Chapter 15
Chapter 15
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
GAGE'S POV
The night of the mating ceremony still hung heavy on my chest, lingering in my mind like a half-finished thought. I’d stood by Indigo’s side, believing we were about to seal our bond, our futures entwined under the full moon. And I might've always wanted that– a wish dug deep inside me only rekindled when I saw her again.
But then—they showed up. Lariq and Valtor, claiming her as their mate and in one powerful, dizzying moment, everything changed. The Goddess appeared, the moon turned red, and Indigo…she was bound to all three of us.
Delightful.
I still couldn’t shake the weight of it though. She hadn’t reached out since then, and I wasn’t sure if it was because she needed space or because she’d rather forget the whole night.
Hell, I couldn’t blame her if she did. But a part of me burned with the need to see her, to make sure she was okay. I could feel her presence, pulsing faintly in the back of my mind, and it drove me crazy knowing I couldn’t reach her without looking clingy or desperate.
I wasn’t alone with my thoughts for long. By some twist of fate—or maybe the Goddess herself—I found myself in a meeting room with Lariq and Valtor. It was supposed to be a briefing on campus safety, with the director talking about new protocols to protect the students.
But my mind was elsewhere, fixated on Indigo and the silence between us since the ceremony. My heart ached, but I held myself together, keeping my focus on the briefing.
Once the meeting wrapped up and the other professors filtered out, leaving just the three of us alone. We stayed behind, an unspoken agreement binding us to the room. It was strange, like a gravitational pull. I could tell they felt it too—an unacknowledged need to address the thing that loomed over all of us: Indigo.
The silence between us thickened, heavy and tense, each of us reluctant to break it. I kept my gaze fixed on a spot on the floor, biting back the urge to demand if they’d even thought of her since that night, if they felt even an ounce of the responsibility I did.
Finally, I couldn’t hold it back any longer.
“Do you two even care about her?” My voice was low, simmering with frustration. “Or are you just going along with whatever this mate bond is telling you to feel?”
Lariq raised an eyebrow, looking at me like I’d just told him the sky was green. “And died and made you the king of caring, Gage? Just because she favors you doesn’t make you the saint here.”
Valtor chuckled, leaning back in his chair with a look that was both amused and exasperated. “It must be nice to think you’re the ‘good guy’ in all this.”
I felt a flash of anger. “This isn’t about who she favors. It’s about making sure she’s okay. Making sure she’s not stuck in this situation alone, wondering what she got herself into.”
Lariq scoffed, crossing his arms over his chest. “You think you’re the only one who cares? Maybe try looking outside your perfect little Gage bubble for once.”
Before I could respond, a sudden chill shot down my spine. The air in the room shifted, charged with an invisible force that seemed to vibrate deep in my bones. The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end as a dark, unsettling energy flooded the room, like a signal sent straight through our mate bond.
All three of us froze, the tension instantly forgotten. It was like our bodies had been wired to respond to one signal, one warning that didn’t need words.
Indigo was in trouble!
We shifted without hesitation, instincts taking over as we let the pull of the mate bond guide us. Her scent drifted to us on the breeze, faint but distinct, filling my senses with a fierce urgency.
I could tell from the way Lariq and Valtor moved that they felt it too—a drive to reach her, protect her, no matter what.
We tore through the forest at the speed of light, weaving between the trees as we followed the faint trail of her scent. It led us deeper into the woods, the shadows thickening around us, and I could feel my pulse quickening with every step.
My mind raced with images of her—scared, alone, needing us. By the time we neared the clearing, I could hear the faint sound of a struggle, her voice faint but defiant, rising above the chaos.
I broke through the last line of trees to find her surrounded by dark, shadowed figures, their shapes shifting and indistinct, like beings from some nightmare.
Indigo was fighting, her body tense, every muscle straining as she tried to hold them back, but I could see the exhaustion in her eyes, the desperate determination that kept her going despite the odds. Beside her were other wolven, two injured, clinging to each other for support and one barely moving.
Without a word, Lariq, Valtor, and I leapt into action. The figures turned to face us, their movements jerky and unnatural, like puppets on strings. I could feel the darkness radiating from them, a malicious force that seemed to breath and pulse with its own twisted life.
Lariq raised his hands, his fingers sparking with elemental energy. With a single gesture, he sent a surge of fire roaring toward the figures, the flames illuminating the clearing with a bright red glow.
Valtor stepped in next, his voice a low murmur as he summoned the power of necromancy, his shadows twisting and curling around him as he directed them toward the attackers.
I focused, drawing on my own power, letting it flow through me like a river. The world around me seemed to blur as I tapped into the dream realm, my consciousness splitting between reality and the intangible space of dreams. I reached out, wrapping the figures in a web of illusions, disorienting them, weakening their hold on the physical world.
Between the three of us, we forced them back, our combined powers pressing against their darkness until they wavered, flickering like dying embers. They let out a final, bone-chilling scream before disappearing into the shadows, melting back into the night as if they’d never been there at all.
The silence that followed was deafening. I turned, my eyes instantly finding Indigo. She was trembling, her breath coming in sharp, ragged gasps, her eyes wide with a mixture of relief and lingering fear.
“Winter…” murmured.
Winter was slumped naked against the brown furred wolf, her skin pale, a dark bruise spreading across her cheek.