Chapter 78: Tangled in Fate
Mallory:
The moment our eyes met, something snapped inside me. It wasn’t painful, but it was jarring. Like my whole body had gone electric. Like I had suddenly stepped into a different realm entirely, one where the only things that mattered were his eyes on mine, and the breath I couldn’t seem to take in.
My heart was hammering in my chest, hard and loud and fast. I couldn’t look away. Couldn’t breathe.
And then I felt it.
The bond.
Every fairytale I had heard whispered in corners of the Nightshade Pack gatherings. Every dreamy sigh girls released when they talked about soulmates, true mates, destined partners. I thought those were just stories. I had never expected to feel something so real, so immediate, and so overwhelming.
My stomach twisted and heat flushed my skin from head to toe. I couldn’t make sense of anything... only that my soul was clawing toward him. Reaching. Anchoring.
But before I could even speak, before I could blink again, the handsome man with dark brown eyes was moving. He strode toward me like a storm in tailored clothes and predator-like confidence. His grip wrapped around my wrist firmly, but not cruelly, and the next thing I knew...
"Wait - Mallory!" Eva’s voice pierced through the haze, her fingers trying to catch my other hand. Her face was pale, her eyes wide, torn between panic and disbelief.
But she couldn’t follow.
Professor Kieran stopped her and shook his head silently. It was like he knew something I didn’t. Or maybe... he knew exactly what was happening to me.