Chapter 94: Go Home, Callista - Riven's POV

The words felt wrong the second they left my mouth. It wasn’t because I didn’t mean them. It’s because everything in me fought them the second they were out in the open. I didn’t want her to go. I didn’t want to be away from her, but this was too dangerous.

The bond reacted instantly as if I had hurt her. It tightened in a way that made my chest ache. This pain cut deeper than anything.

Callista went still, her expression shifting as she stared at me as if she didn’t recognize what I had just said. For a second, she didn’t respond. I could feel her trying to sort through it, trying to understand if I meant it or if this was just the demon twisting things again.

“Not wanted?” She repeated finally, her voice quieter now, but there was something steady underneath it. Something that didn’t match the way the bond trembled between us. “You don’t mean that.”

I forced myself to hold her gaze, even though everything in me wanted to look away. “You heard me.”

Her brows pulled together, confusion flickering across her face before it hardened into something else. “No,” she said, shaking her head slightly. “I heard what you said. I just don’t believe you. You need me here and I’m staying.”

My jaw tightened. “Believe whatever you want. It doesn’t change anything.”

“It changes everything,” she shot back, taking a step closer before she caught herself. The hesitation hit me through the bond, but it wasn’t fear of me. It was fear of what I was trying to do. “You don’t get to decide this on your own.”

A bitter laugh almost slipped out, but I swallowed it down. “Actually, I do. This isn’t your problem, Callista.”

Her eyes flashed. “It became my problem the second you bonded me to you.”

The words hit harder than I expected.

I dragged a hand through my hair, turning away from her as the pressure in my head spiked again. The demon stirred, quieter now, but not gone. It lingered, watching, waiting, as if it were enjoying this more than anything else.

See? it murmured. She won’t leave.

“Shut up,” I muttered under my breath.

“Riven,” Callista said, sharper this time. “Stop shutting me out and actually listen to me.”

“I am listening,” I snapped, turning back toward her. “That’s the problem. I’ve listened to you and I keep trying to go along with your plans. Now look at where we are.”

Her mouth worked as she tried to form words and failed. “This wasn’t my plan. I told you we needed more time.”

“And we are out of time,” I snapped. “I am the son of the Alpha King and cursed with a demon, Callista. You saw my future, and you allowed me to bond you to me. If you didn’t want this, maybe you should have fought harder.”

She flinched as if I had slapped her. “I never said I didn’t want this. Stop acting ridiculous!”

“I’m not!” I roared back, then hated how I sounded. “Go home.”

The bond was pulling us together, but I wanted space. She had to go and I didn’t know any other way to make her leave.

It was too much.

“You need to go home,” I said again, more controlled this time, even though it felt like I was forcing each word through something that didn’t want to let them out. “Tonight.”

Her eyes widened slightly. “No.”

“That wasn’t a suggestion,” I snapped, then my gaze caught on someone moving down the hallway. “Ah, Beta K—”

“I’m here to take the lady home,” she replied, her gaze settling on Callista. “Gather your bags.”

“What? No. I’m not leaving him,” she shot back immediately.

Something twisted in my chest, sharp and dangerous.

“You don’t get it,” I said, my voice dropping. “This isn’t something you can stand next to me through and hope it works out. You heard what they said. We don’t know what helps or hurts it. So, you need to go.”

“And leaving you makes it better?” She demanded. “Is that what you think?”

“Yes. Now do as the beta says and get your things.”

The answer came too fast, because I needed it to be true. The demon had lied so much that I wasn’t sure what was real and what wasn’t. But one thing was for certain. I had to protect her.

The Moon Goddess gave me a mate. She trusted me with something precious and though we were young, I knew that not everyone was lucky to have one. So, I would do what I had to so I could protect her.

Her expression faltered for a second, but she recovered just as quickly. “That’s not what I felt.”

My chest tightened. “Then you’re not paying attention. Now get out.”

Her mouth dropped open as the beta took her by the arm to pull her to the room. “You didn’t lose yourself, Riven. You’d never hurt me.”

“Not yet,” I said sharply.

Every step she took away from me was as if the bond was being pulled out of my chest. It wasn’t a clean cut. It was dragged, resisting, and leaving something raw behind.

I didn’t follow. I couldn’t.

So I stood there in the hallway, staring at nothing, my hands still curled into fists at my sides as the echo of her presence lingered just out of reach. The demon stirred again, quieter now, almost satisfied.

Good, it murmured.

I ignored it, or at least I tried to.

A few minutes passed, blurring together into something meaningless. The only thing I was aware of was the bond stretching and stretching until it almost snapped.

My jaw tightened as I dragged a hand down my face, exhaling slowly as I tried to steady myself. It didn’t work. Nothing about this felt steady.

Footsteps broke through the silence. I didn’t need to look up to know that it was her.

The bond shifted again, reacting instantly as she came closer, tightening in a way that made my chest ache all over again. Not as sharp as before, but enough to remind me exactly why I was doing this.

I turned anyway.

Callista stood a few steps away, a bag in her hand. Her shoulders were squared as if she were holding herself together by force alone, but her eyes…

Her eyes gave everything away. She was hurt, confused, and there was something deeper there that made it harder to breathe.

The beta lingered behind her, waiting, but not interfering.

For a second, neither of us said anything. I didn’t trust myself to speak. I didn't trust myself not to take everything back the second I opened my mouth. So I stepped forward instead.

Closing the distance between us felt like stepping into something dangerous. I didn’t need to do this, but I couldn’t stop myself. The closer I got, the louder the silence seemed. The bond, the pull, and the low, crawling presence of my demon stirred in the back of my mind. But none of that mattered.

Not right now.

My hand lifted before I could stop myself, brushing against her cheek, my thumb dragging lightly along her skin as if I were trying to memorize it.

She didn’t pull away. That made it worse.

“I mean it,” I said quietly, my voice rougher than I intended. “You need to go.”

Her gaze searched mine as if she were trying to find something I wasn’t letting her see. “You don’t want me to.”

I swallowed hard. “That doesn’t matter. What we want no longer matters. There is only the truth.”

Something flickered in her expression, sharp and quick. “It matters to me.”

My chest tightened, but I didn’t respond. I couldn’t, because if I did, I’d lose whatever control I still had left.

So I leaned in instead. I didn’t think about it. If I had, I wouldn’t have done it.

My lips were inches from hers when she stopped me. Her hand pressed against my chest, halting me before I could close the distance completely.

“No,” she said softly, but firmly. “You can’t do this.”

The word hit harder than anything else tonight. For a second, I froze, then something inside of me snapped.

Not the kind that lost control completely. The kind that refused to let go.

My hand moved from her cheek to the back of her neck, gripping just enough to keep her there as I closed the distance the rest of the way. Her breath caught, but I didn’t give her time to pull back again.

I kissed her. It wasn’t gentle. It wasn’t careful.

It was everything I had been holding back since the moment I told her to leave. Frustration, fear, and anger entwined until I didn’t know where one ended and one began. The desperate need to keep her close was strong, even when I was pushing her away.

The bond flared violently between us, snapping tight, alive in a way that made it impossible to ignore. For a second, nothing else existed.

The hallway faded, along with the beta and the demon lurking in the back of my mind. There was only her before reality crashed back in.

I pulled back abruptly, my grip loosening as I took a step away as if I had just burned myself. My breathing was uneven, my chest rising and falling too fast as I forced myself to put space between us again.

“That,” I said roughly, dragging a hand through my hair, “doesn’t change anything.”

Even if it felt like it changed everything. I forced myself to look away from her, my jaw tightening as I took another step back.

“Go home, Callista.”