Elira didn't sleep that night.
Not because of pain—but because her body hummed with a new kind of heat. A fire set alight by Lucien's fangs, by the way his mouth had lingered on her skin long after the bite was over. She lay in his bed, his scent wrapped around her like a second skin, the echo of his touch a phantom she couldn't escape.
Outside, the moon hung low, blood-red and ancient. A silent witness to their bond.
Lucien stood at the far end of the chamber, facing the tall windows. He was shirtless, his muscles tight with tension, hair damp, hands clenched. He hadn't spoken since he bit her, and the silence stretched between them like a blade.
"Lucien," she said softly, her voice breaking the stillness.
He didn't turn. "You don't understand what you've done."
She sat up, the silk sheets falling around her. "Then tell me."
He turned then, slowly, like it hurt to move.
"I wasn't supposed to drink from you—not now, not so soon," he said, voice low and rough. "But I couldn't stop. You said you trusted me, and I broke the last wall holding me back."
She stood, bare feet on cold stone. "Do you regret it?"
"No," he growled, eyes flashing crimson. "That's the problem."
Elira walked to him slowly, her heart thudding. "Then don't run from it."
Lucien stepped back, shaking his head. "You don't get it. What we did—it created a seal. A blood-lock. Our bond is no longer just mystical—it's carnal. It's ancient. You're in me now, Elira. Forever. And I'm inside you."
She stared, feeling the truth of it in her bones.
"Is that why I feel everything so much clearer? Why I can feel your anger, your restraint, even your sadness?"
"Yes," he said. "And it will only deepen. You'll begin to crave me. Not just my touch—my blood, my presence, my power. We'll start to ache without each other. This bond… it's beautiful. But it's a curse too."
Elira reached for him. Her fingers brushed his chest—warm, alive despite his cold nature. "Then we bear it together."
He looked down at her, his expression torn open, raw.
"You don't know what I've done," he whispered. "How many I've killed. How many I've fed from and forgotten. But you—I can't forget you, Elira. You've ruined me. You've made me feel alive."
She stepped closer, her voice shaking. "I've always been broken. Quiet. The girl no one noticed. But you see me. And when you bit me… for the first time, I didn't feel weak. I felt like yours. Like I had a place."
Lucien's control snapped.
He pulled her into his arms, mouth crashing against hers in a kiss that scorched. It wasn't soft—it was desperate, wild. His hands tangled in her hair, hers fisted his shoulders, and the bond between them screamed like a chord struck too hard.
They stumbled back into the shadows, pressed against the stone as magic swirled in the air—an unseen wind wrapping around them.
"You're mine," he said between kisses, his voice like thunder. "And if anyone dares to take you—if the Council, the gods, the cursed world itself tries—I will kill them all."
Elira gasped against his mouth, clutching him closer. "Then teach me how to fight back."
He stilled, eyes burning. "You want to be trained?"
"I want to be strong," she said. "Not just for me. For us."
Lucien's smile was dark and dangerous. "Then we begin at dawn. And I will teach you everything—even the forbidden."
---
But far below the fortress, something ancient stirred.
A second bond had awoken.
And someone else had felt the power surge through the earth when Lucien fed from the Omega.
Someone who had once loved him—and now burned with vengeance.