Jamie
Why do I give a shit?
Why am I so angry?
I don't even hear him come in at first. I'm too busy staring out the window, fists clenched at my sides. With the way I'm breathing, it feels like I've run a mile. But then, I catch his reflection in the glass. Tall, steady, unreadable, and the anger boils over again.
"You don't get to do this," I snap, spinning to face him. "You don't get to tell me to 'rest,' to act like you care, and then have her..." My voice cracks, but I push harder. "Have her show up in your house like she's the one who belongs here."
I don't even know who she is, but the way she touched him, the way she was looking at him. I can't get it out of my head.
His eyes flash, sharp in the dim light. "It's not what you think."
"Then say it," I bite back. "Say what it is. Because from where I'm standing, it looks like I'm nothing more than a distraction while you keep your real life on the side."
I don't belong here. I haven't felt like I do. So, I don't know why I'm here. I don't know why he is acting like he gives a shit about me. All I have are questions, and a lot of longing that he's not fucking returning.
"Jamie..."
"No!" My voice rises, jagged and broken. "Don't say my name like it fixes everything! You think you can pull me in, tear my world apart, and then walk away whenever it suits you? I'm not..." My breath shudders. "I'm not some toy you can pick up and put down when you're bored."
His jaw tightens, a muscle ticking, his control stretched thin. "You think that's what this is? You think I'd bring you here, risk everything, if you didn't matter?"
The words slam into me, but the anger doesn't let me stop. "Then prove it!" I take a step closer, glaring up at him. "Say what I am to you. Right now. Because I can't keep doing this. I can't keep… feeling like this if you won't even..."
The rest of the sentence burns in my throat. My chest heaves, my nails bite into my palms, and my vision flickers at the edges.
And suddenly we're too close. Breathing the same air. Fire between us, fire under my skin, fire everywhere.
He presses against me, thick and heavy, and it makes my blood roar. My anger, his restraint, the fire between us, it all collides until I can't hold still anymore.
I shove at his chest. Hard. "Then prove it!"
He doesn't move far, just enough to let me feel the strength under my palms, the immovable wall of him. His hand shoots out, catching my wrist, dragging me back toward him before I can step away.
"Careful," he growls, low and dangerous, his eyes dark and endless. "You don't know what you're asking for."
"I don't care," I snap, yanking against his grip. "I don't care anymore. You keep treating me like I'm fragile, like I'm something you can hide away. I'm not."
The tension snaps. He spins me, my back hitting the wall with a thud, his body crowding mine. His hand pins my wrist above my head, the other braced beside me. Close enough that every breath I take brushes against his chest.
My heart slams so hard it hurts. His gaze drags over me, from my lips to my eyes, and I swear for a second he's going to break and close the space between us.
I don't move. I can't.
"You think I don't want to?" His voice is ragged, raw. "Every second you're near me, I fight it. And if I stop..." He breaks off, jaw tight, breath shaking.
"If you stop," I whisper, my anger bleeding into something else, hotter, sharper, "then what?"
His eyes burn; there's something in them, a fleck of gold. So familiar to the way mine were at the library. He leans closer, close enough that I can feel the heat of his breath on my skin, the dangerous promise in it.
The air between us burns. We're not fighting anymore. We're not anything except fire.
And just when I think he's about to give in, to kiss me, to claim me, he jerks back, slamming a fist into the wall beside my head instead.
The crack of wood splintering jolts through me. His chest heaves, his hand still trapping mine, his face twisted with restraint and fury.
"Don't push me, Jamie," he says, voice rough, guttural. "Not unless you're ready for what happens next."
It sounds like a warning, but it isn't.
He wants me to push him.
I don't know if we're fighting anymore. I don't know if we're arguing, or breaking, or about to destroy everything we've been holding back.
All I know is the room feels like it's about to explode.
I should stop. I should back down. But my anger is gone now, swallowed by this want and need that comes with Adrian around me. His eyes bore into mine, and it's a challenge
"I am," I whisper, terrified to say the wrong things. But how do I walk away when he's looking at me like I am everything?
For a second, everything freezes. His breath stops, his eyes widen, and then finally Adrian Vega snaps.
His mouth crashes against mine. It's not soft, not gentle. It's fire. Desperate, furious, like he's been starving for this as long as I have. This kiss awakens something inside me, something primal, something animalistic. I gasp into him, the sound swallowed by his lips, his tongue, the way he takes over everything inside me. His hands slide from my wrist to my jaw, holding me in place, tilting my head so he can kiss me deeper, rougher. The taste of him surrounds me, and my knees nearly give in.
