Chapter 9 The bond is forbidden
DARIAN
The scent of parchment and burnt cedar fills my study. It’s quiet, finally. The kind of silence that settles over everything like a thick fog. I welcome it. It gives me room to breathe, to think. Or at least pretend I’m thinking about matters that matter.
I stare at the map sprawled across my desk, lines and territories blurring together, none of it holding my attention. Not when something else, someone else, has been pressing at the edges of my mind since that night.
I feel Adrian long before the door opens. His presence is loud, cocky, unfiltered, even when he’s not saying a word.
I sigh, pinching the bridge of my nose. “What do you want, Adrian?” My voice is steady. Controlled.
There’s a pause. I hear the creak of wood as he leans against the door.
“You know a girl named Iris?”
My pen halts mid-stroke.
The room stills.
For a moment, I say nothing. I don’t have to. Her name alone sends a tremor through me. My grip tightens on the pen, but I gaze at the page. If I look up, he’ll see too much.
Of course, he notices the shift. He always does.
“Thought so,” he mutters, smug.
The silence stretches, taut as a drawn bowstring.
I lift my head slowly. Make eyes. My expression is unreadable. Cold, if not outright threatening.
“What about her?” I ask.
And just like that, her name lingers in the air between us, heavier than it should be.
“There seems to be a weird connection somewhere, I’m curious.” He replies, casually shrugging as he settles in the chair directly opposite me.
“Iris is none of your concern.” I keep my tone even, cold.
Her name echoes in my head. Iris. The girl I marked. The bond I never intended to forge. I’ve been trying damn hard not to think about her. Not to remember the look in her eyes when it happened. Not to feel the pull that’s only grown stronger each night.
“I take it that’s a yes,” Adrian says lazily.
My wolf stirs again, restless, like it senses something I’m trying to bury. I grit my teeth.
“She’s just a girl,” I lie again, pushing down the chaos clawing inside me. “Forget it.”
“She came to me.”
Adrian’s words cut through the silence like a blade, but I don’t react. Not right away. I keep my eyes on the page in front of me, though I’ve already forgotten what I was reading.
“Iris,” he adds, as if I needed clarification.
Of course I didn’t.
I set the pen down slowly, the movement deliberate. “And?”
“She asked me to help her get to you. Said it was important.”
I lean back in my chair, letting my hands fall into my lap. A bitter laugh pushes past my throat, dry and humorless.
“What the hell is wrong with that girl?” I mutter.
Adrian shrugs like it’s nothing. “She seems pretty determined.”
“She doesn’t know what she’s doing,” I say, more to myself than to him.
“Well, she’s not planning to let it go.”
My jaw tightens.
“You’re going to go back to her,” I say, voice sharpening, “and tell her I don’t want to see her. Ever.”
Adrian raises an eyebrow. “That simple?”
“That simple.”
He doesn’t move. Just stares with a brow quizzically raised at me. “You think she’ll believe that?”
“I don’t care what she believes. And stay away from her as well.”
He studies me for a moment, brow furrowed. “Why are you being like this?”
I don’t answer.
“Darian,” he presses, “what’s going on?”
My control snaps for a second.
“I said, stay away from her.”
The words lash out, too loud, too sharp. Adrian flinches, just slightly, caught off guard. I immediately regret the outburst, but the fire is already out. I pull in a breath, steadying my tone.
“She’s not your concern. She’s not mine either.”
He narrows his eyes at me. “You don’t believe that.”
I look him dead in the eye. “It doesn’t matter what I believe. What matters is that we keep her away from us”
Silence stretches between us again. He eventually nods, slow and uncertain.
“I’ll tell her,” he says quietly.
“Good,” I say, turning back to my papers.
But the words on the page blur again, and my wolf stirs in the pit of my chest, growling at my lie.
Because I do care.
The door shuts behind Adrian with a soft click, but the echo of our conversation lingers longer than I’d like.
I can’t believe she’s pestering Adrian to get to me now. What’s on with that girl?
I barely have a moment of silence before there’s a knock at the door again.
“Enter,” I say, sharper than intended.
A soldier steps in, bowing his head. “Your Highness. A message arrived from Alpha Conan. He will be visiting in three days.”
I arch a brow. “For what purpose?”
The soldier straightens. “He said, and I quote, ‘It’s time we set things in motion.’”
Of course he did.
My fingers curl against the armrest of my chair, tension bleeding through me like smoke under a door. Vague. Calculated. Typical Conan. He’s never been one for transparency, always speaking like he’s holding half a deck behind his back.
“Did he say who’s accompanying him?” I ask.
“Adira,” he responds and I fight the urge to sigh.
“Anything else?”
“Only that he expects hospitality,” the soldier replies. “And privacy.”
I scoff under my breath. “Naturally.”
I pause for a beat, then wave a hand dismissively. “Fine. Make arrangements for their stay. I want their quarters sealed off from the rest of the estate. Full security detail. Keep the visit quiet.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
The soldier bows again and retreats, shutting the door behind him.
I lean forward, elbows resting on the desk, the message swirling in my thoughts. There is already so much going on with the girl I accidentally marked and now Adira is coming over?
Oh, fuck.