ASHER
We made it back to campus just as the sun was rising, students were starting to emerge from the woods. Their shifts complete and their runs finished.
Reed and I walked in silence. Far enough apart that no one would question it but close enough that I could feel him through the bond.
The bond.
God, the bond was real. I could feel Reed's emotions bleeding into mine. His satisfaction, his possessiveness, his exhaustion from the rut and underneath it all, something that felt like concern for me and it made me sick.
"Go to your dorm," Reed said quietly as we reached the edge of campus. "Clean yourself up, and rest. I'll find you later."
"Don't," I said.
Reed stopped walking and then turned to look at me. "Don't what?"
"Don't act like you care, don't pretend this is anything other than what it is." I met his eyes. "You claimed me because your rut demanded it, because I was in heat, because biology made you and not because you wanted me."
