Judy's POV:
Half-awake and half-asleep, I felt my face grow damp. The burning warmth made my heart jolt. When I opened my eyes, the dim light blurred with the figure above me and then drop after drop of tears fell onto my face, carrying a heat that tightened my heart as if it were being squeezed.
"Nick?"
I raised a hand to wipe my face, but my eyes stayed on him. "Did you have a nightmare?"
"…Mm."
He leaned over and buried his head against my shoulder. His whole body trembled, the kind of trembling a wolf cub has after being torn from its pack. His breath was hot and uneven, and I could feel his disordered heartbeat pounding straight against my collarbone, a rhythm far too familiar, as if it had been etched into my memory longer than a single lifetime.
"Sister… let me stay for one night."
His voice was hoarse to the point of burning, like a howl choked off in his throat. His fingers clutched my nightclothes so tightly that his knuckles turned white. The way he clung to me… was exactly like a wolf in despair, desperately holding onto the mate fate had chosen for him, even before he was consciously aware of it.
"Alright."
I answered softly, though a strange ache pierced my heart. I lifted my hand and stroked his hair, my instincts calming in a way even I couldn't explain. "But you have to behave. No messing around."
As I patted his back, I smiled faintly. "Don't be like when you were little falling asleep and rolling right off the bed."
"…Mm."
He replied, but his breathing gradually slowed, as though his heartbeat were finding its way back into orbit around mine.
He fell fast asleep only minutes later. And I… could no longer smile.
"Three times already…"
In four years, it had happened three times, three times his spirit collapsed and he ran to me, as if only my breath could pull him back from the abyss. A dependence so instinctive it made me uneasy, yet at the same time… made my heart respond to every tremor of his.
A mate bond…? I didn't dare think further.
I thought it would be hard to fall asleep, but when I opened my eyes, it was already morning. I had just escaped from a bizarre dream: I'd turned into a honey-filled rice dumpling, wrapped in leaves, and Nick wearing a teasingly bright smile had lifted me up, about to take a bite. A dream so vivid it startled me awake…
And then I understood why.
At this moment, I was completely pinned in his embrace. His powerful arm was wrapped around my waist, his legs locking me in as if he were claiming his own territory. His chin rested on the top of my head, his breath warm against the nape of my neck, possessive, instinctive, and filled with an alpha nature not yet fully awakened.
And the strangest thing was… I didn't want to leave that embrace.
A rational Judy would have escaped immediately. But the Judy right now only lifted her head to look at the sharp line of his jaw, beautiful, dangerous, yet somehow safe. My gaze slid down to his throat; just that brief moment was enough to make my heart tremble, as if an invisible string had been pulled tight.
Was I being too indulgent?
Yes.
But I liked the feeling so much that leaving never even crossed my mind. My face flushed as I burrowed deeper into his chest, as though hiding myself in a place that belonged only to me. I took a deep breath. His medicinal scent… was so familiar it felt like the smell of home.
In the silence, I heard his heartbeat. Strong, hot, and somehow perfectly attuned to mine in the most instinctive way a wolf could be. I felt flustered. In both of my lives, I had never experienced someone whose mere breathing could make my body react before my mind had time to think.
A mate bond… isn't it like this?
A knock at the door snapped me out of that haze. I startled and shrank into his arms like a small rabbit. Gita called from outside, "Miss?"
Nick's lashes fluttered; he opened his eyes, still groggy and disarmingly soft, without any guard up. When he lowered his head to look at me, his gaze softened so much it made my chest ache.
"Judy… you're awake already? Up so early."
I blushed. "Ah… yeah…"
"Do you want to sleep a little longer?"
He closed his eyes again and tightened his hold on me, purely on instinct. His chin rubbed lightly against my hair, like he was marking me.
I tried to push him away, though something inside me was reluctant to let go. He frowned, his voice faintly aggrieved.
"I want to sleep. Can you not move?"
That voice… was the voice of a small wolf clutching his mate, refusing to let go.
Gita called again outside the door. Already irritated, Nick grew even more annoyed. He hugged me tighter and spoke coldly toward the door.
"Go away."
I immediately pinched his waist. He jumped, his ears flushing red.
"Alright, alright… my fault." He softened at once, his voice turning muffled and coaxing. "Don't chase me away… just let me sleep a little longer."
Is this what a mate bond does making an alpha weak before the omega he's chosen?
I compromised until I noticed the poignard lying right by my feet.
"Nick, why did you bring a dagger onto the bed?"
He froze instantly. His ears turned bright red, his face flushing too and then he bolted upright and fled the room without a trace.
I sighed. "Annoying brat." But my heart softened all the same.
By the time breakfast was over, he still hadn't shown up. I had to go to his room and drag him out. His hair was still wet and cold.
"Cold water again? What if you catch a cold?" I scolded.
He looked at me, really looked at me like he wanted to carve me into the depths of his eyes.
"Sister." His voice was so soft it was instinctively seductive.
"What is it?"
Something was being restrained deep in his gaze, as though he were suppressing the alpha instinct rising beneath it.
"I'm sorry."
Before I could ask further, he smiled still that sun-bright smile.
"Judy, I'll take you riding."
The weather that day was dazzlingly beautiful. I sat beneath the shade of a tree, watching him ride across the grounds. When he finally approached, astride a black steed and leading a small white horse by the reins, I suddenly felt that what stood before me was no longer just a boy but an alpha of the plains, powerful enough to throw my heartbeat off rhythm.
He reached out his hand toward me, his smile so bright it seemed to dim the sky itself.
"Judy, come here."
And my heart called by name across two lifetimes trembled softly in response.