Chapter 106: It Was Me - Riven's POV

Silence didn’t exist, not really. It only felt like it did, because inside my head, everything was screaming. The moment my teeth broke her skin, something snapped hard and violently. It wasn’t the demon, though.

It was me.

Awareness slammed back into place so fast it made me falter as I hovered over her. My grip loosened as I dragged in a breath that didn’t feel like it was filling my lungs fast enough. The taste of her blood hit me a second later, metallic and sharp, and it nearly sent me spiraling again.

What did I do?

My gaze locked onto her, my vision flickering as the black receded just enough for me to see clearly again. Her face. The way she was looking at me.

It wasn’t with fear, but something close. That made it worse.

“Calli…” The name tore out of me, broken and raw.

My hands were on either side of her body, holding me up, but all I wanted to do was pull her close. My entire body trembled as control slipped through my fingers, though I fought hard to hold on to it.

Behind me, I heard Raze shift sharply.

“Well,” he muttered, quieter now. “That’s new.”

I ignored him. I couldn’t focus on anything but her.

Blood trailed down her throat, marking exactly where I had sunk my teeth in again. The sight of it twisted something deep in my chest, something dark and possessive that I immediately tried to crush down.

But I liked the look of my mark on her. It was something I didn’t understand at sixteen, the thrill of marking your mate. Now, it was intoxicating. I wanted to do it again, but stopped myself.

“I didn’t mean to—” My voice failed me. I swallowed hard and leaned on one elbow as I dragged my other hand through my hair. “Why didn’t you run?”

It came out harsher than I meant it to, because the truth sat heavier than anything else. I had lost control. And she had let me.

My jaw tightened as I forced myself to roll off her and lie on the floor, putting space between us before I did something worse.

“Are you hurt?” I asked, the words strained, barely holding together.

Stupid question. Of course she was, but I needed to hear it and know exactly how much damage I had done.

The bond pulsed between us, no longer distant or strained. It was alive and raw, terrifying me more than the demon ever had.

She didn’t answer right away.

For a second, all I could hear was my own breathing, which was too loud and too even, filling the space where her voice should have been. The bond pulsed again, sharper this time.

There was pain, but beneath it, there was something else.

“I’m fine,” she said, though her voice was softer.

I turned my head just enough to look at her without fully facing her again. She hadn’t moved far. She was still on the floor where I had left her, one hand lightly pressed to her throat, her fingers brushing over the mark I had just made.

My mark. My jaw clenched.

“You’re not fine,” I muttered. “Don’t lie to me. I just tore into you.”

Her hand dropped slowly, and I saw the faint smear of blood on her fingers. My stomach twisted hard at the sight, something dark and sick settling deep in my chest.

“I didn’t run because I didn’t want to,” she said after a moment.

That made me look at her fully.

Her gaze met mine, steady despite everything. “You were still in there,” she added quietly. “I felt you.”

The words hit harder than anything else tonight.

I drew in a slow breath, forcing myself to sit up, even though every instinct screamed at me to keep my distance. “You shouldn’t trust that,” I said, my voice rough. “Not when I lose control like that.”

“But I do,” she replied.

Of course she did, and that was a problem.

My hand curled against the floor as I fought the urge to go back to her, to check the wound, to make sure I hadn’t done more than I thought. The bond pulled at me relentlessly now, stronger than it had been in over a year.

“This is what I was trying to avoid,” I said quietly. “This right here.”

Her brow pulled together slightly. “Being close to me? Riven, what do you think is going to happen in six weeks when we are fully mated?”

“No, that’s not it,” I snapped, then exhaled, dragging a hand over my face. “Hurting you.”

Silence stretched again, but it wasn’t empty. It was full of everything we both understood now without needing to say it.

Her fingers curled slightly against the floor as she shifted, pushing herself up just enough to sit. The movement was slow, but she didn’t take her eyes off me for a second.

“You didn’t hurt me,” she said quietly. “You fought it and your wolf…well, I expected you to mark me again at some point. Mom warned me on the way over that male wolves, especially more dominant ones, get a tad…possessive upon reunion.”

A bitter huff left me as I looked away. “That’s not enough. No, you can’t excuse what I did.”

“I can,” she snapped.The certainty in her voice made something in my chest pull tighter than before. I shook my head once, dragging my gaze back to her despite myself. “You say that now, but what happens the next time I don’t stop? What happens when I don’t come back? What if it’s more than a bite?”

Raze cleared his throat. “I’m not sure I want to be here for this conversation.”

Still, even with those words spoken, he lingered near the door.

Callista noticed, her gaze going to him. “Your father said that you were gone, that the curse had taken you, so how are you standing here?”

Raze lifted a hand and rubbed the back of his neck. “It takes me more often than him,” he whispered. “But it’s been calm lately.”

She nodded, then looked back at me. Her hand lifted again, brushing lightly over the mark on her throat.

My eyes tracked the movement before I could stop myself, locking onto her throat. The skin was already knitting back together, the mark dark and unmistakable against it.

Something in my chest tightened hard enough to hurt. It was scarring over the first one.

“That…is healing a bit faster than the first one,” I muttered, remembering that it took a good few minutes before it was at this stage before. “Does it hurt?”

She shook her head slowly. “No. It’s just a small pinch before—”

Her cheeks turned a deep crimson. I knew what she was thinking. The bond told me as much. Before she felt pleasure.

My stomach dropped. I pushed myself to my feet, pacing and dragging both hands through my hair, which I seemed to do a lot at this point. “I just mate marked you again. You know that, right?”

“I do,” she replied without hesitation. “So the real question is, are you okay?”

That stopped me. “How are you okay with me losing control and acting like an animal to mark you again? You shouldn’t be sitting there and—”

Behind me, Raze let out a quiet breath, as if he didn’t want to interrupt whatever this was becoming. For once, he remained silent.

Callista shifted again, pushing herself fully upright now. “You keep acting like you’re gone the second it starts,” she continued, softer now. “But you’re not. I felt you fighting the entire time, and I knew I was safe. It looked like your wolf wanted to shift and make it was just him pushing because he needed to claim me again.”

My jaw clenched, but I didn’t look away. Yes, part of it was my wolf, but my demon was right there.