The front door slammed against the wall as Asher stumbled inside. The scent of dried blood still clung to his clothes, and the faint glow from the locket hadn't dimmed since the forest. His breath came in short bursts, not from running—but from everything that had just happened.
Elara was waiting in the kitchen, arms crossed, a lantern casting shadows across her face. She didn't need to speak; her eyes said enough.
"What were you thinking?" she hissed.
Asher froze. Eli, still half asleep at the top of the stairs, watched silently, clutching the railing.
"I had to—"
"You 'had to' run straight into the forest? To him?" Elara's voice cracked like glass. "Do you have any idea what could have happened if that bond had snapped? If he had lost control?"
Asher clenched his fists. "He didn't lose control."
"That's the 'problem,' Asher!" Elara slammed her hand on the table, making Eli flinch. "You think you understand what you're dealing with. You don't. You've only seen a glimpse of what he is."
Asher's voice trembled with stubborn defiance. "Then explain it to me. No more secrets. No more stories cut in half. Who was Amara? What did Lucian 'do' to her?"
For a long moment, the only sound in the room was the hiss of the lantern flame. Then Elara slowly lowered herself into the chair, as if the weight of years was pressing down on her shoulders.
"She loved him," she whispered. "That's where everything went wrong."
Asher stiffened.
"Amara wasn't just a healer, Asher. She was a guardian. Her bloodline was created to 'protect' this world from what lurks in the shadows. But Lucian… he was different from the others. He didn't hunt her. He fell in love with her. And she—" Elara's voice broke "—she fell just as hard."
Eli sat down quietly on the stairs, wide-eyed.
"They created something forbidden. A bond that merged human and vampire blood. But the world doesn't forgive what it fears. The hunters came for him. For her. And in the end, she bound her soul to the locket to keep him from falling into the darkness completely."
Asher's heart pounded. "Why him? Why not let him go?"
"Because love makes fools of us all," Elara said softly. "And now… history's repeating itself."
The lantern flickered violently for a moment, and Asher felt it again—the *pull.* The bond humming faintly in his chest, like Lucian's heartbeat had reached across the night.
Elara saw the look in his eyes and her face hardened. "Asher, listen to me carefully. Once a bond like this fully awakens… you won't be able to walk away. Not from him. Not from this world. It will consume you."
Asher's hands tightened around the edge of the table. "Then maybe I won't walk away."
Eli's breath caught. Elara stared at him as if she didn't recognize him anymore.
In that moment, Asher realized something terrifying. He wasn't just being pulled in—he was 'choosing' to stay.
To be continued....