All Chapters of BOUND BY ECHOES : Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

Pain hit first. Sharp. Sudden. Lena gasped, her hand flying to her chest. The forest disappeared. Cold air rushed past her skin. Different air. Warmer. Lighter. Voices echoed somewhere nearby. Laughter. She blinked. Sunlight flashed across her eyes. Grass. Stone. A training yard. Her stomach dropped. “No…” Her voice sounded smaller. Higher. Lena looked down at her hands. They were tiny. Child’s hands. The Echo pulsed again. Hard. And suddenly she understood. This wasn’t a dream. It was a memory. One she had buried so deep she barely allowed herself to think about it. The day everything went wrong. The day everyone started looking at her differently. The yard buzzed with noise around her. Young wolves trained in small groups, wooden weapons clacking as they practiced under the watchful eyes of older warriors. The smell of sweat and dust filled the air. Someone shoved her shoulder. “Lena!” She turned. A boy stood the

It was getting closer.This time, Lena didn’t hesitate.“It’s him.”Vance’s head turned sharply.“Kai?”She nodded.The Echo wasn’t scattered anymore.It was locked onto one presence.Steady. Controlled. Familiar in a way she couldn’t explain.“He’s coming straight for us.”Vance’s expression hardened.“Good.”Lena frowned. “Good?”“We don’t run from him again.”That edge in his voice made her chest tighten.“What are you planning?”“Simple,” he said. “We don’t wait for him to make the first move.”Her pulse picked up.“You want to ambush him.”“I want control.”Lena held his gaze for a moment longer.“That’s how people get killed.”Vance didn’t even blink.“Only if they hesitate.”The way he said it left no room to argue.The Echo pulsed again.Closer.Vance grabbed her arm lightly and pulled her off the path.“Move.”They slipped between the trees, quick and quiet.Not far, just enough to disappear.Vance positioned them behind a split trunk, shadows cutting around them.“Stay low,”

He was gone.But the feeling didn’t leave with him.Lena stood exactly where she was, her eyes fixed on the space between the trees where Kai had disappeared.The forest had gone quiet again.Too quiet.Not peaceful.Not safe.Just… waiting.Her chest rose slowly.Then again.The Echo didn’t settle.It moved under her ribs, restless, like something had been interrupted and didn’t know where to go next.It wasn’t warning her.It wasn’t reacting to danger.It was… lingering.On him.Lena’s fingers curled slightly at her sides.That didn’t make sense.It should have calmed down the moment he left.Instead…It stayed.Low and uneasy.Focused in a way that made her chest tighten.“You felt that.”Vance’s voice cut through the silence.Lena didn’t look at him.“Felt what?”“That wasn’t just danger.”Her jaw tightened slightly.She forced her gaze away from the trees, finally turning toward him.Vance wasn’t watching the forest.He was watching her.Carefully.Like she was the problem now.“

Something was wrong.Lena knew it the moment her eyes snapped open.Dark.Too dark.But she could see.Shapes.Movement.Edges where there shouldn’t be anything at all.Her breath slowed.The fire had burned low, barely glowing now, but the forest wasn’t empty to her anymore. It felt… mapped. Like her senses were stretching further than they should.She didn’t move.Didn’t make a sound.But she could hear everything.The crackle of dying embers.The shift of leaves somewhere far off.A branch creaking under weight that wasn’t there a second ago.Too sharp.Too clear.Her chest tightened.This wasn’t normal.Lena swallowed slowly and turned her head slightly.Vance was still awake.Sitting across from her.Watching the dark.His posture hadn’t changed much, but now she could hear it, the subtle shift of his breathing, steady and controlled, like he never fully let his guard down.Had it always been like this?Or was it her?Lena pushed herself up quietly.Too quietly.Even to her own e

The space between them vanished.One second Lena was reaching, fingers brushing Vance’s, and the next the dream yanked them together. His mouth crashed into hers, hard, urgent, nothing like the careful distance they kept when awake. She tasted heat and salt and something darker that made her blood rush.Vance didn’t hesitate. His hands gripped her waist, pulling her flush against him as if the real world had never existed. Lena arched into the contact, a soft sound escaping her throat that didn’t sound like her. Every brush of his fingers burned. Every shift of his body against hers sent sparks racing under her skin.He kissed her like he was angry at how much he wanted this, deep, demanding, tongue sliding against hers in a rhythm that made her head spin. Lena gripped his shoulders, nails digging in, pulling him closer. His hands roamed, possessive, sliding up her back, down her sides, gripping her hips hard enough to leave marks she knew she’d feel later.There was no slow build. Ju