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His hand locked around my wrist.
Not letting go.
Kade's eyes were black. Fully black. No gold left. Just that endless void swallowing the lamplight. His chest rose and fell too fast for someone who'd been half-dead two minutes ago. The veins under his skin still looked wrong—dark threads crawling up his forearms—but his grip was solid. Strong.
"Ashveil."
He said it again. Quieter this time. Like he was tasting the name.
I yanked my wrist. Didn't budge.
"Let go." My voice came out steadier than I felt. I kept my eyes on his hand, not his face. If I looked at his face I'd have to see whatever the hell was happening behind those eyes. "Kade. Let go."
"You taste like night."
What?
His thumb pressed against my pulse. His head tilted. Predator watching prey. The wolf in him wasn't buried anymore. It was right there. Right at the surface.
"Kade." I pulled harder. His grip tightened. Not painful. Worse. Careful. Like he knew exactly how much pressure he could use before I bruised. "You need to let go. Now."
He blinked. Once. Slow.
Gold bled into the black. Just a ring around his pupils. Thin. Bright. Wrong. His lips parted and I saw it—red on his bottom lip. My blood. Still there.
Oh god.
I should've wiped his mouth. I should've cleaned up. But he'd been dying and I'd been trying to keep him breathing and now—
"What did you do to me?" His voice scraped. Low. Rough. He leaned forward and I leaned back but the exam table edge bit into my hip. Nowhere to go. "What was that?"
"Medicine." The lie came fast. Too fast. "You were seizing. I gave you something to stop it."
"Liar."
He stood.
I forgot how big he was. Alphas are always tall but Kade had half a foot on most wolves and right now he was using every inch. He stepped into my space and I flattened against the table. The air between us smelled like sweat and dried blood and something else. Something sharp. Electric. It made my teeth ache.
"I can taste you." He said it like an accusation. His free hand came up—slow, too slow, like he thought I'd run—and his knuckles brushed my jaw. "I can feel you. Here." He pressed his fist to his chest. "What did you do?"
Nothing. I did nothing. This wasn't supposed to happen.
One drop. I'd given him one drop. That shouldn't be enough to trigger a—
No.
No no no.
The bond.
I felt it. A pull. Low in my ribs. Like a hook sunk deep and tied to him. It tugged when he moved. When he breathed. I'd heard wolves talk about the mate bond. They said it felt like coming home. Like finding the missing half of your soul.
This didn't feel like home.
This felt like a trap snapping shut.
"Kade." I kept my voice low. Calm. The way you talk to a wolf who's about to lose it. "You're still sick. The curse is still in your blood. You need to sit down and let me—"
"I don't need anything." His eyes locked on mine. Gold eating through the black now. Swallowing it. His pupils blown wide. "Except you."
Oh hell.
"No." I shoved at his chest. Might as well have shoved a brick wall. "No. You don't. You're confused. The fever's messing with your head and—"
"Say your real name."
I froze.
His hand slid from my jaw to the back of my neck. Warm. Too warm. Wolves run hot but this was furnace heat. His fever hadn't broken. It had spiked.
"Say it," he said. "I want to hear you say it."
"Lyra." My heart slammed against my ribs. "My name is Lyra."
"Liar."
He leaned in. Forehead to forehead. I sucked in a breath and tasted him—pine and smoke and something animal. His hand tightened on my neck. Not rough. Possessive. The bond pulled again. Harder this time. I felt it in my chest, my stomach, lower. Everywhere.
"Mine."
He growled it.
The sound vibrated through me. Low. Primal. The kind of sound that makes prey freeze. That makes other wolves bow. My hindbrain screamed at me to run but my body wouldn't move. The bond held me there. Pinned.
"Kade—"
"Mine."
His mouth hovered an inch from mine. I could feel his breath. See the gold burning through his eyes. The curse veins on his arms pulsed. Black. Red. Black. His heartbeat thundered under my palm.
The bond snapped.
I felt it. Felt it lock into place like a bone setting wrong. A weight I couldn't shake. A chain I couldn't see. It wrapped around my ribs and pulled and I gasped because it hurt. It felt good. It felt wrong. It felt inevitable.
Kade's eyes flared.
He felt it too.
"What—" His hand on my neck trembled. "What is this?"
"Kade." My voice cracked. I grabbed his wrist. His skin burned under my fingers. "Listen to me. You need to let go. You need to step back. You're not thinking straight and—"
Footsteps.
Heavy. Fast. Coming down the hall.
No.
No no no not now—
"Kade!" Silas's voice boomed through the door. "Kade, answer me!"
Kade didn't move. Didn't look away. The gold in his eyes pinned me.
"Kade, I swear to god if you don't—"
The door slammed open.
Silas filled the doorway. Broad shoulders. Scarred jaw. Eyes that missed nothing. Those eyes landed on Kade. On me. On the space between us—or the lack of it. On Kade's hand wrapped around my neck.
On the blood at the corner of Kade's mouth.
Silas went still.
The kind of still that comes before violence.
"Kade." His voice dropped. Careful. Deadly. "Step away from her."
Kade's hand tightened.
Not letting go.
"Kade." Silas moved into the room. Slow. Hands up. Like he was approaching a feral wolf. "I need you to step back. Right now."
"She's mine." Kade's voice came out shredded. Raw. "She—"
"She's bleeding." Silas's eyes flicked to my wrist. The one Kade still held. I looked down. Saw the red smeared on my skin. The shallow cut from the knife I'd used. The blood I'd fed him. "And you've got blood on your mouth. So I'm going to ask one more time. Step. Back."
Kade didn't move.
The bond pulled.
I felt his wolf rise. Felt the growl building in his chest. Silas was his beta. His brother. But right now Kade's wolf didn't care. Right now his wolf only knew one thing.
Mine.
This was bad.
This was really bad.
"Silas." I kept my voice steady. Kept my eyes on him. Not Kade. If I looked at Kade the bond would pull and I'd do something stupid. "It's okay. He's not hurting me. He's just—"
"Covered in your blood," Silas finished. His hand dropped to his belt. To the silver knife every wolf carried. "So forgive me if I'm not convinced."