Page 67 of Rising Luna
But I’d accomplished my goal. I’d pissed him off.
Silas had, once again, forgotten I was a Shadowborn.
The shadow wolf became my best friend and greatest strategy. Every time I saw a punch coming, I went astral, and it went right through me.
It was hard not to get cocky since I was kicking his ass in the very form he rejected me over. The magic and power he hated were the reason he was going to lose.
There was a moment when he left his chin open, and I took advantage of it. My uppercut landed with a satisfying thud, and it sent Silas flying backward. This was my chance to get through to him as he was sprawled out on the mats.
"As much as you want to hate me, Silas, I know, somewhere in there, you remember loving me." I stepped closer to him and looked down into his face. "I don't know when, but I fell in love with you. Now that I know what my life looks like with you in it, I will not let it go. FIGHT THIS, Silas! Come back to me!"
My voice cracked as I yelled those words, and I could see a flicker of recognition as the words hit him. That moment made a thought come to mind. Maybe a way to break through whatever was going on with him and bring him back to me.
I could mark him.
"Silas Lynch, I accept you as my fated mate."
The bond snapped back into place, and I fell to my knees as the magic surged inside me. I cried and fell forward, catching myself with my palms on the ground. When I looked up, I saw Silas clutching his chest while sitting up.
I could feel it.
The love he had for me was there. Accepting the bond did what I hoped.
"Why the fuck did you do that?"
Or... maybe not.
Chapter Twenty-Two: Dylan
How did this man keep cutting into me with just his words? I wanted to throttle him for his tone with that question. What the fuck did he mean by that? The bond hummed in my chest, and I could feel his anger replacing the love I felt.
Maybe it wasn't there at all.
I could have imagined it since I desperately wanted him to break through whatever was going on and be the Silas I fell in love with again. The cockiness could stay. It's not like Jackson and Hunter weren't cocky bastards when they wanted to be. I just wanted him. The Great Moon did a good job of finding the right men for me. I didn't see it before, but now, with one of my mates hanging in the balance, I could see what she was trying to get me to see.
They brought me so much balance. My father and mother were right. I found the balance I had struggled with for years inside myself, and I could use my power as intended. The fight with Silas showed me that, and I used it just to make him mad.
"Why the fuck did you accept the bond, Dylan? I already told you I wasn't sure about wanting you! Don't you think I would just reject your skanky ass again?"
The words felt like a slap to the face, but I could see something in his eyes. There was a minor glow to them, which meant his wolf was fighting for the driver's seat. Right now, I wasn't sure if that was a good thing. His wolf could be much worse than this because of Lupe's spell. We were in an academy full of magic users, so I was sure she had potions or spells up her sleeve to make Silas lose all the progress he made when coming here.
Maybe we need to accept that he could just feel this way about us now.
That truth was too hard to swallow. It would mean my actions caused this, and we would have had a much happier ending if I would have accepted the bond when Silas first came here. Though my wolf was right.
This could be just Silas not wanting the bond anymore after everything that had happened between us.
Anger bubbled inside of me, knowing this could have ended differently. It may have been my fault, but some of the blame was on Silas, too. It changed nothing, though. I thought this would show him I would be there for him and fight through this thing together, but if this was Silas with some clarity, that meant he didn't want me.
I got to my feet and lunged at Silas. While on top of him, my fist connected with his cheek three times before he registered my attack. He threw me off him and the fight continued.
We circled each other first, waiting for an opening as we stood in our fighting stances. There wasn't an opening for at least a minute, and my anger had brewed to an unbearable level. I charged in again, keeping myself astral until the last moment. Silas still hadn't learned how to fight me while using this method, so it made it easy to land a right hook to his jaw.
There still had to be a way to get through to him. Part of me still didn't want to let go. My wolf stayed on alert to see a glimpse of the Silas I loved in there while I focused on knocking his ass out, but neither of us could see it.
Maybe we should mark him. That's still an option.My wolf suggested as we went back to circling each other.
Marking him sounded like a plan, but that didn't feel possible at the moment. Silas didn't seem like he would enjoy being bonded to me now. Without confirmation that he wasn't part of Lupe's army, that could also put me and my bonded matesat risk. Just like my ability to share my power with my mates through the bonds, what if that could give Lupe access to me and my mates?
