Chapter 107 HIS VENOM
(Adam's POV)
“My heart was bleeding for you.”
His words hung in the air between us.
I didn’t know what to say.
My body still felt tense from everything he had told me. The photos were still in my hand. I could feel the edges of the paper pressing into my fingers.
A boy that looked exactly like me.
A baby in a woman’s arms who looked exactly like that boy.
And now Vance was calling me Archie.
Prince.
He kept saying I belonged here.
None of it made sense in my head.
Vance studied my face quietly for a moment.
“You’re thinking too much,” he said gently.
I didn’t answer.
His hand slowly moved away from my cheek, but he stayed sitting close beside me on the bed.
“I know this is difficult to accept,” he continued. “Your whole life has been built on lies.”
My chest tightened slightly.
“But that’s not your fault,” he added quickly. “You were a child. You had no control over what was done to you.”
I stared down at the photos again.
“My parents…” I said quietly.
The words felt strange on my tongue.
Vance nodded slowly.
“They were good people,” he said.
His voice carried something heavy in it.
“They protected this pack for years.”
I swallowed.
“And Kael’s father killed them.”
My fingers tightened around the photographs.
Silence settled over the room again.
Vance leaned back slightly, giving me space.
“That pack has taken enough from you,” he said after a moment.
I shook my head slowly.
“Kael isn’t like that.”
Vance sighed softly. “You still defend him.”
“He saved me,” I said quietly.
Vance’s eyes narrowed slightly.
“He took you.”
“He saved me from Marcus and his wife,” I replied.
My voice was shaking now, but I kept going.
“They treated me like trash. Like I wasn’t even a living being.”
Vance didn’t interrupt.
“He brought me to his pack,” I continued. “He gave me a home.”
My throat felt tight.
“He didn’t have to do that.”
“Yes, and yet he did. I rejected him and that didn't stop him from helping me.” I argued.
“You think that makes him kind?”
“Yes,” I said firmly.
Memories filled my mind one after another.
Kael sitting beside me when I couldn’t eat.
Kael looking like a ghost when I kept crying about feeling strange in my own skin.
Kael pacing outside the physician’s room every time I got sick.
Kael’s face turning pale when I fainted.
I could still remember the panic in his eyes.
He couldn’t even speak for hours after I woke up.
He had looked like his world was collapsing.
Kael had always been open with his emotions when it came to me.
Too open. Too honest.
“Kael would never hurt me,” I said.
The words left my mouth without hesitation.
Vance went completely still.
For a moment he didn’t say anything.
His expression changed slowly.
Something darker flickered behind his eyes.
Then it disappeared again.
When he spoke, his voice was still soft.
“You really believe that.”
“Yes.”
A quiet sigh left his lips.
“You don’t understand what that mark is doing to you.”
His eyes moved to my neck again.
My fingers instinctively touched the spot where Kael had marked me.
“The bond is draining your body,” Vance continued. “That’s why your blood looked like that earlier.”
I shook my head again.
“You’re lying.”
“I’m not.”
“Kael wouldn’t do that.”
Vance leaned closer.
“Maybe he didn’t mean to,” he said gently. “But the result is the same.”
His voice lowered.
“The mark binds you to him. And because of that bond, your body keeps trying to adapt to him.”
His hand lifted again.
This time I didn’t flinch immediately.
His fingers hovered near my neck.
“That process is weakening you.”
My breathing felt uneven.
“The only way to stop it,” he said quietly, “is to replace the mark.”
I blinked.
“What?”
“If I mark you,” he explained softly, “my mark will replace his.”
The room suddenly felt smaller.
“That would stabilize your body.”
His hand gently brushed the side of my neck.
“Let me fix what he did to you.”
I jerked away immediately.
“No.”
His hand froze in the air.
“Archie—”
“No,” I repeated louder.
My heart started pounding. “You’re not touching me.”
Vance’s jaw tightened slightly. “I’m trying to save your life.”
