<h4>Chapter 73: LEFT</h4>


    <strong>ze POV:</strong>


    Okay... I messed up.


    Shouldn’t have said that. Shouldn’t have <i>taunted</i> him.


    But fuck, I was angry — furious, even. Watching Reed circle around her like she was <i>his</i>, like he had any right to breathe the same air as her, let alone im her. I wanted to hurt him, to twist the knife, remind him who got to her <i>first</i> — in blood, in body.


    I didn’t expect <i>her</i> to react like that.


    Didn’t expect the fury in her eyes, or the way her voice trembled when she screamed at me. Didn’t expect her fists, her kicks, her tears.


    Didn’t expect the shame that followed either — sharp and unfamiliar, wing through my chest like it belonged to someone else.


    But it was mine. It <i>is</i> mine.


    Because no matter what she said, no matter how much I tried to deny it, she’s my Beloved.


    And that changes everything.


    When it happened — when I took her blood, when I tasted her skin — I didn’t know. She was just a fascination, a bright me in a world that’s been dim for centuries. I wanted her because she stirred something in me — something primal, dark, reckless. Something... <i>hungry</i>.


    I didn’t know she’d be the only thing that calmed my demons, the only one who made the endless noise <i>quiet</i>.


    And now she looked at me like I was a monster.


    Maybe I am.


    But Reed — that mutt — he’s no better. Pretending like he’s above it all, like he’s just here out of duty or disdain. But I’ve <i>seen</i> the way he looks at her. The rage when she’s near me. The possessiveness. The way his wolf fights him when she’s crying or hurt.


    It’s <i>not normal</i>.


    It’s not the usual wolf pride or alpha temper. No, this is deeper — <i>mate-bond deep</i>.


    But that can’t be.


    It’s impossible.


    She is <i>mine</i>. My Beloved.


    Wolves don’t bond with humans — especially not someone like Reed. He’s the Alpha King’s heir, practically royalty. The Moon Goddess wouldn’t tie <i>him</i> to a fragile, chaotic little human girl who burns toast and throws kitchen pans like they’re weapons of war.


    It just doesn’t happen.


    So whatever this is — whatever madness is gripping his beast — it’s not a true bond. It’s jealousy. Possessiveness. The same kind of twisted desire thates from wanting what someone else has.


    That’s all it can be.


    Because if I even <i>entertained</i> the thought that she could be <i>his</i>...


    No.


    No, I won’t.


    She’s mine.


    Mine in blood. Mine in fate. Mine in ways that Reed could never understand — not with his wolf instincts, not with his Alpha pride.


    Still... I can’t deny what I saw.


    <fn675d> Th? link to the orig?n of this information r?sts ?n Find★Novel</fn675d>


    He was shaking when he barged into the kitchen. Desperate. Eyes glowing with rage and panic. Like the thought of me touching her had shattered something inside him.


    And for a moment — just a flicker — I wondered.


    What if I’m wrong?


    What if fate is ying a cruel game?


    But then she hit <i>him</i> too — with a frying pan this time — and called us both monsters. And I remembered the truth that cuts deeper than any de:


    She doesn’t belong to <i>either</i> of us.


    Not really.


    Not yet.


    And maybe... maybe she never will.


    "Now look what you’ve done — you made her cry!" Reed snapped, shoving me hard in the chest.


    Big mistake.


    No <i>fucking mutt</i>ys a hand on me and walks away intact.


    My fist flew before I could think — cracked him straight in the jaw. He stumbled, snarled, and lunged. And just like that, we were on the floor, rolling like two rabid dogs fighting for thest bone in hell.


    Punches flew.


    Elbows, knees — whatever we couldnd.


    The room blurred around us, her scent still lingering in the air like a taunt neither of us could ignore. And that just made everything worse. My demons howled, spurred on by the chaos, reveling in the violence like it was a feast.


    "You self-righteous mutt!" I growled, mming my forearm into his throat. "She doesn’t belong to you!"


    "She’s not yours either, leech!" Reed spat, flipping us andnding a brutal hit to my ribs. "You broke her! You made her <i>cry!</i>"


    The word <i>cry</i> rang in my ears.


    It shouldn’t have mattered. Not to me. Not to something like me.


    But it did.


    Her face — twisted in pain, fury, betrayal — burned behind my eyes.


