CHAPTER FIFTEEN #2
"Great. Comforting," I deadpanned.
Asher moved in front of me slightly—casual, but enough to make a point. His shadows flickered in response to Kova's. The hound growled low again, but Zander gave a sharp warning, and Kova finally huffed and sat.
"You've got about twenty minutes before the next patrol sweeps this section," Zander told us. "Stick to the main tunnel. It'll curve west and open just past the border. After that, you're on your own."
Asher gave a tight nod. "Appreciate it."
Zander looked between us one last time. "You're either stupid or brave, Maddox."
"Bit of both," Asher said, grabbing my hand again.
The moment we stepped deeper into the cave, the darkness swallowed us whole. And still—I didn't feel afraid. Not with him.
···
The tunnel sloped downward, damp stone walls pressing close as our footsteps echoed softly in the silence. Aether padded beside me, his luminous golden eyes scanning the gloom, while Zya's form blended into the darkness just ahead as if she were a part of the shadows themselves.
Asher's fingers were still tangled with mine, his grip steady and grounding.
The silence settled around us, but the bond between us buzzed—a low, insistent vibration that refused to be silenced.
"Back there," I said softly, the damp air carrying my voice. "You looked at me like…"
"Like I wanted to slam you against a tree and ruin you?" he offered, his voice dropping into a dark, amused register.
"Exactly like that," I muttered, my cheeks heating.
He chuckled, the sound vibrating through the bond. "Can you blame me?"
I shot him a glare, but it lacked any real bite.
"You know the bond is getting worse, right?" I whispered. "Harder to ignore."
"Not worse," he said, stopping abruptly to face me. "Stronger." His gaze held mine, unwavering and intense. "I feel you, Ava. Every heartbeat. Every flicker of thought. And sometimes—" he took a slow step closer, his voice dropping to a rasp, "—I think I can hear your magic breathing."
I swallowed hard. Gods.
"How do you handle it?" I asked, my voice barely a breath.
Asher tilted his head, his shadows dancing across his collarbone in the dim light. "I don't."
The tunnel curved again, the walls narrowing as we stepped into a deeper, more oppressive shadow. And just like that—the bond surged.
A wave of emotions rippled through me. Heat, longing, confusion… and guilt. I felt fucking guilty, the weight of it heavy in my chest.
Asher slowed, turning toward me. His brow furrowed, his shadows twitching at his shoulders as he read the shift in my energy. "You regret it?" he asked, his voice low and dangerous.
"No." I shook my head, my heart hammering. "I don't. I want it. I need it." I bit my lip, trying to anchor myself. "But we agreed. Strictly sex."
His jaw clenched, and for a heartbeat, the air in the narrow passage turned arctic. The temperature plummeted so fast my breath came out in a thick plume of white. Asher didn't just step forward—he prowled, his movements liquid and lethal.
"Jeremy."
The name slipped from my lips like a death knell.
The bond didn't just surge; it shattered.
A wave of pure, unadulterated territorial fury slammed into me, so potent it made my knees buckle.
Asher's eyes didn't just darken—the silver vanished entirely, replaced by two pits of roiling, obsidian shadow that seemed to swallow what little light remained in the tunnel.
He moved in a blur. Before I could blink, he had me pinned against the damp stone wall, his hands slamming into the rock on either side of my head. The impact jarred my spine, but I was frozen, trapped between the cold stone and the furnace of his body.
"Don't," he hissed, his voice no longer entirely human. It was a layered, echoing growl that vibrated through the marrow of my bones. "Don't you dare bring his name into this space. Not while you still carry my shadows. Not while the bond is screaming for more, and not while I can still taste you."
His shadows erupted, coiling around us like a physical cage, lashing out against the tunnel walls in jagged, violent strikes.
The pressure was suffocating and intoxicating all at once. Through the link, I felt his control snap like a dry twig.
It wasn't just jealousy; it was a primal, ancient possession that turned my blood to molten lead.
He leaned down, his face inches from mine, his nose brushing against my temple. I could feel the frantic, heavy thud of his heart against my chest.
"You think this is just sex, Ava?" he rasped, his teeth grazing the shell of my ear. "You think you can just go back to him and pretend I didn't reach inside your soul and set it on fire?"
