Damien.

My gaze was still fixed on Darren, watching the way his expression shifted, shock, disbelief, something darker, all colliding at once behind his eyes. It was as if everything we had just uncovered was crashing down on him at the same time, piece by piece, too fast for even him to process.

For a brief second, he looked... lost, then it vanished, replaced by something far more dangerous.

His jaw tightened, his fists clenched at his sides, and without another word, he shot us one last deadly look, sharp, warning, filled with a storm he didn’t bother to hide.

Then he turned and stormed out of the dungeon like a man on the edge of losing control.

The sound of the door slamming echoed through the space, leaving behind a heavy silence that pressed in on all of us.

But even as he left, my mind wasn’t on him anymore, it was on what had just been said.

On what Aidan had said.

The words refused to leave my head.

The mark from the bond doesn’t lie.

They echoed over and over again, louder each time, stirring something uneasy in my chest.

Slowly, I turned to face Aidan, my brows furrowed, my gaze searching his face for something—anything—that would make sense of what I was thinking.

"Aidan..." I started, my voice lower now, more controlled, but laced with something I couldn’t quite mask. "What do you mean the mark from the bond doesn’t lie?"

He didn’t answer immediately and that alone was enough to make my chest tighten.

I took a step closer, my eyes narrowing slightly. "Did you mark Maria?"

The question hung between us, heavy, direct.

Aidan met my gaze, but instead of denying it, instead of brushing it off...He scoffed.

"Don’t give me that look, Damien," he said, his tone almost defensive, though there was no guilt in his eyes. "I wasn’t the only one who marked her."

For a moment, I thought I misheard him.

My mind went blank.

"What?" The word slipped out before I could stop it, my voice barely above a whisper.

I looked from him to the others, searching their faces, hoping, expecting, someone to deny it.

But none of them did.

And that’s when it hit me.

I was the only one.

The only one left.

Even Davian...

My gaze shifted to him instinctively, disbelief flashing across my face. Davian, who had been the most distant, the most wary of Maria from the very beginning, he had been the one constantly questioning her, doubting her every move.

And yet...

He marked her too?

A breath left me slowly, my mind struggling to catch up with the reality unfolding in front of me.

"Wow..." I muttered under my breath, shaking my head slightly as I ran a hand through my hair. "Wow..."

The word felt insufficient.

Everything about this felt unreal.

"I can’t believe this," I said, my voice rising now, the disbelief turning into something sharper. "I can’t believe you all went ahead to mark her behind my back when we all agreed..."

I stopped myself, but it was too late.

The frustration was already there, spilling through the cracks.

"...when we all agreed to have nothing to do with her," I finished, my gaze hardening as it moved between them.

The silence that followed was brief.

Because Adrien stepped forward almost immediately, cutting through it.

"Come on, Damien," he said, his tone lighter than the tension in the room warranted, though there was an edge to it. "It just... happened."

I frowned. "Just happened?"

"Yes," he insisted, shrugging slightly. "On impulse."

Impulse?

The word echoed in my head, and for some reason, it only made things worse.

"And maybe," he continued, his expression shifting slightly, becoming more serious now, "I should actually be grateful for that."

I blinked.

"Grateful?" I repeated, confused.

Adrien nodded slowly. "Yeah. Because how else do you think I got my sanity back?"

That made me pause.

Really pause.

My anger didn’t disappear, but it faltered, just enough for doubt to creep in. My gaze lingered on him, searching his face again, this time for something deeper than before.

"Same here... mine was on impulse. I didn’t even realize when it happened. It just...happened suddenly."

Davian’s voice cut through the tension, calm yet firm, as though he truly believed every word he was saying.

I stared at him.

For a second, I said nothing.

Then I scoffed.

"Suddenly?" I repeated, the word dripping with disbelief as I took a slow step forward. My eyes narrowed slightly, searching his face for any sign of hesitation, any crack in his composure. "Do you expect me to believe that?"

The air shifted.

What had been tense before now grew heavier, sharper, like something was about to snap.

Aidan’s expression darkened almost immediately, his jaw tightening as his gaze locked onto mine. There was something challenging in his eyes now, something that didn’t sit right.

"Are you doubting us now?" he asked, his voice low but edged with irritation.

I didn’t answer.

I didn’t need to.

My silence said enough.

He took a step closer.

"Well, let me ask you something," Aidan continued, his tone changing slightly, becoming more pointed, more deliberate. "Why didn’t you feel it too?"

My brows furrowed. "Feel what?"

"That sudden itch," he replied without hesitation, his eyes boring straight into mine as if he was trying to see through me. "The pull. The bond."

My chest tightened slightly, but I said nothing.

Aidan didn’t look away.

"If it was really what you think it is," he went on, slower now, each word carefully placed, "then why didn’t it happen to you too?"

Something about the way he said it made my stomach twist.

"Is Maria really mated to all of us..." he added, his voice dropping even lower, "...or just some of us?"

What?

The word didn’t come out of my mouth, but it hit me just the same.

Hard.

For a brief moment, everything around me seemed to go still.

"And what exactly are you trying to say, Aidan?" I asked finally, my voice no longer calm.

My chest rose and fell with each breath now, tension building as my fists clenched tightly at my sides.

He didn’t hesitate.

"Oh, come on, Damien," he said, almost mockingly. "Go check it out yourself."

My eyes narrowed further.

"What do you mean?"

Aidan tilted his head slightly, a faint, provoking look crossing his face.

"Maria might not actually be your mate."

The words landed like a slap.

For a split second, I froze.

"How dare you?" I snapped, the anger exploding out of me before I could stop it.

My body moved on instinct.

Before anyone could react, I lunged forward, closing the distance between us in an instant. My hand came up and struck Aidan across the face, the sound of the impact echoing sharply through the dungeon.

"Damien...!" Adrien’s voice rang out.

"Aidan!" Davian called at the same time.

"STOP!"

But it was already too late.

Aidan’s head snapped to the side from the force, but he recovered almost immediately. His eyes flashed with anger as he turned back to me, and without hesitation....

He hit me back.

Hard.

The blow sent a jolt through me, but instead of backing down, it only fueled the fire burning inside my chest.

Neither of us spoke again.

We didn’t need to.

The next moment, we were on each other, fists flying, bodies colliding as the tension that had been building finally snapped.

Every hit landed with force, with frustration, with everything neither of us had been willing to say out loud.

"Damien, stop!" Adrien tried again, stepping forward.

"Enough!" Davian added, reaching out as if to pull us apart.

But we didn’t listen.

Couldn’t.

It was like something had taken over, something raw and uncontrollable. The anger, the confusion, the doubt, it all poured out with every punch, every shove, every strike we threw at each other.

And neither of us showed any sign of stopping.