    I grabbed Reed by the cor and mmed him into the floor, fangs bared inches from his throat. "You think you’re any better?! You were going to <i>kill</i> her, weren’t you? That’s why you came back!"


    His eyes red golden, his wolf snarling behind them. "You don’t know shit, vampire."


    *****


    We were too busynding blows, too caught up in our rage, in the need to <i>win</i>, to <i>own</i>, to <i>prove</i> something that didn’t need proving.


    Fists collided with bone. Knuckles split. Blood hit the floor.


    Neither of us noticed the shift in the air.


    Not until the silence hit.


    Not until the space she had upied — the very gravity that had kept us circling each other like derangeds — was empty.


    I blinked, blood trailing from the corner of my mouth, and pushed myself off the floor.


    "She’s quiet..." I muttered, wiping my jaw.


    Reed was already scanning the room, nostrils ring. His body tensed.


    Her scent — that infuriating, addictive scent that made both our instincts coil and snap — was fading.


    "Where the fuck is she?" Reed growled.


    My heart stuttered.


    She was gone.


    Slipped right out from under us while we were too busy trying to kill each other over her.


    I staggered to the kitchen, blood pounding in my ears, her absence hitting like a void I couldn’t breathe through.


    "She was <i>just</i> here," I snarled. "<i>She</i> was just here."


    Reed burst past me, tearing through the hallway, checking doors like a madman. I followed, the weight of her absence growing heavier with every step.


    Nothing.


    No warmth left in the kitchen.


    No tes. No crumbs. No heartbeat.


    She was just... <i>gone</i>.


    "Fuck," I hissed. "How the hell did she get away without either of us noticing?"


    Reed’s eyes glowed like the edge of a de.


    Because <i>we’d</i> let it happen.


    We were so wrapped in our territorial dick-measuring match, we didn’t see her slip out. The fragile little human we imed to own just reminded us we were fools. And she yed us both.


    Now she was out there. Alone.


    And gods help whoever finds her before we do.


    Panic hit me like a freight train.


    Her scent—faint but undeniable—trailed down the hall, curling around corners like a ghost taunting us. I could smell her fear too. It clung to the air, bitter and sharp like burnt sugar. She ran. That little human ran.


    "She went out the fucking exit door," I hissed, already sprinting.


    Reed was right behind me, growling something under his breath that I didn’t catch.


    The door was cracked open, her scent drifting out into the night like smoke. Cold air pped me in the face as I shoved through it, the outside world swallowing thest traces of her warmth.


    "She’s out <i>there</i>," I said, teeth clenched. "Alone."


    It hit me all at once.


    She was <i>walking around outside at night</i>. A human. <i>My human</i>. No, my beloved.


    And she had no fucking idea how dangerous that was.


    Not here.


    Not in a city that crawled with monsters after dark — the ones that didn’t y by our twisted politics. The ones that <i>didn’t care</i> she belonged to me, didn’t fear Reed’s title, didn’t even know what mate bonds or blood marks meant. Just creatures hungry for blood, flesh, fear.


    I snarled and mmed my fist against the brick wall beside the exit. A crack split through it.


    Stupid, <i>stupid</i> girl.


    Did she think she was punishing us?


    Did she think she could just... walk away and <i>nothing</i> would happen?


    "You should’ve <i>fucking watched her!</i>" I turned on Reed, fury burning hot in my throat. "You were the one yelling about protecting her!"


    Reed growled back, fists clenched. "You’re the one who made her cry."


    "I didn’t think—"


    "Exactly. You didn’t think," he snapped.


    We stood there in the cold for one tense heartbeat, the street empty before us, but the danger bleeding from every shadow.


    She was walking into a lion’s den.


    And she didn’t even know it.


    "I’m tracking her," I said, already moving again. "If something touches her before I find her, I swear to every ancient god, I will raze this entire city to the ground."


    My demons were wing at my insides now, furious, frantic. She was their anchor, their obsession — and they’d let her slip away. I let her out of my sight because of a stupid mutt. They <i>needed</i> her. And so did I.


    Not because of the bond.


    Not even because she was mine.


    But because the thought of her body — warm and breakable — lying somewhere cold and bloodless, alone in the dark?


    Was <i>uneptable</i>.


    gods help her.


    gods help <i>me</i> if I’m toote.