Chapter 13 Blood Trembor
Evra’s POV
I don’t know when the red shadow first appeared.
Not when I opened my eyes. Not when I got out of bed.
It was just… there. In the in-between spaces.
In the corner of the room that wasn’t fully dark.
In the narrow gap between the stone pillar and the wall.
In the faint reflection of the fireplace, nearly burned out.
The shadow didn’t move.
But I knew it was watching me.
I swallowed and forced myself to walk slowly toward the window. The heavy dark curtains were slightly pulled apart by the night wind. Cold air brushed my skin—but it never reached the deepest part of me.
Because there… Inside my blood… Something was trembling.
Not heat this time.
Vibration.
Like a string pulled far too tight.
I gripped the window ledge. The cold stone should have grounded me. It usually did. But tonight, even the cold felt… wrong. My body rejected sensations that came from the outside.
The red shadow flickered again at the edge of my vision.
I turned sharply.
Nothing.
Just a small shelf, a wooden chair, and ordinary shadows cast by dying firelight.
“Calm down,” I whispered to myself. “It’s just leftover exhaustion. Or stress.”
The words rang hollow.
Because the moment I said them, something spoke.
Not a whisper.
Not a distant echo.
The voice was… clear now.
“You don’t belong to them.”
I spun around, stumbling backward.
My back slammed into the stone wall. My breath broke apart as my heart surged wildly, pounding like it wanted out of my chest.
“Stop,” I hissed. “I’m not listening to you.”
The red shadow was no longer confined to the corner. It spread—like a thin blood-colored mist crawling along the floor, climbing the walls, pulsing in rhythm with my breathing.
“You were not made to be bound to wolves.”
I squeezed my eyes shut, pressing my palms to my temples.
“You’re wrong,” I gasped. “I wasn’t made for anything.”
A low laugh echoed—not in my ears, but in my bones.
“That’s exactly why.”
The vibration turned into pressure.
I felt something surge into my arms, into my fingers. The air around me throbbed, as if the walls themselves were breathing. The red shadow thickened—not forming a body, but real enough to make my chest tighten.
“You belong to us.”
The word us made my entire body go rigid.
“Who is us?” My voice cracked. “Who are you talking about?”
There was no direct answer.
Instead, the pressure spiked.
Red aura burst from my body without permission. It didn’t explode—but it was strong enough to make the furniture shake. The fire in the hearth bent unnaturally, as if drawn toward me.
I screamed, trying to hold the surge back with both hands, as if I could grab something invisible.
“No—no! Stop!”
The moment my scream broke louder, the bedroom door flew open.
Footsteps hit the floor fast.
And Magnus’s scent filled the room.
I felt his presence before I saw him. My heartbeat shifted instantly, as if my body recognized him before my mind could catch up.
But this time… The red aura wasn’t afraid of Magnus.
It resisted him.
Magnus stopped a few steps away. His eyes narrowed, his jaw tightening.
“Evra,” he called low. “Don’t let go of your control.”
“I’m not letting go!” I shouted. “I’m trying to hold it back!”
He stepped closer.
And when only a few steps separated us, something inside me—something that wasn’t me—pushed back.
The red aura lashed out like a wave.
Magnus was forced to stop. The air between us vibrated violently. I caught a flash of surprise on his face—not fear, but pure alertness.
“Evra,” he said again, softer this time. “Look at me.”
I wanted to.
But the pressure in my head made my vision pulse. The red shadows spun around me, forming a faint circle.
“He can’t hold it much longer. The bond isn’t complete.”
“What are you doing to me?” I sobbed.
Magnus finally broke through the aura.
I don’t know how he did it. Maybe sheer strength. Maybe something older than that. Or maybe it was the overwhelming dominance of his Alpha power.
His hand closed around my arm.
Pain struck instantly.
Not physical pain—but the collision of two energies rejecting each other.
I screamed. Magnus growled through clenched teeth. The skin on his arm reddened, as if burned from the inside.
“Magnus!” I tried to pull away. “Stop! You’re hurt!”
“Quiet,” he ordered harshly. “I’m not stepping back.”
He pulled me into his arms.
And for a moment—everything collapsed.
The red aura exploded outward, slamming into the walls and extinguishing the fireplace completely. The air grew heavy, nearly impossible to breathe.
And in the middle of that chaos…
I saw it.
Not a shadow.
Not mist.
A face.
A pair of deep red eyes stared at me from cracked darkness—sharp and… far too familiar.
Like Magnus.
Magnus—but older. Colder. Crueler.
The face didn’t smile.
But it recognized me.
“Finally.”
I screamed and clutched Magnus with everything I had.
“Magnus… please… I’m scared.”
His arms locked around me. His hands pressed against my neck, my back, holding my uncontrollable shaking in place.
“Listen to me,” he said directly into my ear, his voice low but steady. “Whatever it is… whatever is trying to take you… I will stand in front of you.”
The red aura shuddered violently, as if enraged.
Magnus pressed his forehead to mine.
“No matter what it takes to protect you,” he said quietly, almost like a vow, “I will protect you.”
And when those words fell…
Something in my chest… pulsed.
Not like a normal heartbeat.
The rhythm was… synchronized.
I felt it clearly. That pulse wasn’t mine alone.
It followed Magnus’s heartbeat.
I gasped, my body going slack in his arms. The red aura slowly receded, pulled back inward, as if something had locked it down.
The red shadows vanished from the room.
But I knew… It hadn’t left.
It was waiting.
I pressed my face to Magnus’s chest, listening to the heartbeat, one that now felt far too close to my own.
And deep within my blood, the voice whispered—calm, patient, utterly certain.
“The bond has begun. And if that ancient blood ever fully breaks free… you won’t even be able to touch that man again.”