Adrian
The second my teeth leave his skin, I feel the fire everywhere.
I don't have time to second-guess this decision, even though I know I've fully lost all fucking control. I marked him, I claimed him as mine, and he doesn't even understand what he agreed to. I should know better, and once this gets out, I'm fucking screwed.
I don't have time to think about it as his blood flows through my veins, hot and unrelenting, tethering me to him with a force that makes my chest ache. My wolf paces inside me, satisfied, growling mine over and over until it's all I can hear.
I just wanted to prove to him that he is all I see. That Marissa means nothing to me. I didn't plan to mark him. There's too much uncertainty involving him right now. Marking him when I don't even know if he would successfully turn isn't the right decision.
Jamie sags against me, trembling, his breath ragged. His hand is still squeezing my shirt like he's afraid I'll vanish if he lets go. His pulse beats wildly against my lips, quick and fragile, and I realise too late that I've left a mark that can never be erased.
He's still in a daze.
He doesn't understand any of this.
Would he forgive me?
My hands stay on him, so he doesn't fall, lifting him easily and lowering him onto the bed. My bed. He sinks into the sheets, eyes half lidded, dazed, his throat flushed where my bite bleeds faintly.
The bite will wear him off for a couple of days. Which should give me enough time to think things through. Anyone who comes a mile away from me will smell his scent all over me. I have his blood running through my veins. He is mine now, and I didn't give him a chance to understand it
For a moment, all I can do is stare. At the mark. At him.
It's done.
He's mine.
And I've never been more terrified in my life.
I should feel in control. I should feel powerful. But all I feel is the weight of this decision I made, the bond burning between us, his scent now tangled permanently with mine. I'll never be able to leave him now.
Never be able to let him go.
His eyes flutter open, glassy but sharp enough to catch me hovering over him. "Adrian..." his voice is hoarse, weak.
I swallow hard, forcing my voice steady. "Don't talk. Rest."
His lips twitch like he wants to argue, but I know he won't be able to get a word out. Exhaustion drags him under before he can even utter a word. I stay there long after his breathing evens out, watching his chest rise and fall, listening to the rhythm of his heartbeat, now forever tied to mine.
Luca's words echo in my head. You'd burn the world to protect him.
Maybe I already have.
I drag a hand over my face, exhaling slowly, fighting down the wolf still snarling with satisfaction. I never should have let this happen. Not like this. Not out of anger and desperation.
But when I look at him again, marked, safe, mine, I know this was the only way I could keep him here with me.
***
I stayed with him all night.
Not like I can even leave him right now. He's still passed out from the exhaustion that comes with a mark. I use the time to think about what I did. And the time only makes me panic more.
I fucked up.
Badly.
I'm supposed to be reasonable.
I'm the fucking alpha.
Jamie is asleep on my bed, the mark on his throat raw and red, his scent filling every corner of the room. The only part of me that is satisfied is my wolf, but my stomach twists. I know what I've done. I know what this means.
The door opens without a knock.
"Adrian," Luca's voice cuts off like a blade. His eyes land on Jamie sprawled against my sheets, then on the mark at his neck. His face drains of colour.
"Oh, Goddess." His voice is sharp, but not cruel, rattled, shaken. "Tell me you didn't."
I stand, shoulders squaring instinctively. "I did."
His breath shudders, panic flashing across his face. "Adrian, do you realise what you've...this isn't just some slip, this isn't something you can cover up. You've marked him. A human. No...worse than that. A half-turn. The elders..."
"Enough," I snap, but my voice comes out too rough, too raw. Jamie stirs faintly at the sound, and I force myself to lower my tone. "Don't wake him."
"Don't wake him?" Luca hisses, keeping his voice low but his panic spilling anyway. "Adrian, do you understand? This will bring the council down on us. They'll strip you of Alpha if they think you've lost control. They'll..."
"What?" My wolf rises, my voice rumbling, dangerous. "Kill him? Tear him away from me? Over my dead body."
That's when Bev bursts in, hair dishevelled, eyes sharp with alarm. "What's going on? I heard..."
Her gaze falls on Jamie. On the mark.
Her lips part. "Adrian."
He turns on her instantly, frantic. "He marked him. He marked him, Bev. Tell me I'm not the only one losing my mind here."
My sister's face cycles through shock, disbelief, then something harder, resignation. She looks from Jamie's sleeping body to me, and when she speaks, her voice is quieter, steadier.
"You can't undo this."
"I don't want to," I bite out.
"You don't have a choice anymore," She says, stepping further in. "The bond is sealed. The pack will feel it. The elders will feel it. By tomorrow, there won't be a wolf alive who doesn't know you claimed someone."
Luca runs a hand through his hair, pacing. "This is chaos. Absolute chaos."
I glare at them both, my wolf pushing hard beneath my skin. "Enough. I know what I've done. I'll face the council. I'll face anyone who dares challenge it. But he stays with me. He's mine now."
He shakes his head, "Did you even explain any of this to him? Does he even know what we are? What he is?"
Guilt resides in my expression and shock on theirs.
"Adrian...tell me you at least explained things to him so that he could choose his own."
I look away.
They both look utterly disappointed, and I don't blame them.
The room crackles with silence. Luca looks wrecked, Bev looks wary, and Jamie stirs faintly in the bed, oblivious to the storm crashing outside his dreams.
And in that silence, one truth sears itself deeper into my chest:
I'll burn every bridge, defy every law, and fight every wolf in this country before I let them take him from me.