He gripped my chin, forcing my eyes to stay locked on his dark, void-like gaze.
"Look at me," he commanded, his shadows tightening their grip around my wrists, pinning them to the stone. "Tell me you want him. Tell me you feel his magic breathing when he touches you. Tell me, and I'll let you go."
I couldn't speak. I couldn't even breathe. The bond was a live wire between us, crackling with a raw, undeniable truth. There was no Jeremy anymore.
There was only the shadow and the flame.
Asher's jaw worked, a muscle leaping in his cheek as he fought to drag himself back from the edge of the abyss.
Slowly, painfully, the silver began to bleed back into his eyes, though the darkness remained rimmed with a predatory red.
He stayed there for a long moment, his forehead resting against mine, both of us shaking with the force of the outburst.
“I am hanging onto my sanity by a fucking thread, darling.”
Well, fuck. Same here.
Finally, he stepped back, the shadows retreating into his skin with a reluctant hiss. He didn't apologize. He didn’t look back.
"Let's go," he said, his voice flat and terrifyingly controlled. "Before I decide to prove just how much of a lie 'strictly sex' really is."
The air was still vibrating with the ghost of his shadows as we pushed deeper into the damp, lightless passage.
Every footstep felt like a strike against a drum, echoing the frantic, uneven rhythm of my pulse. I couldn't stop looking at the back of his head—at the rigid set of his shoulders and the way his hands were clenched into fists at his sides.
The guilt hadn't vanished; it had just been charred black by the heat of his anger.
The second we stepped out of the tunnel's mouth, the transition was jarring. The stale, underground air was replaced by something thick, ancient, and electric.
Magic—wild, raw, and unbound—pulsed through the Veylaith Woods like a living thing. It brushed against my skin and coiled deep inside my chest, humming a long-forgotten song that made my fire flicker in response.
Asher sent a pulse of warmth down the bond—a silent, grounding anchor after the storm in the tunnel. I offered a shaky nod, and he let go of my hand, moving ahead into the gloom.
"Solstice still can't sense him," Aether's voice crackled through the bond, his mental tone sharp with frustration.
"Maybe the closer we get," I whispered, hopping over a massive, gnarled root. "The bond can't be completely severed... not unless the wielder dies."
The fog began to gather between the trunks like breath held too long, turning everything into a world of silver-blue ghosts. The sun barely pierced the canopy, and the deeper we walked, the quieter the forest became. The birds were gone. The insects were silent.
And then—the mist surged.
It didn't drift; it attacked. It moved so fast I couldn't draw a breath. One second, I could see Asher's back—the next, the world was gone.
"Asher?" I gasped, my voice swallowed by the white-out.
Silence. Then, his voice came through the mental link, low and rough. "I'm here. Stay still."
He was suddenly beside me again, eyes narrowed, his shadows coiling around his boots like defensive vipers. Aether pressed tight to my leg, his fur standing on end as a low growl vibrated in his throat.
Something grabbed my leg.
I didn't even have time to scream before I was yanked off my feet. My back slammed against the forest floor, and I was dragged through the dirt and sharp branches with terrifying force.
"ASHER!" I shrieked, clawing at the mud, my fingernails scraping over bark and stone.
"AETHER!"
Nothing. The fog was a physical barrier, isolating me in a world of grey. Then the bond screamed, flaring like wildfire with his panic.
"Ava!" "Hold on!" "Zya! To the left—!"
I couldn't see them. I couldn't hear anything but the rush of blood in my ears and the sickening drag of my body being pulled deeper into the brush. Roots tore at my skin until, suddenly, the movement stopped.
A sharp tug on my ankle hoisted me into the air. I swung there, dangling upside-down in the thinning haze. My chest heaved as the mist cleared just enough to reveal the nightmare below me.
A massive creature emerged from the earth, half-submerged in stone and soil. Its hide was a jagged mosaic of violet crystal shards that pulsed with a faint, toxic light.
Its face was a horror—perfectly, sickeningly round, and lined with rows of jagged teeth spinning like an industrial grinder. It had no eyes, only a ring of glistening sensory slits that trembled as it scented my fear.
A Burrowwyrm.
The tail was curled tightly around my ankle, lifting me toward that spinning maw. My scream tore out of me just as the creature lunged.