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Something deeper stirs – buried under the violence they forced into me – something real.

Her.

Me.

Us.

That pull, that thread between us, tightens. It doesn’t just tug me back, it drags me, heart first, out of the grip they’ve clamped onto my blood. The rage in me fractures. My hand loosens on her throat.

The noise floods back in. The sound of fighting and struggling. The scent of blood and magic is potent in the air, drowning me now instead of charging me. Tara’s eyes are full of tears. Her fingers move to my cheeks and I lean down, pressing my mouth to hers.

She gasps against my lips, as if whatever they did to her is fading too. Like the power of our bond has overcome whatever control they had over us.

‘I love you,’ I say to her, holding her close to me, the words spilling out of me.

‘I love you,’ she whispers back, tears swimming in her eyes and overflowing down her cheeks.

Stumbling to my feet, I pull her with me, and the world brightens once more as everything comes back into focus. I feel everything all at once. Cries and snarls ripple through the chaos as the witches and vampires clash, their powers colliding in sparks and blurs of movements.

Kian’s eyes burn with fury and exhaustion, but beneath that fierce glare, there’s something colder – a calculated resolve. He moves through the rubble like a predator stalking his prey, scanning for Velistra, hardly sparing me a glance now that he knows I’ve fought their control.

I get it now. Everything was calculated. Us meeting. Them manipulating her blood, and mine too. Forcing the bond. The human girl in the tunnel conveniently sacrificing herself in order for Tara to turn. They needed us both bonded as vampires to control us, but what they underestimated was the power of that bond and the love we discovered for each other. It overpowered their moves.

Near the edge of the clearing, Velistra stands, her robes flowing like liquid night, lips curling into that same cruel smile. The witch who started this all. Kian’s fist tightens, knuckles white.

Without hesitation, he charges, and then there is a sudden movement as Cas steps between them. Kian skids to a halt, grass and mud flicking up around him. Cas stands tall, calm, eyes dark and unreadable.

‘Cas?’ Kian barks, voice sharp and furious. ‘Get out of my way.’

Cas raises a hand, voice low but steady, cutting through the chaos. He shakes his head, and the world seems to slow. Kian blinks, looking stunned. Cas’s eyes glint coldly and the calm he wore moments ago slips away. Something sharp and dangerous enters his expression, making him look unlike himself, or the version of him that I know.

‘Kian,’ he says in a careful drawl. ‘You always thought I was on your side. Your friend.’

Kian’s breath catches, shock and disbelief twisting his face. Very rarely does Kian get caught off guard, but it’s very clear he did not see this coming. Cas steps forward, closer now.

‘Yes,’ he confirms, face still as stoic as before. ‘I’ve been working with them all along. I was the one who let Sofia in to take over things.’

Sofia. The witch we fought and killed. Realisation dawns on me as I think back to everything that unfolded. No one would ever have expected Cas to be working with the witches. An uncomfortable coldness spreads through me. This battle, and everything leading up to it, has been far more orchestrated than I’d once believed.

Kian’s jaw tightens. ‘Why?’

‘You never quite let me in,’ Cas replies in a steady but hurt tone, showing an emotional side to him that I’ve never seen before. ‘Close, but never all the way. You always thought you were better and stronger than me. Maybe you are. But I’m done being your little bitch boy that you can use whenever you feel like it.’

Velistra’s smile returns, cruel and victorious as Cas’s words fill the space around us, every one of us shocked into speechlessness.

‘Oh, Kian. Another person who you thought was loyal. When will you learn?’ she muses, looking gleeful.

Kian glares at Cas, heart shattering with every word. ‘We began all of this together … it’s been me and you from the start.’

Cas’s gaze falters for a moment – a flicker of something passing over him, but then his eyes turn steely once more. ‘I did what I had to do to survive, Kian. Like you always taught me.’

Kian takes a step forward, eyes burning with rage. ‘Then you’re no friend of mine.’

The grass is torn beneath our feet. Smoke curls in the air from the spells still burning along the edges of the property, as if there is a ward surrounding us, containing the magic.

Cas doesn’t reply to him, he draws his dagger instead, eyes darker than the shadows around us as his fangs drop low, making him look demonic as hell. Cora moves beside me, her presence like a spark waiting to ignite.

‘Don’t step in,’ she says under her breath, a warning that shouldn’t be necessary, but the twitch of my fingers is enough to tell me I’m only a moment away from charging ahead. Cora and I are the same when it comes to protecting Kian. It’s like we’re pulled to him without having any control over the matter. ‘Kian won’t let you. This is his.’