Page 65 of Before the Bond
I dismissed them.
The study emptied out and I was left with the low light and the sound of the house settling. I stayed there for a moment.
Remembering everyone's faces only made me want to question my own decisions.
“This is the best way,” I told myself.
As I made my way out, I caught sight of Stella and Donovan by the foyer. They stopped just short of the threshold. Donovan reached for the door handle at the same moment Stella’s hand came up to push it open, and both of them went still.
The shadow it cast against the side of their faces made it hard to read their expressions. They didn’t seem to notice. I did.
Stella lowered her hand first.
“Why didn’t you push harder?”
Donovan kept his hand on the door handle. He didn’t turn to look at her. “Have you tried pushing Caleb? Besides, I’ve been pressuring him since the first time he picked up their scent.”
Stella scoffed. “You pushed until it got uncomfortable. That’s not the same thing.”
“The bond could cost him, Stella.”
I noticed him linger on her name. He tried to continue. “If the distance —”
“Don’t.”
Stella stepped closer to him. Her eyes glowed as she sneered at him.
“Of course I know what the bond could do,” she said. “That changes nothing.”
A pause. She folded her arms. “You know, everyone says you’re the brave one. But that only applies to when you have the least to lose.”
Donovan opened the door wider. “You of all people,” he said, “don’t get to say that.”
Stella took her cue.
Before she left fully, I caught her last words.
“You’re a coward, Donovan.”
The door shut behind her.
I went out for the midnight run. It was my third perimeter check of the day and my body knew it.
I wasn’t in any pain. Not yet, at least.
I'd run these trails for years in both forms and could do it half-asleep, even with the fog slowing me down.
But the fatigue I felt tonight had little to do with physical exertion.
I thought about the night on the porch. Olivia beside me, moonlight on her skin. I remembered the way she looked at me when I asked if she wanted to stay. The feeling of her leaning closer, the kiss.
More importantly, Olivia kissed me first.
I kept returning to that. The way she closed the distance before I did. The way it felt like a decision she made deliberately, not something the bond swept her into. I wanted to believe that. It should have made me the happiest person in the world.
I ran another round along the east.
The scent-marks were where I found them. They were no longer fresh, but they were still taunting me.
