Chapter #7 - Pressure Lines

The first lesson Thane taught me was how to stand still.

Not freeze, stand.

“Stillness isn’t weakness,” he said, circling me in the open training hall at Raelthorn. “It’s control. Null Blood doesn’t mean invincible.”

“I feel extremely vincible,” I muttered.

“You’re human,” he agreed. “Which means everything wants to kill you.”

Comforting.

The hall was massive, arched ceilings, rune-etched stone, open to the mountain air on one side. Wolves watched from the perimeter, pretending they weren’t scrutinizing every twitch I made.

My shoulders tightened under their stares.

“Breathe,” Thane said, stopping in front of me. “Slow.”

I tried. The bond did not help. It thrummed each time he came close, pulling my focus straight to him like my nervous system had filed a missing persons report.

“Your blood suppresses divine energy,” he continued. “But physical force, silver alloys, ritual bindings, they’ll still work.”

“So the gods can’t smite me, but a dude with a knife can,” I said.

“Yes.”

“Great.”

He stepped closer. Too close. The air between us heated.

“You feel the pressure building already,” he said softly. “That pull. It will get stronger.”

“Is that supposed to be a selling point?”

“No.” A pause. “It’s a warning.”

Before I could ask more, the doors at the far end of the hall opened.

Rowan entered first, tracker eyes sharp, posture loose but lethal. Behind her came three wolves I hadn’t met. Their scents prickled my skin, foreign, sharp, wrong.

Thane’s shoulders went rigid.

“Why weren’t we warned?” he demanded.

“You were,” Rowan said. “They ignored it.”

The tallest of the newcomers smiled slowly. “Alpha Thane. Thought we’d see the Null Blood for ourselves.”

My stomach sank.

Testing. Again.

I felt it before it happened, that strange hollow inside my chest where magic wasn’t. Like anticipation inverted.

The wolf lunged.

Not with claws, with power. A wave of forced compulsion meant to shove me to my knees.

It hit me.

And vanished.

He stumbled like he’d misjudged gravity.

The room erupted.

Two more shifted instantly, claws flashing. Thane moved faster, sunfire cracking across the floor as he slammed between us, power roaring loud enough that the runes screamed.

“Enough!” he thundered.

The wolves skidded to a stop, but one of them grinned.

“She didn’t flinch.”

“No,” Rowan said quietly. “She nullified you.”

My hands were shaking.

“I didn’t mean to,” I whispered.

Thane turned back to me, voice grounding. “That’s fine. You’re learning.”

I didn’t feel like I was learning.

I felt like I was becoming visible on a map I didn’t want to be on.

After they were escorted out, forcefully, the hall emptied.

Thane knelt in front of me again, close enough that I could see the almost-fear behind his eyes.

“That compulsion would’ve crushed your will,” he said. “You didn’t react. That’s rare.”

“That’s terrifying,” I replied.

“Yes.”

We stared at each other a beat too long.

The bond pulsed.

“I need space,” I blurted. “Before this, before you, and turn my brain into soup.”

He flinched.

Then nodded. “I’ll give you distance.”

He didn’t touch me.

That hurt worse.

---------------------------------------------------

By nightfall, the estate buzzed with tension. Word had spread. Null Blood confirmed. Bond witnessed.

I felt eyes follow me everywhere.

Dinner was worse.

I sat at the long table between Layla and Maeven, trying not to look at Thane at the head of the table. Trying and failing.

Maeven leaned closer. “You pull at him,” she murmured.

“I’m not trying to.”

“I know,” she said kindly. “That makes it stronger.”

I swallowed wine that tasted like berries and fire. “How do people survive this?”

“They don’t,” she said. “They accept it. Or they burn.”

Excellent options.

When I fled the table, the night air slapped my overheated skin. I walked the outer terrace until the stone cooled under my palms.

“You shouldn’t be alone.”

I turned.

Thane stood in the doorway, moonlight tracing the broad lines of his frame.

“I asked for space,” I said.

“I gave you that,” he replied. “This is concern.”

“Feels the same from where I’m standing.”

He exhaled slowly, coming closer but stopping again, always choosing restraint.

“The pull worsens at night,” he said. “Instincts rise. Wolves included.”

My pulse skidded.

“What happens if I can’t handle it?”

His jaw tightened. “Then we adapt.”

“Together?” The word slipped out before I could stop it.

The bond flared, warm, hopeful, dangerous.

Thane’s voice dropped. “If you let me.”

Silence stretched.

The mountains breathed around us.

“I won’t be controlled,” I said finally.

“Neither will I,” he answered. “The bond doesn’t conquer. It aligns.”

His hand lifted, but stopped, hovering inches from my arm.

That choice mattered more than the touch would have.

“Tomorrow,” he said, “we start offensive training. You need to know what your blood can do intentionally.”

“And if I refuse?”

A grave smile. “Then I’ll still protect you.”

I shook my head. “You’re really bad for my independence.”

“And you,” he said softly, “are already the most dangerous thing in this valley.”

The bond hummed, low, deep, unbreakable.

Pressure lines forming.

And something inside me was starting to yield.