Chapter 39: Tonight, We Do This - Callista's POV

I woke to the sound of something breaking in his room. For a long moment, I thought I had dreamed it. But there was another crash, followed by a low, guttural sound that made every instinct I had scream that there was danger nearby.

It was coming from Riven’s room.

I threw off my covers and ran to the wall between our rooms, pressing my ear against it. There was another thump and a growl that sounded nothing like Riven’s wolf.

The demon.

My heart pounded as I rushed into the hallway, throwing open his door without knocking. The sight that greeted me stopped me cold.

His room was in a disarray. His desk chair was overturned and books were scattered across the floor. But none of that was what made my blood run cold. It was Riven.

He was on his knees in the center of the room, his entire body shaking violently. His hands were pressed against his head, his fingers digging into his skull and threaded through his dark hair. His eyes were flickering between red-gold and solid black.

“Riven.” I rushed forward, falling to my knees in front of him, but he snarled at me in an inhuman sound.

“Get out,” a voice that wasn’t Riven’s hissed. “You can’t stop this.”

“No.” I forced myself to inch closer. “Riven, I know you’re in there and I need you to come back. Your parents are going to see this.”

“They’re not home,” the voice said. “Had to run out to help a pack member.”

I reached up, my hand almost landing on his cheek, but his head snapped to the side, those black eyes locking onto me.

“Little seer,” the demon purred. Riven’s mouth formed the words, but the voice was the demon. “So brave. So foolish. He can’t hear you anymore.”

“You’re lying.” I grabbed his face with both hands, pulling him closer. “Riven, come back to me. I need you to come back now.”

His hand shot out, grabbing my wrist. The demon smiled with his face, and it was wrong in every way.

“He’s ours now,” the demon sneered. “He’s been fighting so long, trying to be good for you, but it’s exhausting. All that control. All that restraint.” The demon pulled me closer. “We can let him rest and be at peace. All he has to do is let go.”

“Never. You aren’t winning,” I snapped. “Riven, don’t listen to the demon. Please. I need you. Not him.”

For a moment, nothing changed. The black eyes stared at me without recognition. The bond flared between us. I felt it like a lifeline connecting us, and grabbed onto it with everything I had.

Riven. I know you're in there. Fight. Please fight.

I sent the thought down the bond, willing him to hear me and feel me.

You promised you'd always come back to me. You promised. So come back. Right now. Come back.

Something flickered in those black eyes. A flash of red-gold fighting through the darkness.

That's it. That's it. Fight for us. For our bond. For our future.

The demon snarled, its grip on my wrist tightening painfully. “No, we have control. We won't give it back—”

"RIVEN!" I screamed it out loud and down the bond simultaneously. "COME BACK TO ME!"

He gasped, his entire body convulsing. I watched as the red-gold began bleeding back into his eyes. Riven fought his way back to the surface.

“Callista…I—” His voice was strained. “Run—”

"No." I grabbed his face with both hands now, forcing him to look at me. "I'm not leaving you. Fight it. You're stronger than this."

"I'm not—" His body shook harder. "It's too strong. I can't—"

"You can." I pressed my forehead to his. "Feel me. Feel the bond. Use it and use me.”

The bond flared brighter, and I felt the moment Riven grabbed onto it like a drowning man. He used our connection like an anchor, pulling himself back from the edge.

Slowly, the demon's presence faded and was pushed back down. When Riven finally collapsed forward against me, he wrapped his arms around me.

"I almost—" His voice broke. "I almost lost it completely."

“But you didn’t,” I said, wrapping my arms around him just as tightly. “You came back.”

“Barely,” he murmured, pulling back enough to look at me. The fear in his gaze was devastating. “Callista, it’s getting stronger too fast. You shouldn’t have stayed here.”

"Don't." I pressed my fingers to his lips. "Don't think about what might have happened. You're here and you’re okay."

"For how long?" He stood abruptly, pacing through the destruction of his room. "How long before the next time I don't come back? Before the demon wins and I hurt someone?" His eyes found mine. "Before I hurt you?"

