I stood by the window, mug cradled between my palms, letting the heat bite into my fingers.
Outside, the world was disappearing.
Snow fell hard now...… thick, blinding sheets of white swallowing the trees, the path, the road I'd come in on.
No horizon nor direction, just endless white pressing in from every side.
The wind slammed into the cabin walls furiously.
He stopped a few feet away, his presence filling the space. He stared out the window too, broad shoulders blocking what little light remained.
For a moment, he said nothing.
"This isn't easing," he said finally.
I hugged the mug closer to my chest.
"It looks worse."
He stepped closer to the window, eyes sharp now.
"How long?" I asked.
"At least three days."
"The roads are buried, phones.….. dead zone."
The mug trembled slightly in my hands. I felt him move away, boots heavy against the floor, while my mind struggled to catch up to the reality of it.
...…
We barely spoke the rest of the day. I avoided him like a plague.... not obviously or dramatically, I just…..… didn't look too long, or stay where he was.
I didn't meet his eyes when he passed too close..... i held my distance like it was the only thing keeping me intact but still it didn't help.
I felt him anyway, every step he took through the cabin lit something under my skin.
Heat lingered where it shouldn't, my nerves stayed tight.
"You're running," Asha whispered calmly.
"I'm protecting myself," I answered already too used to her voice in my head.
"From what?"
I sat near the sitting room window, wrapped in one of the oversized hoodies, knees drawn up.
He was in the room, napping.
"From him."
"I don't like how I feel."
Asha moved closer, her presence no longer foreign.
"You are bonded."
"That doesn't make sense," I snapped.
"You said he isn't my mate."
"He isn't."
"Then why does it hurt?" My voice cracked.
"Why am I angry? Why do I feel...."
Shame curled low in my stomach.
"Like my skin is too tight," I admitted quietly.
"Like I want to scream at him and shove him away..... or pull him closer....like I want to kiss him and….. "
I didn't finish the thought.
"Because bonds are not always mates," she continued
"Some exist to test restraint, while some can't be explained."
"That's cruel"
"Yeah" she whispers.
I dug my nails into my palm.
" I'm losing control."
"You are not," she soothed.
"But he is struggling."
My head snapped up, brow furrowed.
"What do you mean he's struggling ?"
"His wolf is pushing...… he wants to claim you."
I exhaled sharply.....
"Hades…..?"
"Yes."
The name alone sent something dark and territorial brushing the edges of my senses.
"He needs to stop," I said bitterly.
"I didn't ask for this."
"Neither did he," Asha replied.
"But he is resisting."
That didn't comfort me, it It made me even more angry.
.........
The irritation built as the day dragged on. Every thought circled back to him, to the way he looked this morning, to how he's been taking care of me since I've been here, to how he comforted me last night, to how safe and at peace I felt around him.
I felt ridiculous…. a grown woman acting over instincts I didn't understand..... reacting like a wolf on edge when I wasn't even claimed.
"I hate this," I muttered.
......…
I sat there staring outside the windows at the stars, lost in thoughts, while he stood behind me, pacing back and forth. I pretended to be interested in nothing...….. the empty mug, the blank TV, a crack in the wall.... Anything but the man moving behind me like a caged predator.
"Can you stop hovering..." I finally snapped.
His pacing stopped.
"I'm not," he said calmly.
"You are."
Our eyes locked, his gaze was steady and infuriatingly unreadable.
"You're imagining it."
"Right...…. I'm imagining the way you've been watching me all day?"
"I'm imagining the way the air shifts every time you walk into a room?"
"You shouldn't be paying attention to me at all."
"Then stop giving me reasons to!" I shot back.
"I'm trying to keep this controlled," he said quietly.
"This?" I demanded.
"What exactly is this?"
He didn't answer...… probably cos he doesn't even have the answer to that either.
"I didn't ask for this...." I said my voice lower now.
"I didn't ask to feel....."
I stopped myself inhaling deeply as I almost spilled what i shouldn't.
His jaw flexed and he took one step closer to me.
"Finish that sentence."
"No."
"Luna."
I stepped back immediately.
"Don't," I warned.
"Don't say my name like that...."
"Like what?"
"Like I belong to you cos I don't. "
Hades surged forward as his eyes darkened, taking control completely.
Fear shot through me and I screamed his name without thinking.
"You will not speak to your king in such tone and you will not reject what is bound to you." His voice came out rough, ancient, nothing human about it.
I stumbled back, my heart beating like it wanted to jump out of my chest.
"Rhage." my voice cracked.
"Come back...."
He didn't answer.... Hades did.
He took a slow step toward me, head tilting slightly, eyes watching me like I was something he had already decided was his.
The air around him felt thick and heavy and I could smell him..... so much heat, want, and hunger. He moved like a predator, and I was his prey.
My body reacted before my mind could stop it... Heat pooled between my thighs and a sharp tingle ran through my core.
"Shit!" Asha whispered inside my head.
I didn't even see him move..... One second I was standing there, the next my back slammed against the wall, the impact knocked the breath out of me.
His hand came down beside my head, trapping me there, then his lips were on mine.
It wasn't gentle nor sweet.... Just pure hunger.
I gasped into the kiss, hands flying up without thinking, gripping his shoulders.
His lips moved like he was starving, like he had been holding this back for years and finally lost the fight and I kissed him back with equal fervor.