Chapter 20: The Feelings are Strong

Zander’s POV

The sound didn’t belong. It didn’t match the bass-heavy beat that had been pulsing through the club all night. This was sharper. More violent.

Glass exploding in a high, vicious scream. It was instinct—pure, unthinking instinct—that made my head snap toward the front of the club.

The big bay windows were gone—shattered inward in a spray of glittering shards that caught the strobe lights like ice. People screamed.

Drinks crashed to the floor. A wave of bodies surged toward the exits, all pushing, shoving, desperate to get out.

But I didn’t care about any of them. I only cared about her. Aurora.

Through the panicked stampede, I found her—standing frozen for half a second in the middle of the floor before the crowd’s movement jolted her sideways.

Her eyes were wide, but she wasn’t looking toward the broken glass. She was looking for someone.

Then the second shatter came—a smaller, closer sound. A bottle? A glass? I didn’t know. I just knew she flinched hard, ducking down, and that’s when I saw it—shards raining from somewhere above her.

And then the smell hit me. Blood. Her blood. Zee slammed forward so hard I almost staggered, my vision sharpening, my pulse spiking.

My wolf didn’t care about the chaos, the stampede, the screaming DJ trying to shout over the mess. All he cared about was mate was hurt.

I was moving before I realized it—shoving through the mass of bodies, ignoring the curses and elbows.

Every nerve ending locked on the sight of her crouched low, one hand braced against the floor, the other touching the side of her head.

I dropped to my knees beside her. “Aurora!”

Her gaze lifted slowly, hazy, unfocused. There was a thin red line trailing from her temple, cutting through the pale of her skin.

That was all I needed to see.

I scooped her up in one motion, one arm under her knees, the other bracing her back. She gasped softly at the sudden movement but didn’t resist. Her head lolled slightly against my chest.

“Zander—” That wasn’t her voice. It was Rowan. He was suddenly there, cutting into my path like he had any right to stop me. “She’s hurt—”

“I’ve got her,” I growled, my voice low, dangerous.

“This isn’t your—”

“I said I’ve got her.”

We locked eyes for a second. The air between us was thick enough to choke on.

His wolf was there, barely restrained, and mine was ready to rip through skin and muscle to get to him.

But Aurora’s fingers curled weakly into my shirt, and that decided it.

He stepped back.

I didn’t wait for anything else. I pushed past him, carrying her out the back exit before either of us said something that would turn this into a full-blown challenge.

Rowan’s POV

The smell of her blood cut through the smoke and sweat like a knife.

I didn’t need to see her to know she was hurt—I could feel it. The bond wasn’t complete, not yet, but it was still enough to twist inside my chest when her pain spiked.

When I finally caught sight of her through the chaos, it was like my lungs forgot how to work.

And she was in his arms. Zander.

He was holding her like she belonged there. Like she was his to protect. His jaw was set, his whole body braced around her like a shield.

It was wrong. She was supposed to be with me. I stepped toward them, my voice sharp. “Zander—” The way he looked at me then… I knew.

Not because he said it, but because I could see it written in the way his wolf moved under his skin, in the way his grip tightened around her.

He knew. He knew exactly what she was to him. And at that moment, I hated him for it.

Because I’d known too. I’d just been trying to do the right thing—give her time, let her breathe.

But Zander? He’d never been the type to wait for anything he wanted.

He pushed past me without another word, disappearing into the night with her still in his arms.

And as much as it burned, as much as every instinct told me to rip her from him… I didn’t.

Because right now, the only thing that mattered was that she was safe.

Even if it wasn’t with me.