"You won't—"

"You don't know that!" His voice rose, then immediately softened with remorse. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to yell. But Callista, tonight scared me. I felt it taking over, felt myself slipping away, and there was nothing I could do to stop it."

I stood, crossing to him. "But you did stop it with the help from our bond. You can come back.”

"This time." He ran his shaking hands through his hair. "What about next time? What if—"

“There won’t—”

"We can't keep doing this," he said quietly. "Living like this and pretending everything's fine when we both know it's not isn’t going to work.”

"Then what do we do?"

He looked at me, and I saw the decision forming in his eyes before he said it. "We will seal the bond properly tonight.”

My heart stuttered. "Riven, we're sixteen. We agreed to wait—"

"I know what we agreed on." He crossed to me, taking my hands. "But that was before tonight, before I almost lost control completely, and before I realized that waiting two years might be two years too long."

"Your parents will kill us. Mine definitely will,” I said, my words barely above a whisper.

"Maybe." His thumb traced circles on my palm. "But they'll have to accept it after it's done. And Callista—" His voice dropped. "The Moon Goddess said love would contain the demon. Real, true love. But the bond isn't complete. It's only half-formed, and that's not enough anymore."

"So you want to—"

“Bite each other, marking us properly,” he said, swallowing hard. “I think that will calm the demon down enough.”

The weight of what he was suggesting hit me. Biting and marking were permanent and irreversible. Once we did that, there was no going back. We'd be bound completely, regardless of our age.

"What if it doesn't work?" I asked quietly. "What if we seal the bond and the demon is still too strong?"

“Then at least we have tried.” His forehead pressed against mine. “But I think it will work. The Moon Goddess wouldn’t have marked us this early if she didn’t think we could handle it. And every time you pull me back, it's the bond that does it. If we make the love between us stronger—”

"The demon gets weaker," I finished.

"Exactly."

I thought about my mother's words from earlier. How long before pulling him back isn't enough? Thought about tonight, about how close Riven had come to being consumed completely.

Thought about the Moon Goddess's command. Stay with him. Love him through the darkness.

"When?" I asked.

Hope flared in his eyes. "You mean—"

"When do we do this?"

"Tonight." The word came out firm. "Tomorrow night at the latest. We can't wait any longer."

"Where?"

"There's a clearing in the woods. It’s private and quiet, where we won’t get caught or interrupted.” His hands cupped my face. “It’ll be somewhere that is ours. Then, when we’re eighteen, we’ll have our official ceremony.”

I nodded slowly, my heart racing. "Tonight, then. After we confirm where your parents are.”

"Are you sure?" He searched my eyes. "Callista, once we do this, there's no undoing it. You'll be marked as mine, I'll be marked as yours. Everyone will know. Everyone will smell it. And we'll face consequences from our families, from the packs—"

“Yes, I know,” I cut him off. “My mind is made up. I’d rather face angry parents than lose you to that thing.” I stood on my toes, bringing our faces level. “Let’s do this.”

His kiss was fierce, desperate, and so full of relief, fear, and love all tangled together. When we broke apart, we were breathing hard.

“Thank you,” he whispered.

"Don't thank me yet," I said with a shaky laugh. "Wait until we're both grounded for the rest of our lives."

“It’ll be worth it,” he said, quickly kissing me again. “You should get back to your room until I find out where they are and when they come back.”

“Fine,” I said, slowly peeling myself away from him.

He walked me to his door, then caught my hand before I could leave. "Callista? I love you. I know it's fast, I know we're young, but I do. I love you."

My throat tightened with emotion. "I love you too. That's why we're doing this."

I returned to my room, but sat on the bed, processing everything we were about to do.

Tonight, we'd seal the bond. Tonight, I'd become fully, irrevocably Riven's mate and he'd be mine.

The consequences would be severe. Our parents would be furious. The pack might challenge it. I almost thought about the Alpha King, but shoved that thought away.

We’d deal with one problem at a time.

Right now, the only thing that mattered was saving Riven from the demon. And if marking each other was what it took, then that's what we'd do.

Stay with him, the Moon Goddess had said. Love him through the darkness.

I was about to take that command very literally.