Jade
The night air was cool against my skin, a soft breeze whispering through the empty campus. The stars above were scattered like dust across the sky, their light faint but beautiful. Everything around me was still, the kind of quiet that only happened deep into the night when the world finally surrendered to rest.
I pulled my jacket tighter around my body, more from nerves than from the cold. My steps were slow and aimless as I wandered the familiar paths, trying to outrun the thoughts circling in my mind. But no matter how far I walked, the bond humming under my skin stayed with me.
I wasn’t alone. I could feel him.
When I glanced over my shoulder, I saw Zade emerging from the darkness, his movements fluid and unhurried. He didn’t call out to me. He didn’t rush to catch up. He simply fell into step beside me, his presence as steady and inevitable as the pull between us.
Neither of us spoke at first. We walked together in silence, our footsteps soft against the path, the space between us crackling with unspoken things. Every time my hand swung close to his, I felt the air thicken, charged with a tension that stole my breath away.
“I couldn’t sleep,” I finally said, my voice low and uncertain.
Beside me, Zade let out a slow breath, almost like a sigh he had been holding in for too long. “Neither could I,” he said, his tone rough and honest, carrying more meaning than the words alone.
The quiet between us grew heavier, but it wasn’t uncomfortable. It was dense with possibility, with the weight of everything we hadn’t yet said but both knew was coming.
We wandered further away from campus, toward the trees lining the edge of the woods. The moonlight filtered through the bare branches, casting intricate patterns across the ground. It felt like stepping into another world, one where only the two of us existed.
I stopped near a clearing, unable to keep moving forward, and turned to face him. My heart hammered painfully in my chest, and my body ached with a need I didn’t fully understand. Every part of me screamed to run, but my feet stayed rooted in place.
Zade stopped a few feet away, his hands tucked into his jacket pockets, his gaze locked onto mine. His eyes were dark and burning, filled with so much longing that it made my breath hitch.
“You don’t have to be afraid of this,” he said, his voice so soft it barely reached me over the sound of my own heartbeat.
“I’m not afraid of you,” I whispered, my voice trembling with the effort it took to be honest. “I’m afraid of what this means. What it will do to me.”
Zade’s lips parted slightly, and for a moment, he looked like he might move closer. But he held himself still, giving me all the power in this moment, letting me decide if I wanted to close the distance between us.
“I won’t push you,” he said, his voice rough with restraint. “I’ll wait for you to come to me.”
Something inside me broke wide open at his words.
Without thinking, I stepped closer, closing the space between us until I could feel the heat of his body seeping into mine. My heart raced so fast I thought it might burst, but under the fear and the uncertainty, there was a strange, undeniable sense of rightness.
Zade’s hand lifted slowly, almost reverently, until his fingertips brushed against my cheek. The simple touch sent a jolt of electricity through me, setting every nerve ending alight. My eyes fluttered shut at the sensation, my breath catching in my throat.
When I opened them again, he was still watching me with that same intense, unwavering focus, as if he could see into the very core of me.
He leaned in slowly, giving me every chance to back away, every chance to change my mind. But I didn’t. I couldn’t.
Our lips met in a kiss that was slow and tentative at first, a question more than a claim. The warmth of his mouth against mine was overwhelming, pulling me deeper into him with every second that passed. I felt his hand slide behind my neck, anchoring me to him, grounding me when the world spun away.
The kiss deepened, growing more urgent, more desperate, but never losing that thread of tenderness that made my chest ache. My body trembled against his, the heat of him sinking into my skin, branding me in ways that went far beyond the physical.
I pressed closer, my hands finding the front of his jacket and clutching it tightly, as if letting go would mean losing myself completely. His other hand settled at my waist, steady and sure, and the bond between us roared to life, a living thing that wrapped itself around my heart and refused to let go.
When we finally pulled apart, both of us breathless and shaking, the world had shifted irreversibly.
I rested my forehead against his chest, feeling the strong, steady beat of his heart against my cheek. My own heart raced wildly, a frantic, desperate rhythm that matched the trembling of my body.