The ring was drenched in heat—not only from the sun beating down but from the fury I drove into every strike.
My blade clanged against the practice post again and again while sweat traced a burning line down my spine. My lungs scraped for air, my muscles coiled tight, and every movement came out sharper than it needed to be. I wasn’t training; I was punishing something I couldn’t name.
I didn’t hear her at first.
But I felt her anyway—the low buzz under my skin, the subtle pressure change as if a storm had wandered into my chest. My back stiffened on instinct. I swung once more, let the impact ring through the yard, then lowered my sword and turned.
She stood at the edge of the circle, half in shadow and half in sun, watching me like she hadn’t decided whether to step forward or vanish. Raena’s arms were crossed and her chin lifted like armor, yet her eyes betrayed her with a flicker of uncertainty—something that looked dangerously like desire.
She studied me as if I were both the problem and the answer.
“Are you here to watch or to fight?” I asked, voice low.
Raena stepped forward slowly. “Depends. You’re done throwing tantrums?”
I smirked though my chest burned. “You call this a tantrum?”
“I call it avoidance with good form.”
I dropped the sword and let it clatter between us like a gauntlet. “Fine. Try me.”
Her boots crunched into the dirt. “Don’t tempt me unless you’re ready to get bruised.”
“Don’t flatter yourself.”
She drew two wooden daggers from her belt, the motion smooth and eager, like she’d been waiting for me to say something reckless. “Bare-handed? Confident.”
“Just don’t want you whining when I knock you on your ass.”
Her grin cut like glass. “You wish.” Then she lunged.
We collided hard. A blade whispered past my ribs, close enough to chill the skin. I twisted away, caught her wrist, and she slipped the hold like smoke, driving an elbow into my side. Pain flared; I hissed and stumbled. She didn’t let up—foot to my shin, a fast spin to sweep me off balance.
“You fight dirty,” I grunted.
“You think this is dirty?” she panted. “You should meet my sister.”
I rushed her again and took her to the ground, but she stole my momentum and flipped me clean. I rolled with it, hooked her ankle, and we crashed in a knot of limbs and dust. She landed on top of me, one knee digging into my stomach, hair wild, breath ragged, eyes bright with heat she would never admit to.
“Still think you’ll win?” she asked.
I stared up at her, my heart pounding against my ribs like it wanted out. “Depends. You gonna kiss me or kill me?”
Her breath caught, and the pause stretched long enough to count.
She pushed off me, stumbling to her feet. “We’re not doing this.”
I stood more slowly, brushing grit from my palms while the want tried to drag me closer. “No? Because it kind of feels like we are.”
Her eyes blazed. “This bond is messing with our heads.”
“Or maybe it’s finally making things clear.”
“I can’t think straight around you,” she snapped. “Every time I get close—my wolf screams. My body forgets it’s mine.”
I stepped forward until the space between us tightened to a single breath. “Then stop looking at me like you want to forget everything else.”
Her mouth opened and closed again; her fingers curled hard at her sides. “You think I like this?” she hissed. “You think I enjoy feeling completely undone every time you breathe too close?”
I swallowed against the heat rising in my throat. “No. But I’m not exactly enjoying the ride either.”
She turned her back as though it hurt to keep looking at me. “We can’t. You know we can’t.”
I exhaled hard, the ache in my chest spreading through my limbs. “Then say that without shaking.”
She didn’t. I saw the war gather on her shoulders, felt the heat strum along her spine. She took two sharp steps away. “I need to go.”
“Yeah,” I said. “Run, like always.”
She paused just long enough to make it hurt, then vanished from the ring—fast, tight, and angry, as if even her shadow refused to stay behind.
I remained in the center, skin burning and fists clenched, every nerve insisting I’d only made things worse. I wanted something that might break us both, but I couldn’t un-feel her and I couldn’t un-want her. The bond no longer merely hummed; it roared through my bones like thunder.
That night the dream returned. Only this time, it wasn’t her voice telling me to stop. It was her whispering, soft and raw and breathless.
“Stay.”