Mate- Bond Poison

Reya’s POV

My knees hit the stone floor.

Hard.

"Reya!" Xander's voice boomed behind me, but I couldn't answer.

Pain ripped through my chest like claws dragging through flesh. My wolf whimpered, recoiled, then howled in a pitch I’d never heard before. The world spun. My lungs shrank to half their size. My bones trembled as if lightning danced inside them.

"Get the healer! Now!"

Everything blurred. My fingers clawed at the floor. Black veins crawled up my wrists.

This wasn’t just sickness. This was a curse.

No. Worse.

This was a bond breaking—but not mine.

Something was poisoning it.

Tristan.

“No,” I gasped. “Don’t let them see me weak.”

Xander crouched beside me. “Screw your pride. You’re dying.”

"Then let me die on my feet," I choked out, gripping his shirt.

He lifted me, holding me like I weighed nothing. "Not a chance."

My head lolled against his shoulder as he carried me past stunned guards, past wide-eyed warriors, past rumors forming behind every stare.

She’s the Luna.

That’s the Lycan King carrying her.

She’s marked—but not his.

I woke up to white light and agony.

Lydia was chanting, her hands glowing, sweat beading down her forehead. Xander paced like a caged animal, jaw locked, arms crossed.

"It’s spreading faster now," Lydia muttered. "Whatever this is... it’s magical. Deep. Old. Twisted."

"Break it," Xander snapped.

Lydia flinched. "I can’t. It’s linked to the mate-bond. Someone is poisoning her through it. Intentionally."

Silence.

Then Xander turned toward me, eyes burning. "Tristan."

"No," I rasped.

"You think this is a coincidence? You collapse two days after running into him? You think it’s not him?"

I sat up, clutching my chest. "He wouldn't."

Xander stalked to the bed, his voice a growl. "He did. He marked you. He rejected you. Now he’s infecting you."

"I don’t believe that."

"Because you’re still in love with him."

Silence.

He said it like an accusation. It landed like a truth.

I looked away.

"I need to confront him," Xander said.

"You go to Riverdale, they’ll declare war."

"Let them."

I stood; legs shaky. "Then I’ll go."

"You’re barely standing."

"I’ll crawl there if I have to."

He grabbed my arm. "You are not going anywhere near him."

"You don’t control me."

"No. But I care if you die. He doesn’t."

"You don’t know that."

"You don’t want to know that," he shot back.

An hour later, I ripped the IV from my arm.

Xander had locked the guards outside the healing chamber.

So I broke the window.

Wind hit me like a slap. I climbed down the stone vines, landed hard, rolled, hissed.

Pain shot through my ribs.

But I ran.

Every step was fire. But I ran.

I shifted mid-sprint. My wolf Ciara burst out in a silver flash, her legs trembling but determined.

She howled once. Loud. Defiant.

Riverdale was two territories away.

We didn’t stop.

I collapsed at the border.

Not from exhaustion.

From pain.

It was like fire licking up my spine.

Tristan.

He was near.

And he was in agony.

Our bond, though fractured, still pulsed.

Someone was hurting him, too.

"Reya?"

I turned my head.

Isaac.

His eyes widened. "Oh, goddess. You’re... alive."

I shifted back, gasping. "Where’s Tristan?"

"Inside. He’s been... he’s been sick. We thought it was a curse. He hasn’t left his chambers in days."

I staggered up. "Take me to him."

The moment the door opened, I felt it.

His pain.

And his bond—weakened. Dying.

Tristan lay shirtless on the floor, eyes closed, body covered in the same black veins crawling up mine. He looked like death.

"Tristan," I whispered.

His eyes flew open.

The moment they locked on mine; his wolf surged.

"REYA!"

He crawled to me, coughing blood. "I didn’t... I didn’t mean to..."

"What did you do?"

He grabbed my wrist. His hand was ice.

"They told me... rejecting you would save you."

"Who told you that?"

"The Council. They said the bond would kill you unless I severed it. But they lied. They poisoned it."

"What?"

He coughed again. "They used a ritual. When I rejected you... it didn’t break. It rotted."

I yanked my hand free.

"Why would they do that?"

"Because you were never meant to survive."

His Beta burst in. "Alpha—she shouldn’t be here. If the others find out—"

"Shut up," Tristan growled.

I swayed. He caught me.

"We can stop it," he whispered. "If we complete the bond again."

"What?"

"Re-marking you."

My stomach turned. "You want me to bond with you again? After you gave me away?"

"To save us."

"There is no us."

He looked like I stabbed him.

"Then we both die," he said softly.

I turned.

But I was already falling.

When I woke, I was in a different bed.

Chains on my wrist.

The Council.

They were surrounding the room.

One of them stepped forward. "The bond was never meant to survive. She’s a liability."

Tristan roared. "You used me."

"You obeyed."

I laughed bitterly. "You fool think killing me will stop this?"

Another councilman smirked. "Killing you won’t. Killing your children might."

My heart stopped.

Tristan lunged.

They stopped him with a spell.

I screamed, body convulsing.

And then—a voice echoed from the hall.

Xander.

"Let. Her. Go."

Doors shattered.

Flames roared.

And the Lycan King stepped into Riverdale.

War followed.