Jade
The morning light barely touched my room, weak and cold through the half-closed blinds. I sat hunched over on the edge of my bed, gripping the side of my neck like I could somehow erase what had been done. The skin where Zade had bitten me throbbed with a slow, burning ache that never fully faded. It wasn’t just pain. It was something deeper, something alive under my skin, pulling at me in ways that made me want to crawl out of my own body.
No matter how many times I told myself it wasn’t real, the mark pulsed with every heartbeat, a constant reminder that my life was no longer entirely my own.
I closed my eyes and pressed my fingers harder against the spot. It didn’t help. If anything, it made the burning worse. I could feel him. Zade. It was like he was stitched into the air around me, his presence threading through my senses even though I couldn’t see him.
When I finally stood, my knees were weak, and my hands trembled. I needed answers. I needed him to fix this. I didn’t care how furious I was or how scared. I needed to look him in the eye and demand he undo whatever he had done to me.
I stormed outside, the cold air slapping me awake. I barely noticed where I was going, my feet moving faster the closer I got to the woods. Part of me hated how easy it was to find him now, how my body seemed to know exactly where he was, like a compass tuned only to him.
And sure enough, I found him.
Zade was leaning against a tree at the edge of the forest, his arms crossed over his chest, as if he had been waiting for me all along. His dark eyes lifted slowly to meet mine, and when they did, the burning in my neck flared violently, making me stagger.
I gritted my teeth and forced myself to keep walking until I stood just a few feet away from him. Close enough to feel the heat radiating off his body. Close enough to feel the bond thrumming like a second heartbeat under my skin.
“You,” I said, my voice shaking with fury and something far more dangerous. “What did you do to me?”
He didn’t flinch. He didn’t even blink. His face was calm, but his eyes burned with something fierce and wild.
“I claimed you,” Zade said simply, like it was the most natural thing in the world.
“You bit me!” I shouted, feeling the anger rise up and drown out the confusion for a moment. “You had no right!”
He pushed away from the tree, moving toward me with slow, deliberate steps. I held my ground even though every cell in my body screamed at me to either run or throw myself into his arms.
“The bond was already there,” he said, his voice low and steady. “The bite just… sealed it.”
I shook my head hard, trying to reject his words. “No. No, I didn’t choose this. You can’t just decide for me.”
Zade stopped just in front of me. His nearness made the burning in my mark intensify until I had to clench my fists at my sides to stop from reaching for him.
“I didn’t choose it either,” he said, his voice softer now, almost pained. “It’s fate, Jade. It’s older and stronger than either of us.”
“I don’t care about fate,” I spat, the words bitter in my mouth. “I want my life back. I want control back.”
For a long moment, he just stared at me, and I hated how easily he could see through me. How he didn’t argue or plead. How he just… saw.
“You still have your life,” he said. “You still have choices. But you can’t change the bond. It’s a part of you now. A part of me.”
Tears stung my eyes, and I hated it. I hated how my body trembled, not from fear, but from the overwhelming pull toward him that I didn’t understand and didn’t want to feel. I hated how his voice made my heart ache, how his scent filled my lungs and made it harder to think.
“You need to leave me alone,” I said, my voice breaking despite my best efforts to sound strong. “I can’t do this. I don’t want this.”
His jaw tightened slightly, but he nodded once, slowly, like he was giving me a gift he didn’t want to part with.
“I’ll give you space,” he said. “I’ll stay away. If that’s what you truly want.”