Chapter 6

THE BURN OF THE BOND

Liana woke with a scream caught in her throat.

She sat up too fast. Her chest heaved, lungs fighting for air, heart pounding against the walls of her ribs. Sweat slicked her skin. Her legs were tangled in the silk sheets, and her shoulder throbbed like it had been branded.

Because it had.

She touched the spot between her neck and collarbone. The skin was warm. Tender. Marked.

A crescent scar glowed faintly beneath her fingertips, as if the wound were still alive.

"No..."

Flashes of memory assaulted her. The rogue attack. The blood. Kael appearing like death incarnate. And then his mouth on her skin. His teeth sinking in.

He marked me.

Liana stumbled out of bed, nearly falling. Her knees buckled beneath her, weak and watery, like her bones didn’t belong to her anymore. Her breath came faster. She ran to the mirror.

The mark was real.

And worse—it was beautiful.

A silver curve, delicate and sharp, right where Kael had bitten her. It shimmered faintly in the light, not like a scar but like a claim. As if the universe itself had stitched her into his world without permission.

Liana slammed her fist against the dresser.

“No,” she whispered. “No, no, no.”

But the echo inside her said otherwise.

Because beneath her rage, beneath her fear, something else pulsed.

A pull.

A hum deep inside her chest.

Kael.

She could feel him.

She found him standing on the balcony outside the library, shirtless, his back to her, muscles tight.

He didn’t turn when she approached. Didn’t need to.

“I was wondering how long you’d sleep,” he said.

“You marked me.”

He nodded slowly. “I had to.”

“You didn’t have to do anything.”

“You were dying.”

Liana’s jaw clenched. “Then you should’ve let me.”

Kael turned, eyes glowing like twin suns behind storm clouds. “Do you mean that?”

She didn’t answer. Not because she didn’t want to. But because the words wouldn’t come.

He stepped forward.

And her body betrayed her.

Heat surged through her veins, down her spine, pooling low in her belly. Her breath caught. Her skin tingled.

He was too close.

Too much.

“You’re feeling it,” he said softly.

“Get away from me.”

“You want me to.”

“I said get away.”

Kael didn’t move.

His voice dropped. “You think I want this? You think I wanted to feel your pain when you fell unconscious? To wake up gasping because your heart stuttered? To hear your thoughts every time you dream about running away?”

She staggered back, horrified.

“You can hear me?”

“Only when you dream. Only when you let your guard down.”

Liana turned and fled.

She didn’t care where she was going. She just needed space. Air. Anything that didn’t smell like sandalwood and sin.

She ran until she hit a locked hallway.

Then she sank to the floor, gasping.

The bond wasn’t just physical. It was psychic. Emotional. Every breath she took now existed beside his. She could feel his anger. His worry. His longing. It bled into her like poison.

This was more than biology.

It was alchemy.

That night, she tried to sleep.

Tried.

But the dreams came.

Kael’s hands on her skin.

His mouth.

The heat between them.

She woke twisted in sheets, soaked in sweat, her hand between her thighs, gasping his name.

“No. No, this isn’t real,” she whispered. “This isn’t me.”

She barely made it to the bathroom before vomiting.

The next morning, she snapped.

Kael entered the room, holding a plate of breakfast.

She threw it against the wall.

“You had no right!” she screamed. “You didn’t ask! You didn’t warn me!”

“I saved you!”

“You ruined me!”

Kael’s chest rose with sharp, shallow breaths. He crossed the room in two strides.

“Do you think this is easy for me?” he snarled. “I’ve lived with this curse for years. Anyone I touched went insane. I haven’t felt anything until you.”

“Then maybe I was better off dead!”

He gripped her arms. “Don’t say that.”

“Why not? Because you’ll feel it?”

He released her like she burned him.

“I’m not your mate,” she hissed. “I’m your victim.”

Kael’s face shuttered. “Then go. Try to run. The bond will pull you back.”

“I’d rather die free than live as your possession.”

“Then try,” he said coldly. “See how far you get.”

She did.

That afternoon, she found a gap in the guards’ rotations.

She escaped through a servant’s tunnel that led to the north garden.

She made it half a mile into the woods before the pain started.

It felt like her lungs were collapsing. Like her spine was breaking. Her skin burned. Her vision blurred.

The bond rebelled.

The farther she ran, the worse it got.

She collapsed in a patch of dead leaves, screaming.

Then—snarls.

Rogues.

Three of them. Eyes red. Fangs bared.

They circled her, growling.

One lunged.

And was intercepted mid-air by a blur of black and silver.

Kael.

He tore through the rogues with savage precision.

Bones cracked. Blood splattered.

He shifted mid-fight, half-wolf, half-man—beautiful and terrifying.

When the last rogue fell, Kael turned to her.

Liana tried to crawl away.

He knelt beside her.

“Stop,” he said gently.

“Why?” she sobbed. “Why can’t you just let me go?”

“Because I can’t,” he whispered. “Because you’re mine. And I’m yours. Whether we want it or not.”

She shook her head.

“I don’t want to be owned.”

Kael cupped her face.

“You’re not owned, Liana. You’re chosen.”

Tears streamed down her cheeks.

“I didn’t choose this.”

“I know.” His voice broke. “But maybe we can survive it together.”

He lifted her gently.

And this time—she didn’t fight.