BOUND BY FIRE

The moment Cassian’s mark settled into my skin, the world shifted.

It was like an invisible cord snapped into place between us, something ancient and unbreakable, something that neither of us could fight anymore.

I felt him.

Not just his touch, not just his warmth—I felt him inside me, his presence wrapping around mine like a second heartbeat, like fire sinking into my bones.

I gasped, my body arching as the full force of the bond flooded through me.

Cassian was right there, his hands gripping my waist, holding me steady as I shuddered in his arms.

“Easy,” he murmured, his lips brushing against my temple, his voice softer than I had ever heard it.

I tried to breathe, but I could feel everything—his emotions, his thoughts, his need curling around mine like a vice.

“This is...” My voice broke, overwhelmed.

Cassian tilted my chin up, forcing me to meet his gaze.

His red eyes burned with something raw, something undeniable.

“You’re feeling the bond settle,” he said, his thumb brushing against my jaw. “It’s normal.”

Normal.

Nothing about this felt normal.

It felt like fire and ice, like the moment before a storm breaks, like something that couldn’t be undone.

I swallowed hard. “You feel it too.”

Cassian’s fingers tightened. “I feel everything.”

His voice was low, rough, filled with something I couldn’t name.

I let out a shaky breath, my hands sliding up his chest, feeling the strong, steady beat of his heart beneath my fingertips.

He didn’t move.

Didn’t pull away.

He just stood there, letting me touch him, letting me feel the connection between us deepening, solidifying.

And then.

Something shifted.

It was subtle at first, a distant pulse of energy.

Then it grew.

A sharp, sudden pull in my chest, like a thread yanking tight.

I gasped, my hands fisting into Cassian’s shirt. “What...”

His expression darkened instantly.

He felt it too.

Then, through the bond, through the newfound connection between us, I heard his voice inside my head.

They know.

My blood ran cold.

“The Council,” I whispered.

Cassian nodded once, his jaw tight.

The moment our bond sealed, the Council must have felt it—must have sensed the shift in power, the magic that had bound us together forever.

And now, they were coming.

I pulled away, heart hammering. “We have to go.”

Cassian didn’t argue.

He grabbed his weapons in one swift movement, already shifting back into warrior mode, the warmth from just moments ago vanishing under cold, lethal precision.

The Cassian who had held me, kissed me, claimed me—he was gone.

Now, there was only the Alpha, the man born for war.

I barely had time to grab my own weapons before he reached for me again.

Not in the way he had before.

This time, it was all urgency, all instinct.

His hand wrapped around my wrist, and then.

We ran.

The night was sharp and cold, the moon high as we sprinted through the trees.

Cassian moved like a shadow, silent, deadly. His grip on me was firm but not harsh, guiding me through the terrain effortlessly.

I didn’t have to ask where we were going.

I knew he was leading me away from the safehouse, away from the traitor, away from the place where we had just sealed something that couldn’t be undone.

But the Council’s reach was long.

And if they had felt the bond—if they knew what I was now.

They wouldn’t stop.

They wouldn’t rest until I was either theirs—or dead.

The thought made ice creep into my veins.

Cassian must have felt my fear, because through the bond, his presence pressed against mine, a steady, unyielding force.

You’re safe.

I almost stumbled.

Not because of the words.

But because he had spoken them in my head.

I turned to him, my breath catching. Did you just.

Yes, Cassian said, his voice echoing inside me, sharp but steady. This is part of the bond.

My stomach twisted.

We can hear each other?

Only through strong emotions. He flicked a glance at me. You were afraid. I felt it.

I swallowed hard.

There was no hiding from him anymore.

He would always know what I was feeling.

Just like I could feel him now—his urgency, his frustration, his confusion over what had just happened between us.

But there was something else beneath it all.

Something darker.

A rage—deep, consuming.

Not at me.

At them.

The ones who had hunted me. The ones who had taken everything from him. The ones who had forced us into this moment, into this bond that neither of us had planned for.

His grip on my wrist tightened briefly, before he forced himself to loosen it.

“We need to keep moving,” he said aloud this time, his voice gravelly.

I nodded.

But my mind was still racing.

What did this mean for us now?

I had accepted him.

He had marked me.

We were bound, our fates tangled in a way that could never be undone.

But he was still Cassian.

Still the man who had spent his life alone, who had built his entire existence around surviving without ties, without weaknesses.

And I...

I was now his greatest weakness.

We barely made it another mile before the first arrow sliced through the air.

Cassian spun instantly, yanking me down just as the weapon embedded itself into the tree where my head had been.

Another followed, and another.

My pulse spiked, adrenaline surging as I rolled away, drawing my blade in one smooth motion.

Cassian was already moving, his dagger gleaming in the moonlight as he scanned the darkness.

Then.

Figures emerged from the trees.

At least six of them, dressed in the same black armor as the assassins before.

But this time, their eyes weren’t just cold and lethal.

They were hungry.

One of them smirked, his gaze landing on me.

“So,” he murmured. “This is the one they want.”

Cassian snarled, stepping in front of me, his entire body coiled like a predator ready to strike.

“She’s not yours.”

The assassin tilted his head. “She belongs to the Council.”

Cassian’s growl deepened. “Over my dead body.”

The assassin smiled.

“That,” he said, drawing his sword, “can be arranged.”