf in the city started howling.”

“I remember that too.”

“And now you are glowing in bed.”

“I noticed.”

She sat beside me, still holding the saucepan. “I am trying very hard not to panic.”

“You are doing beautifully.”

“Thank you.”

She placed the pan on the floor.

For a moment, neither of us spoke.

The ocean filled the silence.

Kiyomi touched the ring at my throat. “Do you trust him?”

“I met him this morning.”

“That was not my question.”

Raiken’s face returned to me.

The way he had stepped between me and the attacker.

The look in his eyes when he saw the ring.

The weight of his hand around my wrist.

The sound that had risen from his chest when our marks connected.

“I do not know him.”

“You knew his name before he told you.”

“That was different.”

“How?”

I opened my mouth.

Nothing came.

A vibration hummed beneath the mattress.

Both of us froze.

The bedside lamp flickered.

My phone lit up.

No number appeared.

Only one word.

AYAME

Kiyomi leaned closer. “Do not answer that.”

The phone rang.

The sound was not my ringtone.

It was a low horn, distant and mournful, like something calling across deep water.

I reached for it.

Kiyomi caught my wrist. “Seriously?”

“It could be Raiken.”

“It could be the vampire king who knows your scent.”

The phone stopped ringing.

A message appeared.

HE IS BLEEDING

My stomach dropped.

The pain in my side returned.

This time it came with a rush of cold.

I saw glass walls. Black sky. Raiken standing alone beside a window, one hand pressed to his wound.

Blood ran between his fingers.

The vision vanished.

I threw back the quilt.

Kiyomi stood. “Where are you going?”

“To call him.”

“You do not have his number.”

The phone rang again.

I answered.

Neither of us spoke at first.

I heard his breathing.

Ragged.

Controlled.

“Ayame.”

Raiken’s voice tightened something inside me.

“You are hurt.”

Silence.

“How do you know?”

“I felt it.”

Another pause.

“Where are you?”

“At home.”

“That is not safe.”

“Neither is bleeding alone in a glass mansion.”

His breath caught.

“You saw that.”

“Yes.”

A low sound came through the line.

Not pain.

Something closer to disbelief.

“Raiken?”

“I did not call you.”

I looked at the phone.

My skin went cold.

“Then who did?”

The cottage windows slammed open.

Wind tore through the room.

The sea roared outside.

Raiken spoke sharply. “Get away from the windows.”

Water burst across the glass from the outside.

Letters formed in the streaming surface.

COME TO HIM

Scene 20: Shared Vision

Raiken arrived twelve minutes later.

I knew before the headlights swept across the cottage walls.

The ache in my side eased.

The mark on my hand brightened.

My heartbeat changed.

Kiyomi noticed.

She stood beside the front door with the saucepan again. “You are doing the glowing thing.”

“I cannot control it.”

“That is becoming a theme.”

A black car stopped outside.

Raiken stepped into the rain before the driver could open his door.

No suit jacket.

No tie.

His white shirt clung to his shoulders, dark with rain and blood at his side.

Hayate followed from the other side of the car.

Raiken reached the porch in seconds.

I opened the door.

His gaze moved over my face, throat, hands, as though checking for injuries.

“You are unharmed.”

“So are you, apparently.”

His hand remained pressed against his side.

Blood slipped between his fingers.

I moved back. “Come in.”

Hayate scanned the garden before entering.

Kiyomi closed the door behind them and locked it.

Raiken’s attention shifted toward the windows.

“What formed the message?”

“Water.”

“What did it say?”

“Come to him.”

His jaw tightened.

Hayate looked between us. “The bond may be drawing you together.”

Kiyomi pointed the saucepan at him. “You know what this is?”

“I know enough to be concerned.”

“That is not useful.”

“It was not meant to be comforting.”

Raiken pulled his hand away from the wound.

The cut had reopened.

I stepped closer.

He stepped back.

“Do not.”

“You need help.”

“The last time you touched me, every wolf in Silvercrest reacted.”

“The last time I touched you, you stopped bleeding.”

“Ayame.”

“Sit down.”

His eyebrows lifted.

I pointed toward the sofa.

Kiyomi murmured, “I like this.”

Raiken sat.

I knelt beside him and lifted the torn edge of his shirt.

The wound stretched across his ribs, red and angry. Dark lines spread beneath the skin around it.

Hayate crouched opposite me. “The blade was poisoned.”

“With what?”

“Vampire ash.”

Kiyomi made a face. “That is a real thing?”

“Unfortunately.”

I placed my hand above the wound.

Raiken caught my wrist.

His fingers were hot.

“You do not know what this will do to you.”

“Neither do you.”

“That is the problem.”

His eyes held mine.

The room narrowed.

Rain struck the roof. The old clock ticked. Hayate and Kiyomi disappeared to the edges of my awareness.

I lowered my voice. “Let me choose.”

Something in his expression shifted.

His grip loosened.

I pressed my palm to his side.

Pain tore through me.

I cried out.

Raiken’s hand closed around my shoulder.

Golden light spilled between my fingers. Blue markings raced across his chest and up his throat.

The cottage vanished.

Moonlight shone through tall windows.

I stood in a royal chamber wearing a silver gown. Raiken stood before me, younger and somehow unchanged, fastening armour across his chest.

“You cannot go alone,” I said.

“This is not a discussion.”

“It became one when you began giving orders badly.”

He looked at me.

