Bound by Darkness

Amara's POV

I was sitting on the cold steps outside the school building, my heart still racing from the encounter in the bathroom. My face throbbed from Stephanie’s slap, and my mind was spinning with everything that had happened. I could still hear her hateful words echoing in my head, making the anger and hurt swell in my chest until I thought I would explode.

Tears blurred my vision, but I stubbornly wiped them away, refusing to cry any more than I already had. I had cried enough. I was done being weak, done letting them get to me.

Suddenly, a shadow fell over me, and a hand appeared in front of my eyes, holding out a water bottle.

"Drink it," Caden’s voice was soft but firm.

I blinked up at him, startled. His expression was unreadable, but there was a gentleness in his eyes that I hadn’t expected. For a moment, I just stared at him, unsure of what to do, but my throat was dry, and my head was pounding, so I reluctantly took the bottle and drank.

"Thanks," I muttered, handing it back, but he didn’t move. He just stood there, watching me, his eyes dark and unreadable.

"Come on," he said quietly. "Let’s go."

I frowned. "Go where?"

"Home," he said simply. "You need to rest."

I wanted to argue, to tell him I didn’t need his help, that I could handle myself. But the truth was, I didn’t want to be alone. Not right now. Not after everything. So I nodded, standing up on shaky legs, and followed him as he led me away from the school.

The walk was silent, the tension between us palpable. I could feel Caden’s gaze on me every now and then, but he didn’t say anything, and neither did I. When we reached the house, I hesitated at the front door, unsure if I even wanted to go inside. The brothers’ presence was suffocating, and I didn’t know how to face them after everything that had happened.

But Caden opened the door and gestured for me to step inside. Reluctantly, I walked in, heading straight for the stairs.

"I’ll be in my room," I mumbled, not waiting for a response. I didn’t want to talk, didn’t want to face anyone right now. All I wanted was to lock myself away, to disappear for a while.

When I reached my room, I shut the door behind me, locking it tight. My body sank onto the bed, exhaustion taking over as I curled into myself, hugging my knees to my chest. The weight of the day crushed me, and I buried my face in the pillow, letting the sobs I had been holding back finally escape.

I didn’t know how long I cried, but eventually, sleep pulled me under, and for a while, the pain faded into darkness.

---

It was midnight when I was startled awake by a loud knock at my door. My heart leaped into my throat, and I sat up, staring at the door in the dim light of my room. The knock came again, more forceful this time, and my hands shook as I reached for the lock.

Who could it be at this hour?

With trembling fingers, I unlocked the door and opened it just a crack, peering out. My blood ran cold.

Jaxon stood there, his tall frame casting a shadow in the hallway. His eyes were dark, his expression hard, and before I could say anything, he pushed the door open wider and stepped inside, locking it behind him with a deliberate click.

Fear shot through me like ice. “What are you doing here?” I whispered, my voice barely audible as I backed away from him, my pulse racing. Something was wrong. The air around him was charged with something dangerous, something that made every instinct in me scream to run.

But there was nowhere to go.

Jaxon didn’t answer. He just kept walking toward me, his eyes locked on mine, his presence overwhelming. I backed up until my legs hit the bed, and I had nowhere else to go.

“Jaxon, stop,” I said, my voice shaking. “What do you want?”

He didn’t stop. His eyes were dark and wild, his jaw clenched as he closed the distance between us. And then, without warning, he grabbed me, his hands gripping my wrists as he threw me down onto the bed.

I gasped, panic surging through me as he hovered over me, pinning my wrists above my head. My heart pounded so hard I thought it might burst out of my chest.

“Jaxon, what are you doing?” I asked, tears filling my eyes as fear twisted in my gut. I struggled against his hold, but he was too strong. “Please, let me go!”

His face was inches from mine now, his breath hot against my skin as his eyes burned into mine with a mixture of anger and something else I couldn’t quite place. “Why were you there?” he demanded, his voice low and dangerous. “In the bathroom. When I was with Stephanie.”

“I-I didn’t mean to,” I stammered, my voice trembling. “I just walked in. I wasn’t trying to—”

“Liar,” he spat, his grip on my wrists tightening painfully. “You were watching. You wanted to see, didn’t you?”

“No!” I cried, shaking my head as tears streamed down my cheeks. “I wasn’t! I didn’t know—”

“You wanted to take her place, didn’t you?” he growled, his face so close now that our noses were almost touching. His breath was ragged, his eyes wild with something dark and twisted. “You want me to kiss you like I was kissing her. You want my attention that way, don’t you?”

“No! Never!” I screamed, thrashing against him, but he held me down easily, his body pressing mine into the bed. “I hate you! I hate you and your brothers more than anything!”

His eyes flashed with something dangerous, something primal. “Hate me all you want, but don’t lie to me, Amara,” he hissed, his voice low and menacing. “I can see it in your eyes. You want me.”

“Never,” I spat, glaring up at him with all the hatred I could muster. My chest heaved with the force of my anger, and my voice shook with raw emotion. “I would sleep with any man but you, Jaxon. You disgust me!”

The words hit him like a punch to the gut. I saw the way his jaw tightened, the way his eyes darkened even more. For a moment, I thought he might hit me, but instead, something inside him snapped.

Without warning, Jaxon crashed his lips down onto mine in a bruising, possessive kiss. I gasped, my mind reeling as he kissed me with a hunger that bordered on desperation, his hands moving from my wrists to grip my waist, pulling me closer.

“No!” I cried, trying to push him away, but his kiss was relentless, his lips moving against mine with a raw intensity that left me breathless. He kissed me like he was trying to consume me, like he needed to claim me, and despite the fear and the anger swirling inside me, I couldn’t deny the pull I felt—the electric charge that crackled between us.

My body betrayed me, responding to his kiss even as my mind screamed at me to resist. I hated him, hated everything he stood for, but the bond between us was undeniable. It pulled me in, made it impossible to think, impossible to breathe.

Jaxon’s hands tightened on my waist as he deepened the kiss, his lips moving hungrily over mine, and for a split second, I kissed him back, lost in the heat of the moment.

But then reality crashed down around me, and I shoved him away with all the strength I had left. “Get off me!” I screamed, tears streaming down my face as I scrambled away from him, my body shaking with fear and anger.

Jaxon stared at me, his chest heaving, his eyes wild and conflicted. For a moment, I thought he might say something, but then he stood up, his face hardening into a mask of cold indifference.

Without a word, he turned and unlocked the door, leaving me alone, my heart pounding in my chest as I tried to make sense of what had just happened.

And for the first time, I realized just how dangerous the bond between us really was.