Chapter 49: The Bond

Astrid

"You’re doing that thing again," Xander said, watching me.

"What thing?"

"Looking like you’re trying to solve a problem that doesn’t have an answer."

I laughed, nervous. "Maybe it doesn’t."

He studied me for a moment, no jokes ready this time. "Whatever it is, you don’t have to figure it out tonight."

That almost let me relax. We went back inside, and I told myself I could finish the evening like nothing had happened.

I couldn’t.

My date found me not long after, asking for another dance. I agreed, trying to focus on him as he talked about the competition, how surprised he’d been when I won, how much he’d enjoyed watching me. He was genuinely pleasant company.

But I kept noticing things across the ballroom. Reed speaking with another student. Xander laughing somewhere near the drinks table. The floating lights overhead. The music itself seemed sharper than it should have, every sound heightened in a way I couldn’t explain.

"Are you sure you’re okay?" my date asked.

"I’m just tired," I said, smiling.

I knew I was lying the moment the words left my mouth.

When the song ended, Xander appeared again, offering his hand. "One more?"

I hesitated. I’d already danced with him once. Some quiet, insistent part of me wanted to take his hand anyway, and I did.

The moment our palms touched, the sensation returned, warmth spreading through my chest, a sudden, overwhelming awareness of him.

His expression changed instantly, the teasing dropping away.

"You felt that too," he said.

"Felt what?" I asked, though my eyes had already widened.

"Nothing," he said, too quickly.

"Xander."

He looked at me. "I don’t know what it is."

That scared me more than any answer could have.

We kept dancing anyway, the music slowing around us. "I’ve been noticing you," he admitted quietly.

"You notice everyone," I said, confused.

"Not like this."

My heart stuttered. He looked away briefly. "Since you came here, I’ve kept finding reasons to be around you."

I didn’t know how to respond.

"And before you say anything," he added, a small laugh escaping him, "I don’t know what that means either."

I looked down, the strange warmth building steadily stronger inside me.

Then I heard Reed’s voice. "Xander."

We both turned.

Reed approached, his expression unreadable. "The headmaster is looking for you."

Xander nodded, but I felt it again, stronger this time, far stronger, the moment Reed drew close. My heart pounded. My skin prickled. I could suddenly smell them both with a clarity I’d never experienced before, their scents distinct and overwhelming.

I stepped back. "Something’s wrong."

Reed noticed immediately. "What?"

"I don’t know."

Xander moved closer, and the sensation intensified further. I pressed a hand against my chest.

"Astrid, look at me," Reed said.

I did. Our eyes met, and at the same moment, Xander’s hand settled lightly against my shoulder to steady me.

Everything stopped.

The music seemed to disappear entirely. The voices around us faded into nothing. My whole body went still.

Then something tore through me, not pain, recognition. My heartbeat became thunderous in my own ears. My senses sharpened impossibly, and I could feel both of them, not as two people standing near me, but as something connected, something that had always been there waiting.

I gasped.

For the first time in my life, I heard a voice inside me that wasn’t my own.

My wolf.

Mates.

I froze. I didn’t understand.

Our mates, the voice repeated.

My eyes snapped open. I looked at Reed. Then Xander.

The word echoed through my mind, over and over. Mate. Mate. Mate.

Two. Not one.

Two mates.

My thoughts raced backward through everything, the first time Reed had looked at me like a puzzle worth solving, the way Xander always seemed to orbit around me without explanation, the strange comfort I’d felt around them from almost the beginning, the jealousy, the attraction, the warmth every time either of them touched me.

I’d spent weeks trying to explain all of it away. Now I had an answer. And I hated it. I looked between them, the realization crashing down all at once.

No.

My breathing turned uneven.

No, no, no.

"Astrid?" Reed said, noticing my face.

I shook my head. "No."

Xander’s confusion deepened. "Astrid, what’s wrong?"

I backed away. Because underneath the word mates, another thought slammed into me harder than the first. They’re my stepbrothers.

Not strangers. Not random students I’d met at some academy dance. Reed and Xander Ashwood, the princes, the sons of the man who’d killed my mother.

My stomach twisted violently. This can’t happen. I looked at them again, their faces suddenly foreign and painfully familiar all at once.

Reed took a step toward me. "Astrid."

I stepped back immediately. "Don’t."

He stopped.

"What’s happening?" Xander asked, looking between us.

I couldn’t say it. Saying it out loud would make it real.

The ballroom slowly came back into focus around us, music, voices, students laughing, everyone completely oblivious to what had just torn through me. Panic rose fast on the heels of that thought.

What if someone noticed? What if the bond could be sensed by others? What if the King ever found out? My breathing came faster.

Xander reached toward me. "Astrid, wait."

I flinched away. "Don’t touch me."

Something in his face cracked at that, and guilt flared briefly through my chest before fear swallowed it whole.

"You’re frightened," Reed said, his voice gentling.

I looked at him, tears already gathering. "I need to go."

"We’ll come with you."

"No."

"Astrid—" Xander started.

"Just... don’t."

I looked at them both one final time, the bond pulling painfully inside my chest, my wolf whispering again.

Mates.

My heart broke a little, because I knew, without question, that it was telling the truth. And I knew I couldn’t accept it. I turned and ran.

I pushed through the ballroom doors, down the corridor, my vision blurring with tears I couldn’t stop.

"Astrid!" Xander’s voice, somewhere behind me.

Then Reed’s. "Wait!"

I didn’t stop. I ran faster, because if I stopped, I’d have to face what had just happened. I wasn’t ready.

Behind me, the ballroom kept glowing with music and magic like nothing had changed at all. But everything had changed.

I pressed a trembling hand against my chest, two heartbeats seeming to echo inside my own.

They can’t be my mates.