Warmth softened his steel-blue eyes.

“You are angry.”

“I am terrified.”

The admission hung between us.

He crossed the room and touched my face.

“You will be safe in the eastern tower.”

“No one is safe while Orochi lives.”

His thumb brushed my cheek.

“You are.”

“Because you say so?”

“Because I will tear the realm apart before I let him reach you.”

The vision shifted.

We stood on a cliff beneath a clear night sky.

Raiken held my hand.

The silver ring rested on my finger.

“Our wolves chose before we did,” he said.

“They are less stubborn.”

“Yours bit me.”

“You deserved it.”

He smiled.

The expression struck through me.

I had never seen him smile in this life.

I reached for him.

The sky turned black.

Blood spread across the moon.

A shadow rose behind Raiken.

Orochi.

His hand closed around Raiken’s throat.

I screamed.

The vision shattered.

I returned to the cottage gasping.

Raiken’s forehead rested against mine.

His arms held me upright.

Our marks blazed where our bodies touched.

Hayate stood near the wall, blade drawn.

Kiyomi stared at us.

Raiken’s wound had closed.

A dark symbol remained over his ribs.

A circle crossed by three black lines.

Hayate’s face hardened.

“That was not there before.”

Raiken looked down.

The symbol pulsed.

Every light in the cottage went out.

A voice entered both our minds.

Found you.

Scene 21: The Bond Reacts

Raiken pulled me behind him.

Hayate moved toward the window.

Kiyomi grabbed my arm.

The darkness inside the cottage felt thick enough to touch.

The clock stopped ticking.

Outside, the rain ceased.

Not faded.

Stopped.

Silence pressed against the walls.

Raiken’s hand found mine.

The contact sent a sharp current through my body.

His thoughts struck me without warning.

Protect her.

Get her away.

Kill anything that enters.

I jerked my hand free.

He looked back. “What?”

“I heard you.”

His face tightened. “Heard what?”

“Your thoughts.”

Kiyomi whispered, “That sounds invasive.”

Hayate lifted one finger for silence.

Something moved across the roof.

Slow.

Deliberate.

Claws scraped over the tiles.

Raiken stepped toward the stairs.

I caught his sleeve. “It wants us separated.”

His gaze dropped to my hand.

“You heard that too?”

“No. I guessed.”

“Stay here.”

“No.”

“Ayame.”

“If the thing outside found us through the bond, sending you alone is exactly what it wants.”

Another scrape crossed the roof.

Dust drifted from the ceiling.

Hayate moved beneath the sound.

His blade reflected the faint glow from our marks.

The window beside him cracked.

A black hand punched through the glass.

Hayate slashed.

The arm vanished.

The broken pane filled with smoke.

It poured into the room and gathered near the ceiling.

Two red eyes opened inside it.

Kiyomi backed into the wall.

Raiken released my hand.

A growl shook through him.

Bones cracked beneath his skin.

His shoulders widened. Blue light spread across his throat and jaw.

Hayate looked at him. “Control it.”

“I am trying.”

The smoke rushed toward me.

Raiken intercepted it.

The impact threw him across the room.

He struck the bookshelf hard enough to split it.

“Raiken.”

The smoke wrapped around his throat.

He clawed at it, eyes blazing.

Pain crushed my windpipe.

I dropped to my knees.

Nothing touched me.

The bond.

Whatever happened to him moved through me.

Kiyomi grabbed my shoulders. “Ayame, breathe.”

I could not.

Raiken’s face darkened as the smoke tightened.

Anger burned through the panic.

Mine.

His.

Impossible to separate.

I reached toward him.

Water erupted from every pipe in the cottage.

It burst through walls, taps, and floorboards, spinning around me in bright golden streams.

The smoke recoiled.

I closed my fist.

The water struck it.

A scream filled the room.

Not human.

The black cloud tore away from Raiken and slammed against the ceiling.

He landed on one knee, dragging air into his lungs.

The smoke twisted toward the broken window.

Raiken shifted.

Silver fur swept over his body.

A massive wolf filled the room.

Blue markings burned across his coat.

Kiyomi screamed and threw the saucepan.

It hit him between the ears.

He turned his head slowly.

Kiyomi pressed both hands over her mouth. “Sorry.”

The wolf launched upward.

His jaws closed around the smoke.

Blue fire flashed through the cottage.

The shadow collapsed into a solid form.

A pale man hit the floor beneath Raiken’s paws.

His eyes burned red.

A black emblem marked his forehead.

The same symbol now branded over Raiken’s ribs.

Hayate placed his blade against the stranger’s throat.

“Who sent you?”

The man laughed.

Blood coloured his teeth.

“You still think this is about the vampire?”

Raiken’s growl deepened.

The stranger looked at me.

“The bond should have died with the kingdom.”

My palm burned.

Raiken shifted back, kneeling beside the man with one hand around his throat.

“Who are you?”

The stranger’s gaze moved between us.

“The one who remembers what your queen did.”

Cold slid through me.

Raiken tightened his grip. “Speak clearly.”

“She opened the gates.”

The words struck harder than any blow.

A broken image flashed through my mind.

My own hands pressing against a blue stone door.

Soldiers screaming behind me.

Orochi waiting on the other side.

I stumbled backward.

Raiken looked at me.

The man smiled.

“He died believing you were betrayed by someone in his court.”

His eyes fixed on mine.

“It was you.”

The mark on my palm turned black.