Chapter 93: You're Not Wanted Here - Riven's POV

I didn’t remember leaving the hallway. One second I was standing there, my eyes locked with Raze’s and then I was walking.

Callista’s fear bled through the bond as everything else crashed around me. I blinked and looked at the walls that were no longer like the ones around Raze’s room. These were the walls where our rooms ‌were. The air was colder, quieter even.

Too quiet.

I braced myself against the wall, my claws digging in deep enough to crack the surface. I stared at them as if they didn’t belong to me. Maybe if I focused hard enough, they might shift back, but they didn’t.

A low breath dragged out of me, uneven and sharp. The silence pressed in, but it didn’t help. It didn’t make anything better. If anything, it made it worse.

Because now I could hear it. It wasn’t just the echo of what had been said. I could hear the demon lurking in the background. There was a faint, crawling presence at the edge of my thoughts, waiting and watching. It was like a quiet hum in my mind, almost curious.

There you are.

My jaw tightened instantly. “Get out. I don’t want this anymore.”

A soft chuckle brushed against my thoughts, too close, too familiar.

You felt it, didn’t you?

My grip on the wall tightened. A stone cracked beneath my claws.

“Shut up.”

“What?” Callista asked, hesitation in her voice.

Something twisted in my chest violently at the way she said it. My breathing hitched, and I shoved away from the wall as if it burned me. The hallway spun for half a second before settling, but the pressure in my head didn’t ease.

The demon was pushing his way to the surface and there was nothing I could do about it. It felt like I was slowly drowning. He took a breath of air while taking everything away from me, leaving me to suffocate in the darkness.

“No,” I choked out.

He had taken over one too many times, leaving me in the background to watch him. This time, I wasn’t letting it happen. Not yet at least.

I turned, only to find Callista stepping toward me with an outstretched hand. Then she stopped, her hand falling to her side.

“No,” I muttered, dragging a hand through my hair. “That’s not—”

She was afraid.

“I said shut up.”

My voice came out harsher this time, rougher, like it was being pulled from somewhere deeper than it should have been. The presence didn’t retreat. If anything, it pressed closer, threading through my thoughts as if it belonged there.

You felt it through the bond. She fears you.

My chest tightened, because I had. I knew I had. That was all that was coming off her in waves. She was scared of me. Hesitation and doubt laced each thought and I could feel it.

Some were smaller than others, but they were there and enough for me to know.

A growl built low in my throat as I turned, pacing once across the room before stopping abruptly. My movements were sharp, restless, as if I couldn’t stay still in my own skin.

“She’s not afraid of me,” I said, forcing the words out as if they might become true if I said them enough. “Of course, she’s not. She’s my mate.”

Another soft laugh echoed in my mind.

Not yet. You haven’t gone through the ceremony. There’s always a way out.

My vision flickered. For a split second, the room darkened at the edges, shadows stretching too far, too fast. My pulse spiked, and I squeezed my eyes shut, forcing it back.

Control. I needed control.

I drew in a slow breath, then another, focusing on the rhythm instead of the noise in my head. It didn’t go away, but it dulled just enough.

You bonded her to you, the voice continued, quieter now, almost thoughtful. That was your choice.

My hands curled into fists at my sides.

“I didn’t—”

You did.

The word cut clean.

And now she’s tied to you.

I blinked and Callista was there, her hand reaching up to cup my face. I almost pulled away, but she caught me before I could.

“It’s him, isn’t it?”

“Get away, Callista,” I hissed. “For your own good, get away.”

You can feel it. She’s not sure about you, even now when she acts so tender.

Something in me snapped.

“Enough!”

The word tore out of me as I slammed my fist into the wall.

Stone cracked under the impact, a sharp fracture splitting outward from where my hand connected. Pain shot up my arm, but it didn’t matter. It barely ‌registered.

The room fell silent again for a second, but then I heard him sneer.

You can lie to yourself all you want, but you’ve doomed her.

My breathing turned ragged and uneven.

“She trusts me,” I said, quieter now, but no less strained.

“Riven, I’m right here. Of course I do,” she whispered, her hand stroking my cheek. “Please come back to me.”

“I’m right here,” I said, my eyes fluttering. “I’m right here, Callista, but you need to go to your room.”

“No, I don’t want to be away from you,” she murmured. “You need me.”

“What I need is to be alone,” I snapped, trying to get away from her without hurting her. “I’m not good for you, Callista. I never was.”

“But Riven—”

“But nothing,” I said sharply. “You are in danger by being bonded to me. I thought…I thought that having a mate would save me.” Tears burned behind my eyes. “I let the demon share that vision with you so I could get you to give me a chance and push our bond.”

“I know, Riven,” she said softly. “You’ve told me you gave me that vision before.”

“I was so certain that if we bonded, ‌it would be over,” I said, my voice shaking with each word. “But with his back and forth, I don’t know what’s real. Now I learned that the Alpha King is my father and I was given away to the Nightshades—” Fates, that sounded so weird coming from my lips. “I’m adopted, Callista. I don’t even know who I am.”

“It’s okay, Riven. You’re you.”

“No, I’m the Alpha King’s son and adopted. I’m not even a real Nightshade. Now, I know that the demon is in both of us and he expects me to be the cure when it’s never been cured before.” It was sounding crazier and crazier by the minute as my mind unraveled everything we’d been through. “Callista, you need to go home. I’m going to get you out of this.”

“What?” She asked, her mouth falling open. “You can’t be serious. He said you needed me here. We’re doing this together, aren’t we?”

I shook my head, knowing that I couldn’t risk her. Not with what was revealed tonight. Everything was too risky.

I might lose myself and have to be killed, but that didn’t mean I was taking her with me. If pushing her away was the only option to saving her or even giving her a chance, then that was what I was going to do.

“Callista, it’s for the best. Go home. You’re not wanted here.”