Damon's POV
"Fight me."
I blocked Nyx's path in the training facility, arms crossed. After watching Kade come back from their confrontation looking like someone had torn his heart out, I'd had enough of her games.
She raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me?"
"You heard me. Combat training. Right now. You and me." I gestured to the ring where other wolves were sparring. "Unless you're scared."
"Of you?" She actually laughed. "That's cute."
The sound made my wolf snarl. I'd spent five years trying to become someone worthy of respect—a warrior, a leader, someone strong enough to protect his pack. And this omega was laughing at me.
"Prove it then." I stepped closer. "You took down Marcus Greyhound in seconds. Show me that wasn't a fluke."
"Why?" Her violet eyes studied me. "So you can tell yourself I got lucky? So you can feel better about being weaker than an omega?"
"So I can understand what you are." The truth came out before I could stop it. "You move like a trained killer. You fight like you've spent years learning how. You're not the broken girl we knew at the academy."
"No, I'm not." She walked past me toward the ring. "Let's get this over with."
I followed, my heart pounding. Around us, other wolves stopped training to watch. Word spread fast—Damon Nightshade was about to fight the mysterious Valdis. Money started changing hands as people placed bets.
We faced each other across the mat. She looked small compared to me—I had at least eighty pounds of muscle on her. But the way she stood, the way she moved... this wasn't going to be easy.
"Rules?" she asked.
"No shifting. No killing. Everything else is fair game." I cracked my knuckles. "First one to submit loses."
"I don't submit."
"We'll see."
The moment I moved, she was already gone.
I threw a punch where her head had been a second ago and hit empty air. Before I could recover, pain exploded in my ribs—she'd gotten behind me and landed a kick that actually made me stumble.
I spun, throwing a combination I'd practiced ten thousand times. She dodged every hit like she could read my mind, moving with impossible speed.
"Too slow," she said.
Rage flooded through me. I was one of the best fighters in my generation. I'd trained since I could walk. And she was making me look like an amateur.
I feinted left, then attacked right. She saw through it, but I'd expected that—I grabbed her wrist as she blocked and used my weight advantage to pull her off balance.
For half a second, I had her.
Then she used my own momentum against me, spinning under my arm and twisting until I was the one falling. I hit the mat hard, air rushing from my lungs.
She was on top of me before I could move, knee on my chest, forearm across my throat.
"Submit," she commanded.
"No." I bucked, trying to throw her off, but she had leverage and skill and strength that shouldn't exist in someone her size.
"Submit, Damon."
"Make me."
She pressed harder on my throat, cutting off air. Not enough to really hurt me, just enough to prove she could. Around us, the crowd had gone completely silent.
"Still think omegas are weak?" she asked softly.
Our eyes met. Hers blazing violet. Mine probably wild with frustration and something else—something that had nothing to do with fighting.
The mate bond roared to life.
Being this close to her, her body pressed against mine, her scent filling my lungs—it was too much. My wolf howled: MATE. OURS. CLAIM HER.
I saw the exact moment she felt it too. Her eyes widened. Her breath caught. The pressure on my throat eased slightly.
"Get off me," I said, but my voice came out rough, wanting.
"Make me," she threw my words back at me.
So I did.
I grabbed her waist and rolled, using every ounce of strength I had. She fought back, and for a few seconds we grappled—all power and heat and the bond crackling between us like electricity.
I ended up on top, pinning her wrists above her head, my body covering hers.
We were both breathing hard. Both staring at each other. Both feeling the pull that wanted to drag us together.
"What are you?" I breathed.
"Your worst nightmare," she said, but her voice shook.
"No." I leaned closer, unable to stop myself. "You're my mate. My wolf knows it. Your wolf knows it. Why are we fighting this?"
"Because you don't deserve me." Her eyes blazed brighter. "Because you spent three years making me feel worthless. Because you watched me fall off that cliff and did nothing to stop it."
"I know." The admission hurt. "I know I don't deserve you. None of us do. But that doesn't change what we are to each other."
"We're nothing to each other."
"Then why is your heart racing?" I could feel her pulse pounding under my hands. "Why are your pupils dilated? Why haven't you broken free yet?"
She could have. I knew she could have. She was faster than me, stronger than she looked, trained by people who made my instructors look like children.
But she wasn't moving.
"Let me go," she whispered.
"Tell me you don't feel this." I knew I was playing with fire, but I couldn't stop. "Tell me the bond means nothing. Tell me you don't want—"
She kissed me.
