Chapter 48
Chapter 48
*Jiselle*
I didn’t know how long I sat there with my back pressed against the cool stone wall, my blouse still slightly askew, my breath refusing to slow. The corridor was quiet, bathed in that evening hush that settled over the academy like a blanket before the world went to sleep.
But inside me?
There was no stillness. No peace. Only chaos.
My fingers hovered uselessly near my lips, still tingling from the kiss–if you could even call it that. It hadn’t been a kiss. It had been a wildfire. No… It had been the wildfire.
The moment everything combusted. Years of tension and denial and pain collapsing under one single spark. And I had let it happen. Worse–I had wanted it. Every second of it.
I had wanted him.
My pulse hadn’t stopped pounding since the moment I left his room, since his breath had ghosted across my neck, since! felt his lips on my skin, his hands on my waist, his tongue-
I squeezed my eyes shut and forced the memory back.
My body still ached–not from pain but from the aftershock. Like I’d been struck by lightning and was still sizzling from the impact. My legs trembled. My heart refused to slow. My blouse was back on, but it still felt like he was touching me.
My wolf wasn’t helping. She was wide awake now, pacing, alert and unrelenting. Her emotions clawed at mine, raw and frantic. She wasn’t angry that I left him–she was furious. Furious that I’d stepped away. That I’d denied her our mate. That I‘ d walked away from the one person she’d accepted as hers long before I ever had the courage to.
And maybe…. maybe she wasn’t the only one who felt that way.
A shaky breath tore through me as I pressed the heel of my palm to my eyes, willing the tears to retreat.
I had kissed my mate.
Not a stranger. Not a fling. Not even a lover
My mate.
And yet that was bad. It was horrible. Because I liked it.
More than anything I’d ever shared with Max.
That thought alone made me want to break something. Scream. Vomit. Maybe all three. Because Max had been trying. Max had been patient. Max had loved me through the worst of it–even when I didn’t deserve it. He had held me when I broke, kissed me when I doubted myself, stood by me when I wasn’t sure where I stood at all. He was tortured for me.
He had given me an ultimatum. But he had also given me space. He had loved me,
And I had gone into Nate’s room with every intention of rejecting him–of finally closing that door and proving my love to Max.
Instead, I walked in and set fire to everything.
I let Nate touch me
Let him kiss me.
Let myself kiss him. For once I couldn’t blame Nathaniel. I was the one who initiated the kiss
And the truth? I didn’t regret it.
That was the part that wrecked me
Because for one stupid, terrifying, beautiful moment–nothing else had mattered. Not the academy. Not the secrets. Not Max. Not the note under my door or the dagger humming beneath my bed. For one moment, there was only Nate. His mouth.
His hands.
His voice, whispering truths I’d tried so hard to
“You can’t erase a mate bond, Jiselle. Not by to Successfully unlocked!
That’s what he told me only minutes ago.
I had tried
Moon, I had tried.
by rejecting
And I had failed
Because no matter how hard I fought it, no matter how many times I told myself I loved Max–and I did–I couldn’t sever this thing between me and Nate.
It wasn’t just a bond.
It was a damn tether.
Rooted in blood and soul and fate.
I tilted my head back, eyes fluttering shut, letting the stone cool the fire still burning through me. I prayed that when I opened them again, I’d be somewhere else. That maybe I hadn’t just fallen apart in Nate’s arms. That maybe my blouse hadn’t ended up on the floor. That maybe he hadn’t touched me like he knew me–like he owned me
But he had.
My heart thudded once–heavy, aching–as I forced myself to my feet. I didn’t know where I was going, only that I couldn’t stay here. Not near Nate’s door. Not near the place I’d lost every shred of control I had left.
I straightened my blouse, yanking it into place. Tugged the sleeves down to hide the shake in my hands. Pressed my lips together to dull the swelling I knew would give me away
The halls were beginning to stir
I had to move. Had to disappear before someone saw me–before someone knew.
I turned the corner-
And froze.
Max was there.
He had just stepped out of his own room down the hall, dressed in dark jeans and a black hoodie, hair tousled
His eyes locked on mine immediately and I stiffened.
He took a step toward me, concern flickering across his features. “Jiselle?”
My stomach dropped.
“Don’t,” I choked out, holding up a trembling hand. “Don’t come any closer.”
He stopped mid–step. His brows drew together. “What happened?”
But then I saw it–that slight shift. The way his eyes dropped to my blouse. The way they scanned over my wrinkled sleeves, my flushed face, my swollen lips.
The way they darkened.
He sniffed the air once.
And I knew the moment he knew.
His jaw ticked. His fists clenched. But his voice didn’t raise. He didn’t explode.
He just stared at me.
Like he was putting together every piece of a puzzle he never wanted to solve.
“Max,” I whispered, my voice cracking. I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry.”
He said nothing.
“I went in there to reject him,” I swore, stepping forward, desperate now. “I swear to you, that’s what I went in there to do. I promise, 1-
His jaw clenched tighter, but he still didn’t move. Still didn’t yell,
Instead, his eyes grew distant.
Thoughtful
Like he was working something out in his head, and it made my stomach churn.
“Max… please, I begged “Say something. Yell at me. Hit a wall. Something”
He finally looked me in the eye
And he still didn’t speak
“Mar, please, I repeated, tears now spilling freely.
“If you want to end things and hate me forever,” I whispered, “I would understand. But please just–say something” “No,” he said finally.
Iblinked, “No?
He sighed, slow and controlled, dragging a hand down his face. He looked pissed, yes–but not like I expected.
“You evidently seem tom up about it,” he said, his voice low and unreadable. “So I know you didn’t plan it. You didn’t want it to happen like that”
A confused breath shuddered from my lungs. Was he implying Nate forced me?
I opened my mouth to correct him.
But he shook his head.
“It’s not you,” he said. “It’s the damn mate bond.”
He stepped forward, closer now, and I didn’t stop him.
“We can never be free of it,” he muttered. “And you, Jiselle–you’re not strong enough to break it on your own.”
The words landed like knives, and I flinched.
“I didn’t ask for this.” I whispered. “I didn’t ask to love him too.”
“But you do.”
He was right.
“And that’s why” he murmured, voice tight, “I have to break it for you.”
I blinked, confused, “What-”
His hands came up, resting gently–too gently–on my shoulders.
Before I could move
Before I could speak.
Before I could breathe.
His head dipped, and he sank his teeth into my neck.
The pain was sharp. Hot and blinding.
Something inside me cracked open and screamed. My wolf
howled in agony. My knees buckled, my nails dug into Max’s
ams as I cried out, not just from the pain–but from the loss. The emptiness was almost instant–that part of me that was always connected to Nate, even thousands of miles apart just left.
My body grew limp and my lungs refused to work.
Because it wasn’t just a bond being severed.
My heart shattered.
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