The moment his fingers touched my neck
everything broke.
A scream tore out of me before I could stop it, raw and uncontrollable as heat surged through my body. Not just heat something deeper. Something alive. I dropped to my knees.
It felt like my veins were burning… like molten fire was replacing my blood, crawling through me, searching, awakening.Stop I gasped, gripping his wrist, but I wasn't pushing him away. I was holding on.His eyes darkened,interesting he whispered.
The fire pulsed harder at his touch responding to him, syncing with him. My vision blurred, edges of the room dissolving into shadows and light.
And then.....
I saw something that wasn't there's different place.Dark skies. Cracked earth. A horizon swallowed in red.And standing in the distance Me
But not me.Stronger,Colder, Eyes glowing with something inhuman.I tore my gaze away with a sharp breath, collapsing forward as the vision snapped.The fire faded but not completely,It settled,Lingered,Waiting.
What… did you just do? My voice trembled, weaker now, but laced with something new.Something Dangerous he crouched in front of me, studying my face like I was a puzzle he hadn't expected to exist.
I didn't do that," he said quietly.I looked up at him, anger flaring despite the fear clouding at my chest.You marked me.Yes." His voice sharpened slightly. I marked you to end you.That hit harder than the pain,Silence stretched between us.Then why am I still here?" I asked.
He didn't answer immediately.Instead, his gaze dropped to my neck again the mark now fully formed. Dark,Intricate,Pulsing faintly beneath my skin like a second heartbeat.There are only two possibilities, he said finally. I forced myself to stand, even though my legs felt unsteady.
Then start talking.
His eyes flicked back to mine.Either you're something that shouldn't exist…"he said slowly
A pause.Or someone made sure you wouldn't die.A chill ran down my spine.That doesn't make any sense.No," he agreed. "It doesn't.
For the first time since he appeared,He looked uncertain,and somehow, that terrified me more than anything else.Remove it, I said, my voice firm despite everything. Whatever this is take it back.
His expression shifted again something almost amused, but dark That's not how it works.My heart dropped.What do you mean?He stepped closer again but this time, I didn't back away not because I wasn't afraid but because something inside me refused to.A mark like this… he said, his voice low, deliberate, isn't just a symbol.His fingers hovered near my neck again but didn't touch this time.
It's a bond."The word hit differently,He saw it in my face.No," I said immediately. "No, that's not happening."His lips curved slightly,You don't get a choice."Anger flared, sharp and sudden., "I don't belong to you."For a split second,something flickered in his eye,.not anger,Not amusement.
Something else,Then it was gone.
We'll see," he said quietly.The mark pulsed.
Once,Twice,And suddenly I felt him.not physically,
Not emotionally,Something deeper.A presence
Like a thread had been tied between us… invisible, unbreakable.My breath caught, "You feel it," he said.It wasn't a question.
I clenched my jaw, refusing to answer but that was answer enough.His expression darkened with satisfaction.Good, I hated that word.
What are you?" I asked.This time he smiled fully.
And it was the most dangerous thing I had ever seen.
That," he said, stepping back toward the shadows of my room, "is the right question.
The air shifted as he moved like the darkness itself bent around him.
Get some rest," he added casually, as if he hadn't just shattered my entire reality. "You're going to need it."
For what?" I snapped....