Mallory:
The moment our eyes met, something snapped inside me. It wasn’t painful, but it was jarring. Like my whole body had gone electric. Like I had suddenly stepped into a different realm entirely, one where the only things that mattered were his eyes on mine, and the breath I couldn’t seem to take in.
My heart was hammering in my chest, hard and loud and fast. I couldn’t look away. Couldn’t breathe.
And then I felt it.
The bond.
Every fairytale I had heard whispered in corners of the Nightshade Pack gatherings. Every dreamy sigh girls released when they talked about soulmates, true mates, destined partners. I thought those were just stories. I had never expected to feel something so real, so immediate, and so overwhelming.
My stomach twisted and heat flushed my skin from head to toe. I couldn’t make sense of anything... only that my soul was clawing toward him. Reaching. Anchoring.
But before I could even speak, before I could blink again, the handsome man with dark brown eyes was moving. He strode toward me like a storm in tailored clothes and predator-like confidence. His grip wrapped around my wrist firmly, but not cruelly, and the next thing I knew...
"Wait - Mallory!" Eva’s voice pierced through the haze, her fingers trying to catch my other hand. Her face was pale, her eyes wide, torn between panic and disbelief.
But she couldn’t follow.
Professor Kieran stopped her and shook his head silently. It was like he knew something I didn’t. Or maybe... he knew exactly what was happening to me.
Because I didn’t.
Not really.
Not until I found myself pulled through a set of quiet hallways and pushed inside a dim, cool, and quiet room. An office, maybe. Books were lining one wall. A desk was sitting neatly and untouched on the other. But I barely registered any of that.
Because he was there.
And I was in here. Alone. With him.
I was trembling. Not because I was scared. But because everything inside me was thrumming with need, confusion, and an ache so bone-deep, I thought I might crumble if I didn’t touch him.
He slammed the door behind us, but the sound barely registered. I backed instinctively, needing space, air, sense... but his presence was overwhelming, dragging me under all over again.
My back hit the wall.
And he was there, towering over me. His muscles were tight beneath his dark shirt, face carved from shadows and fire. His scent - forest, spice, power - wrapped around me like silk and smoke. It made my knees weak and my lips dry.
He planted one hand against the wall beside my head, and I swore the room spun.
"I need your name," he said. His voice low and dark and commanding. It wasn’t a growl, but it felt like one.
I blinked. "M-Mallory," I breathed. "Mallory Campbell."
His eyes flicked down to my lips before catching mine again. "Pack?"
"N–Nightshade," I whispered, barely able to speak around the pressure in my chest.
His jaw tightened. "How old are you?"
I swallowed. "Eighteen. I mean... I’ll be nineteen in three weeks."
He cursed under his breath, stepping back half a pace, but it didn’t make breathing easier. His other hand joined the one on the wall, caging me in. Still close enough that his scent clouded my senses and made my skin flush.
He was too much.
Too tall.
Too intense.
Too everything.
I tried to focus. Tried to be rational. Tried to remember I was a person, not just a trembling mess of hormones and emotions and whatever this man was doing to me.
But he was staring down at me like he was trying to memorize me. Like he had found something he had been looking for forever and couldn’t quite believe it was real.
And I couldn’t stop looking at his lips.
They moved - he was asking something else, I think - but I didn’t hear it. All I could think about was how close they were. How soft they looked. How desperately I wanted to kiss him. Taste him. Claim him.
What was happening to me?
I reached out before I could stop myself. My fingers brushed his forearm, finding solid muscle under warm skin. The contact caused a spark to explode through my hand before it bolted straight to my core. I gasped and snatched my hand back, feeling my cheeks flooding with color.
His nostrils flared, and his whole body went still.
"Mallory," he whispered in a hoarse voice. "Do you have any idea what you are doing to me right now?"
I shook my head as my breathing picked up its speed. "No. I... I don’t understand. What’s happening?"
He closed his eyes for a beat as if to collect himself.
"I’m your mate," he said finally, the words thick with something I didn’t know how to name. "And you are mine."
The way he said it... like it was a law written in the stars, unchangeable, undeniable... made something inside me click. It was the bond. That wild rush of heat in my blood. The way my body leaned toward him even when my brain screamed to find logic.
It wasn’t just attraction.
It was nature.
It was fate.
"I’m Jasper Walker. Alpha River’s second-in-command." He introduced himself. Then his lips twitched, but it wasn’t quite a smile. "I didn’t expect my mate to be a Nightshade pup."
I bristled at the word pup, even though it wasn’t meant cruelly. "I’m not a pup."
"You are eighteen."
"I’ll be nineteen."
"You are still so young." His voice softened then, something almost pained entering his eyes. "You don’t even know what you are feeling right now, do you?"
"I know I want to kiss you," I blurted out before I could stop myself.
He froze.
And so did I.
Oh Moon Goddess.
Why did I say that?
I turned my face away, feeling mortified, but he gently caught my chin and turned me back to him.
His eyes weren’t angry. They were dark, yes. Intense. But there was heat in them. A storm brewing just beneath the surface.
"You feel the bond," he said softly. "That’s what this is. It’s driving you to me. Making you ache. Want. Crave."
I nodded shakily. "It’s so strong. I don’t know how to... to think."
He nodded as his gaze dipped to my mouth again. "That’s because you are feeling it for the first time. I have had years to learn. To know what to expect."
His fingers brushed a lock of my hair from my cheek, and I shivered under the contact.
"I’m not going to take advantage of that. Not tonight. Not until you know me."
"But I do," I whispered. "I feel like I do."
He leaned in closer, his breath ghosting over my cheek. "That’s the bond talking. But I promise, little mate... I’ll give you time. I’ll give you space to want me for real, not just because your wolf says so."
I nodded. My heart was pounding so loud I was sure he could hear it.
He exhaled slowly, like he was trying to cool the fire crackling between us. His hands lowered, resting gently on my waist.
"You are beautiful, Mallory," he said in a voice that sounded like velvet and thunder. "Even without the bond, I would have seen you. Noticed you. Wanted you."
My breath hitched, and I stared up at him helplessly. "What do we do now?"
He tilted his head, watching me like I was the only thing that existed.
"Now?" he murmured. "Now, I let you go. Just for tonight."
"What if I don’t want you to?"
He clenched his jaw. The battle in his eyes was unmistakable. "You are my mate. You will be mine. But we’ll do this right."
His fingers traced the curve of my cheek as he added, "Even if it kills me."
And then, just as suddenly as he had caged me in, he stepped back... leaving a chasm in the air where his warmth used to be.
I wasn’t able to move. Couldn’t breathe.
But I already knew...
I was his.
And I had a feeling that Jasper Walker would never let me forget it.
I closed my eyes and started taking deep breaths to calm myself down. I wasn’t sure how long it took me, a few seconds or several long minutes, but once I was calm enough to walk, I raced out of the room.
I needed to find Eva.