Jade
“I want this,” I said, my voice trembling but strong enough to hold. “I want you. But only if it’s real. Only if we choose it together this time.”
Zade’s hands rose slowly, cupping my face with a gentleness that stole the breath from my lungs. His thumbs brushed across my cheeks, wiping away the tears I hadn’t realized were falling. “It’s real,” he said, his voice rough with emotion. “And I would choose you a thousand times, Jade. In every life, in every world, it would always be you.”
Zade’s voice was barely a whisper, but it thrummed with something real—something that struck the same chord inside me I thought had long gone silent.
And the bond… it stirred.
Slow at first. Then sharp and sudden—like lightning waking up the sky after a long, dark storm.
My breath hitched.
I didn’t speak. Didn’t need to.
Instead, I tilted my head, just slightly. Closed my eyes.
And bared my neck to him.
Not in fear. Not in surrender.
In trust.
His breath caught, jagged and uneven.
“Jade…” he whispered—more plea than name.
His forehead pressed gently against mine, and for a heartbeat, we just stood there. Still. Shaking. Breathing in the same air like we were trying to sync our souls.
Then his hands found my shoulders. Firm. Warm. Anchoring.
I didn’t move.
Not when his lips brushed against my skin—right over the place where my pulse fluttered wild and open.
Not when I felt his breath, warm and ragged, ghost across the spot he once marked.
His lips parted.
And then—
Pain.
Sharp. Sudden.
A gasp tore from my throat as his teeth broke the skin.
But I didn’t pull away.
My hands gripped his arms, fingers digging in as the bond surged through me like a tidal wave.
It hit hard—wild and bright and alive. Nothing like the first time. No panic. No confusion.
Just choice.
This was ours now.
Not something fate forced on us.
Something we built.
His teeth sank deeper, sealing the connection with a raw, powerful finality that made my knees buckle.
And then—he pulled back.
I collapsed against him, my body trembling as the bond rewrote itself inside me. Tightening. Healing. Strengthening.
His arms wrapped around me instantly, holding me close, his chest heaving like he’d just run miles.
But I wasn’t done.
Still trembling, I pushed back just enough to meet his gaze. His eyes were wide, questioning, filled with so much raw emotion it made my throat ache. I rose onto my toes, my hands threading through his hair, and pressed my mouth against the hollow of his shoulder. His body tensed, understanding even before I bit down, my teeth sinking into his skin just above the mark that already claimed me as his.
It wasn’t as deep. It wasn’t meant to hurt. It was a claim, a promise, a brand of my own. His breath hitched sharply, his hands tightening on my waist as I pulled back to look at him. A dark bruise bloomed where my mouth had been, vivid and undeniable against his skin.
“You’re mine too,” I whispered, my voice fierce with everything I couldn’t say aloud.
Something broke inside him then, something hard and brittle that had been holding him together. He crushed me against him, burying his face in my hair, his arms wrapping around me so tightly it was almost painful. But I didn’t care. I welcomed the hurt, the closeness, the overwhelming flood of emotion that poured through the bond now, unfiltered and pure.
We stood there for what felt like forever, tangled together under the heavy sky, letting the bond between us settle into something steady and strong. It was raw. It was messy. It was everything we had both needed and hadn’t known how to ask for.
When he finally pulled back, his hands cradling my face, he pressed a kiss to my forehead so gentle it made tears spill down my cheeks. He kissed them away, murmuring promises against my skin, promises of forever, of fighting for us no matter how hard it got.
And for the first time in what felt like forever, I believed him.
I believed in us. Not because fate demanded it. But because we had chosen it.
Together.