“You’re trying to control me.”
“That’s not true.”
“You said yourself the bond binds me,” I snapped. “Why would I replace it with another one? Why should I bind myself to you?”
His expression darkened.
“Because the one you have now will kill you.”
“I don’t believe you.”
The room went silent again.
For a few seconds Vance just stared at me.
Then he moved, faster than I expected.
His hand grabbed my wrist. Before I could react he pulled me closer.
My back hit the mattress.
My heart slammed against my ribs.
“Let go of me!” I shouted.
Vance pinned my arms down easily.
He was huge.
Much bigger than me.
His weight pressed me into the bed like I weighed nothing.
“I’m trying to help you,” he said through clenched teeth.
“Get off me!”
I struggled hard, twisting under him.
But it was useless.
His body didn’t move at all.
“Stop fighting,” he said.
“Go to hell!”
I kicked and pushed against his chest.
“Leave me alone!”
Vance’s breathing grew heavier.
“Archie—”
“I’m not Archie!” I yelled.
“I’m Adam!”
The words echoed through the room.
For a moment Vance hesitated.
Then his eyes hardened.
“You are Archie.”
His face lowered toward my neck.
Panic shot through my entire body.
“No!”
I twisted violently.
His hand caught my jaw, holding my head still.
“Just stay still,” he muttered.
My heart was beating so hard I thought it might explode.
His mouth moved closer to my neck.
His teeth brushed my skin.
I screamed.
“GET OFF ME!”
The door slammed open.
A loud crack followed instantly.
Vance’s head snapped to the side.
He was thrown off me by a sudden force.
I scrambled backward across the bed, shaking.
A tall man stood in the doorway.
Alpha Darius.
His scarred forehead made him look even more intimidating in the dim light.
Darius dragged Vance up and closer to himself and punch him in the face.
Vance touched his jaw slowly.
“There,” Darius said coldly. “Are you back to your senses?”
Vance eyes burned with anger.
“You had no right to interfere.”
Darius stepped fully into the room. “I had every right.”
His voice was sharp.
“He is extremely weak right now.”
His gaze shifted briefly toward me.
Then back to Vance.
“And you’re being reckless enough to risk his life just because you believe your mark will replace Kael’s smoothly, without any problem.”
Vance clenched his fists.
“It will.”
“You don’t know that.”
“Yes I do.”
Darius crossed his arms. “Marking is bonding.” His voice was calm but firm. “And breaking a bond can be deadly.”
Vance shook his head. “It’s not deadly if you replace it.”
He gestured toward me.
“His body won’t be left without an anchor.”
Darius’s eyes narrowed. “You’re gambling with his life.”
“I’m not.” Vance’s voice grew sharper. “His wolf isn’t even fully awakened yet.”
My head slowly lifted.
Wolf? Awaken?
“There won’t be complications,” Vance continued.
Darius stared at him for a long moment.
The tension between them filled the entire room.
Neither of them looked like they were willing to back down.
I sat frozen on the bed, hugging my knees to my chest.
My body was shaking so badly I could barely breathe.
These men were arguing about marking me like I was some kind of object.
Not a person.
Darius finally sighed.
“You’re letting your emotions cloud your judgment, Vance.”
Vance’s jaw tightened.
“Leave the room,” Darius said.
For a moment it looked like Vance might refuse.
Then he turned away sharply, and without another word he walked out.
Darius looked at me once more, his expression was unreadable, then he left too.
The door closed behind them.
Silence returned to the room.
My hands were still shaking.
My neck still burned where Vance’s teeth had nearly bitten me.
My chest rose and fell rapidly as I tried
to breathe.
My mind replayed everything that had just happened.
All the soft words.
All the gentle touches.
All the careful explanations.
And then the way he had pinned me down like I had no choice.
A cold realization slowly settled in my chest.
Vance wasn’t trying to rescue me from Kael's supposed evil.
He wasn’t protecting me from Kael.
He wanted to claim me.
For himself.