Chapter 11 Forbidden bond
IRIS
I’m on the floor before the door even shuts behind me.
The sob rips out of me like something breaking open, and once it starts, it won’t stop. My hands claw at the rug, trying to hold onto something, but nothing steadies me. My chest aches like I’ve been punched straight through.
Hot, bitter tears flood down my face. My scarf is tossed somewhere across the room, the dress I wore to impress him is wrinkled and tight and suddenly unbearable on my skin.
Why did I go? Why did I think…
The door creaks open.
“Iris?” Daisy’s voice comes quiet, unsure.
When she sees me on the ground, my back shaking with sobs, she doesn’t ask another question. She just drops beside me, arms around my shoulders. I crumble into her. I can’t hold it together.
“Iris,” she whispers. “What happened?”
I suck in a breath, sharp and shaky. “She kissed him.”
Daisy stiffens. “Who?”
“Some girl,” I spit, voice cracking. “Came running down the stairs like she was the main character in a fairytale. Darian!” I mimic her, eyes stinging. “She kissed him. And he just stood there.”
“Oh my god…”
“He didn’t even look at me. Not once. I was right there.” My voice breaks again. “And she just wrapped herself around him like she’s done it a million times.”
“Did he say anything?”
“No. He didn’t have to.” I pull away from Daisy, wiping my face with trembling hands. “She belongs to him, Daisy. I saw it. And he just let it happen.”
Daisy’s face falls. “Iris…”
I laugh bitterly, wiping angrily at fresh tears. “I was so stupid. I thought if I was near him, if I talked to him, if I tried to understand, he’d see me. Just see me.”
Daisy touches my arm. “You don’t know who she is. Maybe it’s-”
The room is silent except for my ragged breathing.
And in the middle of my heartbreak, I feel it, something mean and sharp beneath the sadness.
I hate that she touched him. I hate that he let her. And I hate how much it hurts.
The worst part wasn’t even the kiss.
It was me, standing there like an idiot, still clutching my napkin, half-turned like I was going to say something.
But I didn’t. I couldn’t.
Because in that moment, I didn’t exist.
I wasn’t the girl he marked. I wasn’t the one who’d sat through awkward silences with his brothers or braved the stares in the Lycan’s Haven. I wasn’t anyone. Just a shadow at the corner of his life.
I’d come there with this foolish hope blooming in my chest like maybe, he’d look at me. Say my name. Let me know this pull between us wasn’t one-sided.
And instead… she ran into his arms.
Like she’d always belonged there.
And he didn’t flinch. Didn’t pull away.
And I just stood there.
Frozen. Humiliated. Eyes wide. Every smile I forced at dinner, every teasing remark I’d batted off from Adrian… it all came crashing down on me. Like I was a side show they’d let tag along for fun. Like I was the joke.
I bit the inside of my cheek so hard I tasted blood, but it didn’t stop the heat rising in my face. My ears. My chest.
I wanted the floor to swallow me whole.
That moment, that look on his face as she kissed him, it seared into my mind. Not surprise.
Just familiarity.
Like she was the one who had a right to him.
And I was just… wrong.
How could I have been so stupid?
“I just… I feel so stupid, Daisy,” I say, my voice cracking as I sit up, wiping my face. “He could have told me.”
Daisy sits beside me, arms still around my shoulders. “Told you what, Iris?”
“That she existed!” I snap. “That Darian had a girlfriend! Adrian knew. He knew, and he still told me to come. He invited me for dinner, Daisy. Like it was some casual, friendly gesture.” I give a bitter laugh. “What was it then? A setup? A show?”
“Iris…” Daisy says gently.
“No.” I shake my head. “Don’t defend him. Don’t tell me he was trying to help. If he was, he would’ve said something. He let me go there, he let me sit at that damn table with all of them, laughing and pretending, and then just stood there when she came flying into Darian’s arms.”
“You don’t know what Adrian’s intentions were-”
“I trusted him, Daisy!” My voice is louder now. “I made a deal with him. I tutored him. I went out of my way, humiliated myself just to get close enough to talk to Darian and, and he let me walk straight into that like it was some kind of game.”
“Maybe it wasn’t-”
“Oh, come on.” I scoff, voice shaky. “He’s a royal. He knows everything that happens in that place. You think he didn’t know Darian’s girlfriend would be there? You think he didn’t see it coming? I bet they all did.”
The ache in my chest tightens. “Maybe that was the point. Maybe it was all a joke to them.”
“You don’t know that,” Daisy whispers.
“I do.” My eyes fill again. “Because no one stopped it. No one looked at me. Not Adrian. Not the other brothers. Not even Darian.”
For a second there I almost direct my anger towards her. Why is she looking for excuses for them? Trying to convince me that it might not be what it seemed like.
She wasn’t there, I was! I was the one who did the walk of shame out of that fucking haven. And Adrian, he didn’t bother saying anything to me after he all happened.
“Do you feel like… he used you?” Daisy asks softly.
I nod, a tear sliding down again. “I don’t even know anymore. I just know I’ve never felt so small in my life.”
And the worst part?
I still want to see him. I still want answers. I still want him.