Chapter 70: Love to Hide - Callista's POV

For the longest time, nothing happened. The warmth of the bond remained steady, like the slow beat of a heart I had learned to recognize as his. I kept waiting and waiting, wondering if I had imagined things a moment ago when I felt a second presence. Maybe the darkness I felt earlier had only been fear twisting the connection between us.

But then something shifted again. It wasn’t exactly movement or anything strong. It was subtle, like a ripple across the water. My breath caught as the warmth flickered and tugged, dipping just slightly before returning again.

“That’s you,” I whispered quickly, clinging to the feeling before it slipped through my fingers again. “Riven, I know that’s you.”

The bond tightened faintly in response, sending a rush of warmth through my chest that made my fingers curl into the blanket.

Relief flooded through me so suddenly that my eyes stung.

“You’re still there,” I breathed, my voice shaking with it.

Of course he was still there and I had known that already. I had seen him fighting through the chaos the demon brought with my own eyes, but feeling him like this made the truth settle deeper into my bones.

The warmth suddenly moved, dropping off and becoming colder.

My entire body tensed as something brushed across the bond, darker and heavier than the feeling of Riven. It didn’t push fully into the connection, but it lingered at the edge like a shadow stretching across sunlight.

My eyes snapped open.

“Go away,” I said immediately, sitting up on the bed as my pulse started to race again.

The darkness didn’t retreat. If anything, it seemed to curl closer, testing the edges of the bond like a claw tracing the surface of glass.

My stomach twisted. I wasn’t imagining things. The demon’s presence was really there, right next to our bond.

“He told me you could hide,” I whispered, my voice tightening. “But that doesn’t mean I’m going to let you.”

The shadowy presence shifted again, faint amusement flickering through the bond before fading just as quickly. A chill slid down my spine.

“You think this is funny?” I asked quietly.

For a moment, there was no response.

I collapsed against the bed just as warmth surged again. It was stronger this time, pushing the darkness back.

My mind was a mess as I realized that the demon was pushing his bond to me to show me that what Riven had said was true. He was only hiding because he wanted to. Not because Riven was actually winning.

The realization made my stomach twist violently into knots.

For a second, I couldn’t breathe as the truth settled over me. This wasn’t Riven forcing the demon back. The demon truly did choose to step aside. He chose when I felt him.

My fingers tightened in the blanket beneath me as anger sparked through the fear.

“You’re proving your point,” I whispered hoarsely, staring up at the ceiling as if I could see through it. “That’s all this is and I’m the fool who didn’t realize it.”

The warmth pulsed again, but it felt different knowing what I did. Now that I knew the warmth was Riven, and the coldness was the demon, I could sense them both now. Side by side, forever entwined.

I laughed to myself at that thought. “No, not forever entwined. One day, he’ll be safe. The demon and whatever else won’t exist.”

I imagined a future where Riven and I were the Alpha and Luna of the Nightshade pack with children running around us. Maybe we’d have one or two, or even three. They’d have my hair and his red-gold eyes. They’d laugh and play, knowing their parents had chosen each other after an…early and unusual mating. No mention of demons or the other things we’re facing.

It’s a beautiful dream, a dark voice seemed to say. My eyes snapped open.

But what if that isn’t your future? Maybe you’ll give him a child and that is when he’ll lose himself. You don’t know what the future holds or when I’ll decide to snap.

“You love to try to confuse us, don’t you?” I dragged a hand over my face as frustration took hold. “Do you think you’re going to scare me into leaving him?”

For a brief moment, the darkness brushed the bond again, light and mocking.

A shiver ran down my spine, but I forced myself not to pull away this time. If I recoiled every time he touched the connection, then he would win. I couldn’t let him dictate how I reacted.

“You’re not him,” I said firmly, focusing on the warmth beneath everything else. “And you’re not going to make me doubt him.”

The darkness hovered there, silent as a statue.

You don’t know him.

That time I flinched. “Know him? Of course I know Riven.”

I scoffed and looked away toward the opposite wall. But that thought stuck with me.  I barely knew Riven, and the demon knew that. We saw each other about three weeks ago at the border, which was the first time we had met. The first time we spoke was two weeks ago, roughly.

We had already said we loved each other, and honestly, our entire relationship seemed ridiculous. Who did that? Sure, we were fated for each other, but was it really this simple?

You one day wake up, were marked, and then you fall in love instantly? Was that how mate bonds worked?

I reached up, covering my eyes with the back of my hand. “He’s making me doubt everything.”

There was a thump on the other side of the wall that sounded like a shoe dropping to the floor. I ignored it. The second thump made me jump. I uncovered my eyes, swearing it was just his other shoe, but then I remembered he came to see me with sock feet. Those weren’t his shoes.

I sat up straighter, my eyes focused on the wall separating our rooms.

There were a series of thumps, followed by a low growl.

“Riven? Are you okay?” I asked, hoping I was loud enough for him to hear through the wall.

Silence filled the air and for several long seconds, I sat there and stared, wondering what was happening in his room.

But he never said a word.