Jade
“Move in with me,” Zade said, his voice casual, almost like he was talking about the weather.
I looked up, expecting to see the usual teasing grin, but when I met his eyes, I saw nothing but sincerity. For a second, I just stared at him, trying to process what he had said.
“Yeah, right,” I muttered, half-laughing, half-scoffing, “Move in with the big bad Alpha? Sounds like a recipe for disaster.”
But instead of laughing or rolling his eyes like I expected, Zade’s gaze stayed steady, serious. He shifted, sitting up, resting his arms over his knees, and the atmosphere between us shifted with him. The breeze in the field seemed to quiet, the soft rustling of the grass fading into the background as I focused entirely on him.
“I’m not joking,” he said again, his voice deeper now, laced with something that made my chest tighten. “I want you with me. Not just visiting. Not just halfway in. All the way.”
His words hit me harder than I could have expected. They weren’t playful. They weren’t some careless throwaway line. No, this was something else—something real. Something terrifying.
I blinked, my mouth going dry. I hadn’t prepared for this, hadn’t expected to hear it. Not from him. Zade, the Alpha, the one who always had so many layers of walls around him, was offering me… everything.
I tried to laugh it off, but it came out weak. “You can’t be serious,” I said, my voice betraying me, cracking just slightly.
He didn’t flinch, didn’t look away. His eyes never left mine, burning with determination. “I am. I’ve never been more serious in my life.”
For a moment, I couldn’t breathe. The weight of what he was saying crushed down on me. He wasn’t asking for something casual. He wasn’t offering me a fling or a temporary arrangement. He was asking me to be a part of his life—his entire life.
I swallowed, the reality of the offer sinking in, a mix of excitement and fear twisting inside me. I had never imagined something like this could be on the table. “Zade,” I whispered.
I didn’t know what to say. I laughed again, but it came out thin and shaky, and I quickly looked away, staring hard at the grass as if it could somehow give me the answers I didn’t have. “You make it sound so simple,” I whispered, hating the way my voice cracked slightly. “Like moving in with you would just…fix everything.” I didn’t mean it to sound harsh, but Zade didn’t flinch. He only shifted closer, his knee brushing mine, his presence a steady, grounding force I didn’t know how to live without anymore.
“I know it’s not simple,” he said, his voice low, serious, but achingly gentle. “But it’s what I want. It’s what I choose. I choose you, Jade. I’m not asking because of the bond. I’m asking because I can’t imagine a future without you in it.” His words wrapped around me like a chain and a lifeline all at once, binding me to him and offering me a kind of freedom I had never dared to hope for. I nodded mutely, not trusting myself to speak, and Zade leaned forward to press a kiss to the top of my head, a simple touch that somehow managed to unravel me completely.
I shut the bedroom door behind me with a soft click, the golden light from earlier fading into a shadowed hush. My room felt too quiet now. Too still.
I sat down at my desk, staring blankly out the window as the last sliver of sun dipped below the trees.
Zade’s voice echoed in my head.
“I want you to move in.”
At the time, I’d nodded. Smiled. Said something light, maybe even teasing.
But now?
I wrapped my arms around my knees, pulling them close to my chest. My voice barely broke the silence.
“Moving in with him… it’s not just about a toothbrush and closet space, is it?”
I swallowed hard, eyes tracing the dark outline of the trees outside.
“It’s stepping into his world. All of it.”
The word Luna slipped into my mind like a stone dropped in still water. It rippled through everything.
“Partner. Equal.” I whispered the words aloud, like maybe saying them would make them feel real.
I let out a shaky breath.
“I don’t know if I’m strong enough for that. For all of it. For him.”
The thought of the life I’d known tugged at me like an old, familiar sweater.
“I used to be no one,” I murmured. “And I liked it that way. Quiet. Unseen. Safe.”
My eyes stung, but I didn’t cry.
“Now, one conversation and suddenly I’m standing on the edge of everything I thought I’d never want.”
I paused, heart pounding.
“I do want him. God, I want him.”
But my voice cracked as I added, “But do I want his world?”
My fingers curled into the fabric of my sleeves, the weight of the question pressing heavy against my chest.
“The rules. The responsibility. The judgment. What if I can’t carry it? What if I’m not enough?”
I rested my forehead against my knees, breathing in slowly.
“I love him.”
The truth tasted raw and certain.
“I love him, and it terrifies me.”
The room stayed silent.
“Because love doesn’t make it easier. It doesn’t erase the fear or the weight or the doubt.” I closed my eyes. “It just makes the fall hurt more if I get it wrong.”
And in the dark, I let the silence wrap around me like a question I didn’t know how to answer.
I could see the two futures laid out before me like paths diverging in a dark forest. One was safe, familiar, marked by loneliness and walls I knew how to navigate. The other was wild, uncertain, filled with love and loyalty and the terrifying possibility of failure. I didn’t know which path I had the courage to walk.
When I closed my eyes, I could still feel the ghost of Zade’s hand on mine, still hear the steady conviction in his voice when he said he chose me. It was a choice I had never expected anyone to offer me. A future I hadn’t dared to dream for myself.
But dreams, I was learning, came with their own kind of danger.