Never Been Yours

Jayden was never meant to survive. But when a forbidden blood ritual binds his soul to the darkness he was born from, he returns-changed. Powerful. Hunted. Haunted by a voice that isn't his. Clare knows what it's like to lose pieces of yourself. She doesn't talk about the past, or the people she once loved. Especially not the pureblood monster who left scars too deep to fade. Their paths were never meant to cross again. But fate-and a cruel, ancient bet-have other plans. As their connection deepens, so does the fracture inside Jayden. Something ancient stirs beneath his skin. Something possessive, cold... and obsessed with her. A monster who remembers her name. He was made to love her. Even if it breaks them both.

The full moon dangled in the sky like a silver coin suspended against velvet firmament, flooding Stellis with ethereal glow. Jayden crossed the central park, his steps muffled by dew-soaked grass. Mighty oaks stretched branches toward the moon, leaves whispering on wind carrying scents from the night market three blocks away-cinnamon and cardamom, fresh bread, and something sharper, more metallic. Stellis at night pretended to be a postcard, but Jayden could feel beneath his skin that it was nothing but lacquer.

"Ah."

The word slipped from his lips like breath, barely audible. The moon tugged at something deep in his chest, a recognition older than memory. Its light seeped beneath his skin, caressing the blood coursing through his veins with mounting certainty. Beautiful. The kind of beauty where time ceased to exist. For a brief moment, from the corner of his eye, he glimpsed something blue in the air. He blinked, and it was gone. Pain detonated in his nape. Fangs, razor-sharp and pitiless, pierced skin with surgical precision. The attacker's cold breath grazed his ear, the metallic taste of blood flooded his mouth, and the world tilted, colors bleeding into a dull smear. For a split second, beneath pure terror, something in his veins quivered with ghostly, wicked euphoria that clenched his gut in shame even as it slammed full force.