Hard. Desperate. Like she was trying to prove something or punish herself or make me shut up. I didn't care which.
I kissed her back, releasing her wrists so I could pull her closer. She wrapped her arms around my neck, and for one perfect moment, the bond sang between us. Complete. Right. Everything I'd been missing for five years without knowing it.
Then she shoved me away with enough force to send me rolling across the mat.
"Stay away from me," she said, scrambling to her feet. Her eyes were wild. "All of you. Just... stay away."
She ran.
My wolf screamed at me to follow, but I couldn't move. My whole body was shaking from the kiss, from the bond trying to snap into place, from the realization that she'd felt it too.
She'd felt it and it had terrified her.
"Damon." Ryker appeared beside me, offering a hand. "You okay?"
"No." I let him pull me up. "She kissed me."
"I saw."
"She kissed me and then ran like I'd burned her." I touched my lips, still feeling the ghost of her mouth on mine. "What the hell is happening to us?"
"The mate bond." Ash joined us, his expression grim. "It's getting stronger. The more time we spend near her, the harder it gets to resist."
"I don't want to resist," I admitted. "I want—" I stopped, not knowing how to finish that sentence.
"To fix what we broke," Kade finished, appearing with a towel. "But we can't. Some things stay broken no matter how hard you try to fix them."
"Philosophical Kade is depressing," Ash muttered. "What happened to 'we'll figure this out'?"
"That was before I realized she's never going to forgive us." Kade handed me the towel. "She's made that very clear."
"Then what do we do?" I wiped sweat from my face. "Just... give up?"
"We respect her wishes," Ryker said quietly. "We stay away. We let her have her revenge. And maybe, if we're lucky, we survive it."
I wanted to argue, but what was the point? She'd made her choice.
My phone buzzed. A text from an unknown number: Roof. Midnight. Don't tell the others. –V
My heart stopped.
Valdis. Nyx. Whatever name she went by—she was texting me. Setting up a secret meeting. After what just happened in the ring.
"What is it?" Kade asked, seeing my expression.
"Nothing." I pocketed the phone fast. "Just... pack business."
They didn't believe me, I could tell. But they let it go.
As we headed back to our rooms, all I could think about was that message. Was it real? Or was this another test, another way to hurt us?
Either way, I was going.
Because despite everything—despite the torture, the rejection, the five years of guilt—my wolf had chosen her. And I was done fighting what I wanted most.
Even if it destroyed me.
Later That Night – My Room
I couldn't stop replaying the kiss. The way she'd grabbed me like she needed it as much as I did. The way she'd melted against me for just a second before remembering she was supposed to hate me.
A knock at my door made me jump.
"It's me," Kade's voice. "Let me in."
I opened the door. He walked in looking worse than I'd ever seen him—hair disheveled, shirt wrinkled, eyes haunted.
"I got a text from her too," he said.
My stomach dropped. "What?"
"North gardens. Midnight. Come alone." He showed me his phone. "When did she text you?"
"Right after the fight." I pulled out mine. "Roof. Midnight."
We stared at each other.
"She's playing us," Kade said.
"Or testing us."
"What's the difference?"
Good question.
My phone buzzed again. Another message: Change of plans. Parking garage. Level B. Midnight. If you tell anyone, I disappear forever. –V
"Mine changed too," Kade said, looking at his phone. "Storage building behind the Summit hall."
"She's separating us." Understanding dawned. "She wants us alone. Vulnerable."
"It's a trap."
"Probably."
We looked at each other.
"You're still going," Kade said.
"Yeah. You?"
"Yeah."
Because that's what the mate bond did. It made you stupid. Made you walk into obvious traps just for the chance to be near the person who could destroy you.
"If we don't come back—" I started.
"We'll come back," Kade interrupted. "We survived throwing her off a cliff. We can survive whatever she's planning."
I wasn't so sure.
But at 11:55 PM, I headed for the parking garage anyway.
Level B was dark, empty, silent. My footsteps echoed as I descended the ramp. Every instinct screamed this was wrong, but I kept walking.
At the bottom, a figure stepped out of the shadows.
Not Nyx.
Morgana Silvercrest—Ash's sister. The former omega victim turned Shadow Council operative.
"Hello, Damon," she purred. "Looking for someone?"
Before I could answer, pain exploded in the back of my head.
Then everything went black.