Chapter 105: Bitten - Callista's POV

Everything in me froze, but not out of fear. It was instinct.

I knew there was no running from this. The day I knew he was my mate and that the dream was a possibility, I always suspected this was how we’d end.

The bond flared violently, snapping tight between us as if it knew before I did what was about to happen. And then I knew I needed to move. My body reacted a split second too slow, my mind still reeling from the shift in him.

“Riven—”

His name had barely left my lips before he was on me.

The force of it knocked the breath from my lungs as his hands gripped my arms. He wasn’t gentle or careful as I scrambled to get away from him. Well, it wasn’t him and I knew that.

The face of the man I knew was my mate, was feral. He was caught between forms, his wolf pushing through to the surface. Fur broke along his skin as his teeth shifted into fangs. I felt it through the bond that he wanted to save me, wanted to break free of the demon’s hold, but he couldn’t.

I stopped struggling, my eyes locking with his, noticing the lack of white. He was truly consumed.

But even seeing him like this, it still felt like him. That was the worst part.

If this wasn’t the day I died, then the day I finally did, it would be the same. I would die looking up at him and knowing the man that was supposed to love, honor, cherish, and protect me was also the one who made me meet my end.

I swallowed hard, still staring up at him as my hands trembled at my sides. A sharp jolt ran through me as his body pinned me in place. His black eyes burned into mine, empty and consuming all at once.

He snarled in my face.

“Riven,” I tried again, softer this time, even as my heart pounded wildly in my chest. “It’s me.”

His grip tightened. For a second, I thought he hadn’t heard me. That maybe he couldn’t, then something flickered. It was small and barely there.

“Oh, sure. Talk to him like he’s a feral house cat,” Raze snorted. “That will do the trick.”

The bond twisted sharply as Riven fought harder to get back to the surface. Behind him, I heard Raze shift, but he didn’t step in. He was watching and waiting to see what he did.

Riven leaned down, his nose caressing the side of my throat.

“Don’t—” Raze started, low and cautious, but cut himself off when he saw Riven’s entire body tremble.

His nose dragged up the side of my throat again, landing just below my ear. I felt his tongue barely trace the mark he left over a year ago.

Riven’s chest rose sharply. His grip faltered for half a second, then tightened again.

“Get…out…” he choked out, the words broken and strained.

Raze didn’t move at first. I barely saw him standing near the door.

“I can’t leave, brother,” he said with a hint of amusement. “You see, you have your mate pinned to the floor. If I leave and she dies, then that isn’t good.”

Riven pulled his face away and turned to look at Raze over his shoulder. I couldn’t see his face now.

“I said…get…out.”

“I heard you,” Raze said slowly. “But you can’t be like this with her. You’re scaring her.”

Riven looked down at me then, his eyes wide.

“You said we’d face this together,” I whispered. “I’m not leaving you again.”

A low, distorted sound tore from his throat, something between a growl and a choke. His hand lifted, fingers curling as if he didn’t know whether to push me away or pull me closer.

The bond surged again, harder and painfully. My breath hitched, but I didn’t look away.

“Riven,” I said again, firmer this time. “Look at me.”

For a second, nothing happened. Then, a crack.

His expression twisted, as if two forces were tearing him apart. His grip on me loosened just enough that it didn’t hurt anymore.

Then something else tried to break through.

“Calli—” The name dragged out of him as if it hurt.

Hope surged so fast it almost knocked the air from my lungs. “I’m right here,” I breathed.

Behind him, Raze exhaled slowly, as if he hadn’t realized he’d been holding his breath, but this moment didn’t last.

Riven’s body tensed violently, like something snapped back into place. The black flooded his eyes again, deeper this time, swallowing everything. The shift was immediate and so much worse.

“Move,” Raze said sharply this time.

“I can’t.”

And even if I could, I didn’t want to, because this was still Riven, my mate.

Riven didn’t answer. His chest rose and fell unevenly, each breath sharper than the last. His grip on me shifted again, not fully loosening this time. It tightened with something more desperate than violent.

His gaze dropped to my throat, and I understood at that moment what he needed. I tilted my head back, giving him access as his hand came up, rough and unsteady. He finished tilting my head to the side.

“Riven,” I whispered, my voice shaking.

His nose brushed my skin again, dragging slowly along the mark he had already left there. His entire body trembled as if he were holding himself back by threads that were already snapping.

“Mine,” he said, his voice sharp.

His fangs sank into my throat. The pain was immediate, sharp enough to rip a gasp from my chest, but it didn’t last. It melted into something else just as quickly, something that burned, pulled, and locked us together in a way that went far beyond the bond we already shared.

My fingers gripped ‌him without thinking, holding on as the connection between us surged violently, flooding through me until I couldn’t tell where I ended and he began.

Riven completely froze.

His grip on me faltered as if the moment his teeth broke my skin, something shifted inside ‌him. A strangled sound left him as he pulled back just enough to look at me, his expression fractured.

The black in his eyes flickered as blood dripped from his mouth onto my chin.

“Calli…” he rasped.

Then everything went still.