"I'm not interested."
"Think about it. The Council can be a powerful friend."
"Or a powerful enemy?" The words come out before I can stop them.
"I didn't say that."
"You didn't have to."
I walk away before he can respond and I don't look back. My heart is pounding. The Julian bond pulls tight with my rising panic. I have to tell him about this, let him know that Chase is pushing harder.
I make it to his office and knock without thinking. The door opens immediately and Julian pulls me inside, closing it behind me.
"What's wrong?" He can feel my fear through the bond. "What happened?"
"Chase approached me. On campus. He offered Council protection in exchange for..." I don't even know what he wasoffering in exchange for. Just that it felt like a threat wrapped in friendly words.
Julian's jaw tightens and through the bond I feel his anger spike sharp and hot. "What exactly did he say?"
I tell him everything. The offer of protection and resources. The implication that I need the Council's friendship. The thinly veiled threat about what happens after I graduate.
"You need to be careful," Julian says when I finish. His hands are clenched at his sides like he's physically restraining himself from touching me. "Chase is dangerous. If he suspects you're more than just a silver wolf, if he thinks you have connections he can exploit..."
"I AM being careful." Frustration bleeds through the bond from both of us. "What do you want me to do, hide in my room until he leaves?"
"I want you to understand how much danger you're in." His voice goes hard. "Chase doesn't make empty threats. If he's offering Council protection, it means he's planning to make you need it."
"I know that. I was there when he said it."
The bond snaps between us, sharp and uncomfortable. It's the first real disagreement we've had through the mate bond and it feels wrong. Like two parts of the same thing pulling in opposite directions.
Julian feels it too. I watch him close his eyes and take a breath, forcing himself to calm down. When he opens them again, the anger has faded. "I'm sorry. I'm just... I can feel your fear and it's making me insane that I can't protect you properly."
"I know." My own anger fades because I can feel his terror underneath it. "But you have to trust that I can handle this."
"Can you? Against the Council?"
"I've survived this long."
The look on his face makes my chest ache. "That's what I'm afraid of. That your luck is going to run out and I'll be powerless to stop it."
We stand there staring at each other across his office. The bond hums between us, still uncomfortable from the disagreement but settling slowly. He wants to cross the room and hold me. I can feel the desire through the bond as clearly as if he'd said it out loud.
But we can't. Not here. Not where someone might see.
"I need to get to class," I say quietly.
He nods. "Be careful."
"I will."
I leave his office carrying the weight of his fear along with my own. The bond follows me across campus like an invisible thread connecting us. I can feel him even from buildings away, can sense his emotions as clearly as if he were standing next to me.
Chase is circling. Caspian is suspicious. Julian is terrified. And I'm walking around campus carrying secrets that could destroy everything if anyone finds out.
The bond was supposed to make us stronger together. Instead it's just one more thing I have to hide.
I make it back to my dorm and collapse on my bed. Lily looks up from her homework.