Fucking hell.
I've been desperate to taste his lips, but I never imagined it to feel like this. My hands move, wanting more contact, and I find his shirt, dragging him even closer, if that's even possible. I need more. I need everything from him.
He growls against my mouth, the sound vibrating through me, and suddenly I'm lifted, my back hitting the wall again as he pins me there, his hips pressing into mine. The heat of him, the strength, the sheer inevitability of it make my whole body burn.
This isn't just a kiss.
It's something more.
And I don't care. I let it consume me. I let him consume me.
When he finally rips his mouth from mine, we're both gasping, foreheads pressed together, sweat and heat between us. His voice is rough, wrecked, trembling on the edge of his control.
"You don't know what you've done," he whispers. "You don't know what this means."
I close my eyes for a second at his words, because I'm completely undone. His eyes are still on mine when I feel it. The fire doesn't fade. It lingers, crackling under my skin. its rushing through my veins like lightning that refuses to ground. My knees tremble until they buckle, and Adrian catches me before I hit the floor. His arms are strong, and they steady me as something travels inside me in such an aggressive manner.
I can't think. I can barely breathe.
"What… what did you do to me?" My voice is hoarse, broken.
Adrian's eyes glow gold as he stares down at me, chest rising and falling hard. His jaw is tight, like he's forcing every word out against the weight of something. "I couldn't stop it. You wouldn't let me. The kiss..." He breaks off, swallowing. "The kiss sealed it."
I shake my head, trying to make sense of the burn in my throat, the thrum in my chest, the way I can feel him, not just his body holding me up, but his presence, his heartbeat, something primal.
"I don't… I don't understand," I whisper.
"You don't have to." His grip on me tightens when I try to pull away, like he's afraid I'll vanish if he lets go. "You'll feel it. That's enough."
And God help me, I do.
The pull isn't just inside me anymore; it's tethered, anchored to him, tugging me toward him even as my mind screams to be afraid. There's a howl inside me, that thing that I've been resisting, or maybe fighting, screams to come out. I don't know what it is, but it calls out to him.
"This is—" My breath hitches. "This is insane."
Adrian leans closer, his forehead brushing mine, his voice a rough growl. "It's done. You're mine now, Jamie. And whether you understand it or not… part of you wanted this."
I should fight it. I should push him away, demand answers, scream at him for making a choice I don't even know how to name.
But the bond thrums, heavy and undeniable, and my body betrays me. My hand fists in his shirt, holding him tighter against me, my voice breaking into a whisper.
"I don't get it," I whisper, my voice trembling. "But I can't… I can't let you go."
Adrian's breath shudders against my skin. His hands are firm on me, steadying me as if he knows I'm seconds from collapsing.
"You don't have to," he growls, low and certain. His eyes blaze gold, his wolf bleeding through, and the sound of him rattles through me like a vow.
Everywhere becomes hotter, it's like a fire that keeps pulling and p. My skin burns.
"Please," I gasp, my fingers fisting in his shirt. "I don't know why… but I need..." The words choke in my throat, but something inside me finishes my thoughts, pressing against his with raw desperation. Bite. Claim.
Adrian curses under his breath, forehead pressed hard to mine. "Jamie… once I do this, there's no undoing it."
"I don't care." My voice cracks, but I don't look away. My whole body trembles with need, my wolf snarling to be heard. "Do it. Mark me."
For one endless second, he fights it. I feel the restraint, the war in his chest. But then the tether between us snaps taut, unbreakable, undeniable, and he finally gives in.
His mouth brushes my throat, hot and open, his breath ragged. My pulse hammers against his lips, and then his teeth sink in.
The pain is sharp, but it's drowned instantly by heat. Fire roars through me, ripping me open, binding me tighter than I thought possible.
I cry out, clutching him harder, even as my knees buckle. It surges like lightning through my veins, fusing us until I can't tell where I end and he begins.
When he pulls back, his lips are stained, his eyes pure gold. I don't recognise him anymore. He's different.
"You're marked," he growls, voice rough and wrecked. "You're mine."
And through the confusion, the fear, the fire still burning under my skin… I know it's true.
Because I feel it now.
I'm his.
And he's mine.