Damien.

I sat at the edge of my bed, elbows resting on my knees, my fingers loosely clasped together as my gaze stayed fixed on the floor.

Everything felt... off.

The silence in my room wasn’t peaceful, it was heavy, suffocating, filled with thoughts I couldn’t quite organize. One moment bled into another, each memory replaying in fragments that refused to settle.

Adrien.

The way he had looked.

The chains.

The growl that didn’t sound like him anymore.

My jaw tightened.

I dragged a hand through my hair in frustration.

Things were spiraling out of control faster than any of us could keep up with. The poison, Galen’s sudden disappearance, Maria’s involvement in everything, it all felt like pieces of a puzzle that didn’t fit together.

And then there was Noah.

My expression darkened slightly.

Something about him had been bothering me for a while now. The way he moved, the way he inserted himself into situations... and Anabel.

A low breath left my lips as I pushed myself up to my feet.

If Anabel was anywhere right now, she would be with Noah.

She always was.

Without wasting another second, I turned and strode out of my room.

The hallway felt colder than usual, the air thick with tension. My footsteps echoed faintly against the walls as I made my way toward Noah’s room, my thoughts still running wild.

I didn’t bother knocking.

I pushed the door open.

And froze.

For a split second, my mind refused to register what I was seeing.

Noah.

Maria.

Kissing.

Something inside me snapped.

Before I could even think, my body moved on instinct.

"Hey—!"

I surged forward, my hand shooting out as I grabbed Noah by the collar and yanked him back, forcefully separating them. The movement was sharp, aggressive, driven by something I didn’t even try to control.

"What the hell do you think you’re doing?!" I barked, my voice low but filled with fury.

Noah staggered slightly from the force, his grip loosening as I shoved him back. My fist tightened instinctively in his collar, pulling him closer, my eyes blazing into his.

"Have you lost your mind?" I snapped.

Everything inside me was burning....there was anger, frustration and something deeper I couldn’t name.

"You don’t get to..."

My voice cut sharply through the air, the words breaking out of me before I could soften them. The tension in the room snapped instantly, like a wire pulled too tight.

I tightened my jaw, forcing the rest of the sentence out through clenched teeth.

"...You don’t get to touch her like that."

The accusation hung between us, sharp and unyielding.

Noah’s eyes hardened instantly.

The change in his expression was immediate, the warmth that had been there moments ago vanishing as something colder settled in its place. His body tensed under my grip, the muscles in his arm tightening as he slowly turned his gaze toward me.

"Let go of me, Damien," he said coldly.

His voice was low, controlled, but the warning beneath it was unmistakable.

But I didn’t move. 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

If anything, my hold only tightened.

My fingers curled more firmly around him, refusing to release their grip, the anger coiling tighter in my chest.

"Stay away from her," I growled, my voice dropping dangerously, the sound rough and edged with something I didn’t even try to hide.

And suddenly, the words came out before I could stop them, before I could think, before I could take them back.

"She’s my mate."

Silence—It didn’t creep in slowly, It struck, heavy and sudden, almost deafening.

It hit just as hard as the words themselves.

My entire body went rigid, as though something inside me had locked into place without my permission. The tension that had been coiled in my muscles tightened further, then froze, leaving me standing there, unmoving.

My grip loosened slightly.

I hadn’t even realized how tightly I had been holding on until that moment.

My breath caught in my throat, sharp and uneven, as the realization came crashing over me all at once.

What...did I just say?

The question echoed loudly in my mind, louder than anything else in the room.

The air felt different, thicker and heavier. The room fell deathly quiet, as no one moved and no one spoke, that even the smallest sound seemed to have disappeared, swallowed whole by the weight of what had just left my mouth.

Noah froze too.

Completely still.

Like time itself had paused around him.

His expression shifted slowly, the change subtle but unmistakable. The anger that had been there before didn’t disappear, it sharpened. Twisted into something colder. Something darker.

Something far more dangerous.

His eyes locked onto mine, and for a brief second, it felt like a silent challenge had passed between us.

For a moment, neither of us moved.

Neither of us spoke.

We just stood there, caught in the aftermath of something that couldn’t be undone.

My chest rose and fell slowly, the rhythm uneven as I tried to steady my breathing. But it didn’t help. My thoughts were already spiraling, scrambling desperately to catch up with what I had just admitted.

Mate.

The word felt foreign and familiar all at once.

Maria... was my mate?

The truth of it settled deep, undeniable, It had always been there, lurking beneath every glance, every reaction, every instinct I hadn’t been able to explain.

That pull.

That need.

That unspoken connection I had refused to put into words, because once it was said... it became real and I had never said it, not once, not out loud, not like this, not in front of everyone.

Yet now...I had.

The admission lingered, impossible to take back, impossible to ignore.

My eyes flickered toward her.

Almost involuntarily.

Drawn.

For the first time since I had walked into the room...I hesitated.

The certainty that usually grounded me faltered, just for a second. My thoughts, my instincts, everything that had always been sharp and clear suddenly felt... uncertain.

Because this wasn’t just about what I had said.

It was about what it meant.

And standing there, with the silence pressing in and the weight of my own words settling deep into my chest...I realized there was no pretending anymore.