Blood Bound [Book Two, Lady and the Wolf] (EDITING)

Chapter Nineteen: The Bond

Aira pulled up her sleeves, doing a little hop to get onto the stretcher in her father's office. She noticed Drake watching her, and a soft laugh escaped him. Her eyebrows lifted in question.

"What's so funny?" she asked, curious.

"You've grown up," he said, shaking his head as he set up the blood bags on the IV stand.

Aira frowned and hopped off the stretcher, making a beeline for her father. He turned to face her, but before he could ask what she was doing, Aira placed her hand gently on his arm.

"Dad, why are you shaking?" she asked, noticing the tremor in his hands, so strong it made the blood in the IV bags ripple slightly. "Dad?"

That's when she really saw him. His face was pale, drawn with worry, and his shoulders slumped under a burden she couldn't fully comprehend. His usual strong demeanour was cracking. He shook his head, trying to push her away gently, but his hands lingered on her shoulders, unable to let go.

"I don't want to be planning two funerals, Aira," he said, his voice low, almost pleading. "Please, you don't have to do this. No one will think differently of you if you turn back now."

He was begging her, and it broke her heart.

"I want Van back just as much as anyone," he continued, his voice trembling with the weight of his fear, "but not if it means losing you."

Aira had never seen her father so close to breaking before, and the sight of it left her speechless. She didn't know how to comfort him, didn't know how to process this raw, unfamiliar emotion coming from the man who had always been her pillar of strength.

Swallowing hard, she shook her head. "I'll be okay, Dad," she whispered, though the words felt hollow even to her.

Drake looked down, sighing as he let her return to the stretcher. His hands moved methodically as he prepped his equipment, but his voice was heavy with sadness. "You said the same thing when you were little."

Aira glanced up. "What?"

He gave a small, bittersweet smile. "When Aiden and Van first left, you said, 'I'll be okay, Daddy.' I knew it crushed you. I knew you were lonely without Aiden, but you tried to hide it. And you know what?"

Her lips curled into a faint smile. "What?"

"You were okay," he said, turning to face her fully now. "Even when we had to teach you sign language, you never left without your little whiteboard. You were so afraid Van wouldn't understand you. You didn't want him to feel bad for not knowing what you were saying."

Aira's expression softened as the memory washed over her. She remembered those days—how determined she was to communicate with Van, terrified he'd feel left out or frustrated. It was Aiden who had first come up with the idea after reading a book about a little girl who couldn't talk or hear. Even though Aira could hear perfectly, she couldn't speak. She had no voice, and it terrified her that she wouldn't be able to communicate if she ever got lost.

"You haven't told Mom about this, have you?" Aira asked, reading the tension in his expression.

"And give her a heart attack?" Drake sighed, his tone morose. "No, she thinks you're asleep. If I see your body rejecting the bond, we're stopping this immediately."

"What are the risks?" she asked, her curiosity tinged with anxiety. From what she knew—mostly from Aemilius' old stories—the success rate of blood bonds between shifters was high. "There aren't that many fatalities with this, right?"

Drake's gaze sharpened, and he let out a dry laugh. "There have been fatalities, Aira. Weaker shifters have died during the bond. But this is different. This is the first blood bond between a dead Lycan and a human. It's never been done before, because God knows who would want to."