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Chapter 29 - 29

The stage lights hit like lightning.

Too sharp. Too sudden. Too much.

The crowd surged as the music cracked through the air like a storm unleashed—cheers and screams rolling in waves that barely reached my ears.

But none of it touched me.

Not really.

I stood frozen behind the velvet barrier near the wings, tucked in shadows, hidden in a mass of other idols, producers, and executives—all here for the same thing.

TITAN's debut.

A multinational girl group, built like a dynasty before they ever sang a note.

People whispered about their concept. About their numbers. About the siren-voiced girl from the States. About her.

I hadn't said a word the entire night. Just nodded where I had to. Just stood there like my own ghost.

Because the moment they said her name two months ago,something inside me cracked.

I told myself it meant nothing.That fate was a story we told ourselves to feel less alone.That "mate" was just biology gone rogue.

And yet...

The second the lights dimmed—The second she stepped into the spotlight—I shattered.

She didn't even speak.

Just looked up. Silver eyes scanning the crowd but never finding me.And then she sang.

And gods.

Her voice wasn't just a sound.It was a weapon.

Sweet. Sharp. Sorrow-stitched.A note dipped in mourning and fire, wrapped in breath, and aimed like a blade at the center of my chest.

My wolf, Dal, lunged so hard I saw stars.

There,he roared inside me.There she is. Ours. Ours—go to her. Touch her. Claim her. NOW.

"No," I hissed under my breath, fingers digging into the railing so hard the metal bit back.

But it didn't matter.

I couldn't look away.

Not from her.Not from Dwyn.

On stage, she looked carved from something divine. Her skin gleamed like dusk. Her braids caught the light like silver-threaded vines. She wore the stage like armor—moving like she was made of wind and gravity, born for this exact moment.

I'd watched her debut teaser online like an addict relapsing.

But nothing—nothing—prepared me for the real thing.

Because now, it wasn't just her voice that broke me.

It was her presence.

Her scent brushing the edges of the space between us.

The invisible thread that yanked my soul taut like a leash I couldn't cut.

She's calling,Dal growled, pressing his paws against my ribs.She doesn't even know it, but she's calling you. Feel it, Jaerin. Her wolf knows. Her blood knows.

Ifeltit.

Every beat of her song pulled something loose in me.Every note scraped through my bones.

I couldn't breathe.

Couldn't move.

Couldn't think.

The chorus swelled, and my lungscollapsed.It was like being caught in the center of a storm, with her voice the eye.

Dal howled, tail thudding, claws raking at the inside of my skin.

She's it. Ours. She hung the moon, Jaerin—can't you see it?

I wanted to scream.

Because Ididsee it.

And it scared the hell out of me.

Because no one—no one—had ever done this to me. Not even—

I flinched. Shoved that thought away.

That bond had been shallow. One-sided.

This?This was an ocean trying to swallow me whole.

And I was drowning in front of a thousand people who had no idea that one girl's voice was splitting me open from the inside out.

She hit the bridge of the song like she'd been born for it. Like it washers. The high note came—clear, aching, devastating—and I felt my knees buckle.

I had to grab the edge of the barricade to stay standing.

Dal whimpered.Then snarled.

Let me out,he begged.Let me go to her. We belong with her. Don't you feel it? We've waited. We've waited for this moment across every version of time—

"Stop," I breathed. "Stop, stop, stop—"

But it was already too late.

Because somewhere in that final verse—She felt me.

Her body froze, just for a second. Her eyes shifted. Confused. Like something had brushed the edges of her awareness.

Her wolf knew.

I felt it hit her like a spark in a dark room.

And in that second, time folded around us like paper.

It didn't matter that we were strangers. That we hadn't spoken. That I'd spent weeks trying to bury this.

Because she was mine.

And I?

I wasalready hers.

The lights cut. The music stopped. The audience erupted.

I almost dropped to the floor.

Because I could no longer pretend.

The bond was real.

And it was burning me alive.

I couldn't breathe.

I stood there, knees locked, shoulders heaving like I'd just run a marathon.

The crowd screamed around me. The lights flared again. Her name echoed across the studio like prophecy.

But inside, it was chaos.

Dal wasn't pacing anymore.He was clawing.

Let me OUT. Let me go to her. She's close—Jaerin, please, she's RIGHT THERE.

My fingers slipped from the railing. My body jolted forward.

No.No, no, no—I couldn't do this. Not here. Not like this.

But I wasn'tincontrol anymore.

Dal pushed, and my legs moved.

One step. Then another. Through the VIP gate. Past security who parted like instinct knew better than protocol. They didn't stop me. Couldn't. I didn't even look at them.

I walked like a man being pulled on a leash made of fire.

The corridors behind the stage were dim and humming with low chatter, staff running back and forth, voices crackling through earpieces. None of it registered.

I could only hear my heartbeat.

My boots echoed on the concrete floor. Fast. Unsteady.

Closer,Dal growled.She's behind that door. I can feel her heartbeat. I can smell her—gods, Jaerin, I cansmellher.

He wasn't wrong.

Her scent slid under my skin before I even turned the corner.Sea-salt, pine trees and warmth and something wild. Something unplaceable and hers.

It hit me like a drug. Like drowning in something I didn't want to be saved from.

I staggered.

"Jaerin?" someone called. One of the assistant managers. "You okay, man? You look—"

I didn't hear the rest.

Dal shoved harder.

I reached the backstage dressing corridor just as a producer pushed through one of the double doors markedCREATIVE DIVISION / ARTIST HOLDING.

I should've stopped. Should've turned around. Should've remembered everything I'd told myself for two months about fate being a curse.

But her voice had already wrecked me.

And her presence?

That was the kill shot.

I opened the door.

And there she was.

Dwyn.

Standing at the far end of the hallway, hair damp with sweat, makeup still glowing under the fluorescents, surrounded by her group. She was laughing at something some girl I didn't bother to acknowledge said, one hand pressed to her chest like she couldn't quite believe what just happened.

But then—

She stilled.

Her body froze like prey sensing a predator.

Her silver eyes turned.

Met mine.

And—

The world.Stopped.

Dal howled inside me—pure sound, no words.

Because he didn't need them.

Everything he'd waited for, every thread he'd followed across dream and blood and bone, was here.

And she saw me.

Not like a stranger.Not like a fan.Like... like sheknew.

Her lips parted.

Her eyes widened.

Something shimmered behind them—like memory without context. Like grief and want colliding at once.

My body took a step forward. I didn't tell it to.

Dal did.

But then—A hand.On my chest.

Minjoon.

"Bro," he said low. "What are you doing?"

I blinked, chest heaving, unable to answer.

Because in front of me was the one thing I had run from.

And now?

Now she was looking at me like she felt it too.

Dal was losing his mind. Whining. Scratching. Wagging his invisible tail.

Touch her,he begged.She's ours. She's always ours. Just... touch her.

But I didn't move.

Couldn't.

Because her group was watching now. The other girls turned toward me, protective, curious. Their auras sharp like teeth bared beneath all the glam.

Dwyn's hand fell to her side. She was shaking.

She didn't speak.

Didn't move either.

But her eyes—gods, thoseeyes—they stayed locked on mine.

And in them, I saw everything I had tried to bury.

The bond. The pull. The ache.

She knew.

She knew.

I took a step back.

Dal screamed inside me.

But I turned away.

Because I was still afraid.

Because I hadn't earned this.Because I was broken, and she—She was glorious.

And I was not ready to fall.

Even if I already had.

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