Chapter 178: Blood and Rebirth
Albericu’s POV
My arms were wrapped tightly around her waist, right at the place where I used to feel constant warmth, electricity, and the undeniable hum of our sacred bond. But now... nothing. Just cold. Hollow. Like hugging a corpse with her skin still somehow warm. The complete absence of those sparks those familiar pulses of recognition between fated souls struck me far harder than any sharp blade ever could.
My hands clenched behind her back, trembling, stubbornly refusing to let go even as heavy dread started crawling deep beneath my skin. My chest tightened until panic gripped me by the throat. What if... what if she was truly gone? What if the woman held tightly in my arms was nothing but an empty shell, her soul lost to the dark void?
No. No.
She couldn’t be.
I opened my eyes, desperate for proof, for hope, for anything at all. But what met me were not her gentle eyes. These were pitch black, staring up at me with venomous hatred. I pulled back slowly, unwillingly. My hands still held her arms, even as she jerked her head back, trying desperately to put distance between us. I couldn’t move. Couldn’t breathe. My entire body felt like solid stone, frozen solid in the sheer horror of being truly, utterly alone.
Then she spoke. Her voice was heavily laced with disgust.
"Get off of me, you filthy mutt."
Her harsh words cut deeper than any sharp claws ever could.
I staggered back, letting go as if her bare skin had burned me. My arms dropped slowly to my sides. I looked her straight in the eye and didn’t even bother trying to hide how much she’d just completely shattered me.
But then there it was.
A flicker.
Right in the middle of all that seething black, I saw it clearly. For the briefest second, the dark void of her eyes shimmered, softened, and transformed. A gentle hazel peeked through warm and intensely familiar. Hers. Like a tiny match flaring to life inside a deep cave of pitch darkness. It was gone in a split second, but I had definitely seen it.
She’s still in there.
I wasn’t insane. I wasn’t holding on to nothing.
Right as my arms were falling away from her completely, she suddenly grabbed me.
Her hand shot forward and clutched my forearm like she was drowning and I was her absolute last breath. Her sharp nails dug deep into my skin, but I didn’t flinch at all. Her whole body trembled as if fighting an internal battle against something I couldn’t see. The dark mask cracked open. She looked at me again, and this time, it was really her. Those eyes gods, those hazel eyes I’d memorized in another life stared back at me filled with pain, confusion, and raw desperation.
Her lips parted slightly. I stopped breathing altogether.
Say it. Say something. Give me anything. I could rebuild my entire soul from just one word.
"B-Berry... mark m " she choked out, her voice heavily strained, broken, like it physically hurt just to speak the words.
And then she was gone again.
She yanked her hand back violently as if scalded, stumbling back away from me. Her back turned to me, her shoulders shaking. I could hear the loud thunder of her heartbeat it matched mine in perfect rhythm, frantic and raw.
She was still in there.
My mate wasn’t gone. Not completely.
She spun back around to face me. But her eyes were completely black again, void of any sweet recognition.
"She’s still in there," I said aloud, boldly refusing to let doubt slither back into my mind.
She let out a bitter, mocking laugh. "So what?" she sneered coldly. "Doesn’t change a damn thing."
The twisted sound of her voice her voice stolen and distorted by whatever darkness was choking her soul snapped something deep inside me. I moved.
Fast.
My steps were quick and purposeful, every heavy stride bringing me right up to her. She didn’t even react at first until my long canines descended, sharp and fully bared. Then I saw it fear.
Pure panic widened her black eyes.
She stumbled backward, scrambling to get away from me.
But I wasn’t letting her go again.
Not this time.
I slammed her back against the cold cement wall harder than I meant to, but my firm grip didn’t loosen for a second. My hands pinned her shoulders tight, and I pressed my body into hers to keep her completely still. There was no room left for escape, no room left for denial. I reached up with one hand and pushed her dark hair to the side, baring the vulnerable spot on her neck that I knew like a map etched directly into my soul.
"No! Get off me, you bastard! I swear I’ll burn you alive!" Her furious threats were cut off by a raw, agonized scream as my sharp teeth pierced her skin.
I marked her again.
The bond that fragile connection that had been flickering in and out of existence for far too long reignited with a sheer violence that shocked even me. It surged straight through my chest like hot lightning, anchoring me to her in the exact way fate intended. My wolf instincts completely took over. I bit down harder, needing her to feel it. Needing her to know that she was mine. Still mine.
When I finally pulled back, blood staining my lips, I watched her hand lift up slowly to her neck. Her eyes were wide, horrified. She slid straight down the wall like her legs couldn’t support the heavy weight of what had just happened. I took a step back, my breath coming in uneven bursts, my heart hammering in my chest. I turned to move toward the door, but I needed her to hear me out first.
"You’re wrong," I said, my voice hoarse but absolute in its certainty.
She looked up at me, completely dazed. Her irises kept rapidly shifting black to hazel, then back to black. Back and forth, a fierce war raging within her.
"This changes everything."
And with that, I opened the steel door and stepped out, slamming it shut tight behind me.
"Fuck," I heard her whisper frantically behind the door, her broken voice barely audible through the steel.
But I walked away with something I hadn’t possessed in a very long time hope.