All Chapters of MATED TO THE STUBBORN HUMAN : Chapter 191 - Chapter 200

Ava's povNo one said anything to me anymore.They didn’t need to.The whispers were loud even in their silence.The way conversations shifted when I walked past. The way people refused to meet my eyes, as if even eye contact might make them join in my madness—or worse, my supposed crime.I tried apologizing to some of them even though I didn’t know what for. I tried helping in the kitchens. Volunteering for patrol. Sitting through meetings I was no longer welcome in.Nothing worked. No one wanted me around them.I was a ghost in a home I had helped fight for.The days passed like the wind—fast and untouchable. I drifted through them like a ghost.Nobody spoke to me unless they had to. Even then, it was clipped, formal, laced with suspicion and caution. Conversations that used to warm up rooms now stilled when I walked in. Smiles I used to see daily became vacant stares—or worse, side-eyed glares.I didn’t blame them.Elder Maris had been a guide to them, a beacon. She’d walked with w

Ava's povMy eyes flew open with a gasp.Air rushed into my lungs like I had been drowning for hours. My chest rose and fell rapidly as I stared at the ceiling, my heart beating so loudly it was the only thing I could hear. My skin was drenched with sweat, the sheets tangled around me like vines, sticky and heavy and too real.I jolted upright.The room was quiet.My heart hammered wildly in my chest, my throat dry, my hands clammy, the world was spinning. My fingers gripped the sheets beneath me as if they were the only thing anchoring me to this world.The walls were familiar.. The scent of lavender and firewood. A soft breeze from the open window. Sunlight filtering in and shining across the bed.I was in Ashville, in the chamber that had been given to Xander and I.I was still alive.Still whole.Still breathing.Xander’s scent mixed with the warm comfort of our shared chamber wrapped around me. This was… home.Or at least it looked like it.A tremor ran down my spine.How could I

Xander's POVI couldn't sleep. Not after hearing Ava's words, the fear in her voice as she questioned what was real and what wasn’t. The doubt that had settled into her soul like a slow-moving poison.She was breaking, and no matter how tightly I held unto her— how fiercely I tried to steady her— it wasn't enough. The darkness was still crawling inside her, whispering and taunting.And I couldn’t fight it for her. Not alone.The Oracle.It was in moments like these that I wished for the Oracle’s wisdom more than ever. She was the only one who might be able to help Ava through this, the only one who might understand the unseen battle raging inside her mind.I had tried everything I knew. I had comforted her, reassured her, even pushed my emotions through the bond hoping it would give her strength but it didn't work. The fear was still in her eyes as she frantically searched every corner of the room when she was awake or looked at me, trying to figure out if I was real or not.I couldn’

Vanessa's povThe kiss had left something inside me unsteady.Not broken—just… a bit different. Like a part of me I hadn’t realized had slowed down and stopped had suddenly begun to move again.Kael and I didn’t speak for a while after that. We just sat there on the log, side by side, listening to the fire crackle, crickets and insects chirp, and the slight conversations carried from the camp by the wind.I could still feel the softness of his mouth on mine.It was maddening.“You’re quiet,” he said after a while.“I’m always quiet,” I murmured.He tilted his head, looking at me from the corner of his eye. “Not always and I can tell that something is going on in your head right now.”I let out a soft snort and leaned back, placing my arms behind me to support my body. “True. Guess I’m just… trying to make sense of it.”Kael leaned back too, his shoulder brushing mine. “Of what?”“You.”“This.”“Us?”He didn’t answer immediately, but the silence between us felt more like an unspoken qu

Xander's povThe moment the last letter of Ava’s name left my lips, everything around me stilled.The air in the room thickened like smoke, filling and clinging to my lungs. The little light that we had dimmed, sounded muffled. I could no longer hear the fire crackling or the faint noises from the halls beyond our chamber. I could only feel the pulsing of the stone against her chest and the pull—deep and ancient—tugging at my soul.Then, the world faded.A flash of light exploded behind my eyes, and my knees buckled. I fell but no, not onto the ground, but through it. Through the floor, through the pack house, through the very meaning of existence.It was like drowning through something I couldn't quite name.I crashed into darkness.Not the absence of light… but a living, breathing dark. It curled around me like smoke, like a tunic. Whispers slithered through the air, voices I couldn’t understand but felt in my bones—echoes of forgotten souls, lost memories, trapped souls.I stood sl