Housebound with the Blackridge Heirs novel Chapter 82

Chapter 82

Maya

I couldn’t believe that this had become my life.

I had become something I never thought I’d be… not fully.

The shift tore through me, then left as suddenly as it came, and the next breath I pulled in felt wrong in the most terrifying way.

Wrong because it was too clear. Everything was clear… Every feeling and every breath.

And this power… gosh, I never imagined of such power.

The wolves bowed to me, but not really me. It was something in me that told them to… something I didn’t even understand.

Within seconds they left, and I realized that Rohan had taken the ones who were alive with him.

I shifted back to human form, but the sensation didn’t leave.

It was like waking up with abilities I never once had, and senses and strength I didn’t even know was possible.

Every scent in the grove layered itself into my lungs at once. The metallic bite of blood. The pine-wood trees. The thick musk of wolf sweat. The earth itself, damp and pulsing beneath my knees like it had a heartbeat of its own.

My heartbeat had changed too. It was deeper and louder, almost echoing inside me. My skin buzzed with leftover energy, as if the shift hadn’t fully left my bones.

I blinked, and even my eyesight felt wrong. The world sharpened like someone turned a dial. Every outline sharpened and every movement in the distance dragged my gaze without my permission.

That’s when I truly felt her.

A warmth bloomed inside my chest first, gentle and familiar in a way that made my eyes sting. A presence brushed up against the inside of my mind like a hand pressed tenderly to my cheek.

Aelera.

‘I am with you,’ she whispered. “Thank you for freeing me, Maya.’

Her voice was soft and warm, carrying a steadiness I had never known until this moment.

A breath escaped me, shaky and relieved. I had half-expected something ancient and monstrous to burst out of that relic. I had feared I would unleash a creature too big to control.

Instead… this. A voice that felt kind. A voice that felt like it had been waiting for me longer than I could understand.

I barely had time to process it before something slammed through me like a door unlocking.

Another presence in my mind.

It was a different thread and a different warmth.

My eyes snapped open and immediately found Tylon across the clearing. He was still holding Leo, blood streaking his hair and over his body as his chest rose and fell in heavy breaths. But his eyes were sober enough in that moment, staring at me like he had never truly seen me until now.

The bond hummed between us like a live wire.

He felt it too.

Shock flickered across his face first, then a stunned kind of fear, then something heavier that I was not ready to name. I had no air in my lungs, and yet I felt every part of him reacting to me.

His heartbeat stuttered once. His breath hitched. His wolf pressed forward inside him, reaching for something new, yet familiar.

I tore my gaze away because I couldn’t handle what I saw there. Not now. Not with the world still shaking under my feet.

Another bond surged at the edges of my mind.

Caden.

This one was deeper and stronger than before, like someone wrapped a burning cord around my ribs and pulled tight.

His emotions slammed through me with too much force… the grief that hollowed him from the inside, the exhaustion dragging through his limbs, the terror that still clung to his heartbeat, and beneath all of it, something raw and broken.

He had felt the moment my bond to Tylon clicked into place.

It was written all over his face, and when his eyes met mine, they were filled with confusion, denial, pain and realization.

Caden stared between me and Tylon the same way someone stares at an open wound and tries to pretend it doesn’t exist. But then his gaze fell to Leo with that same look of realization.

And everything inside him shattered, which meant everything in me shattered. Because despite the novelty of Tylon and Aelera, Caden had been there before them both, and it was way stronger than whatever bond I had with Tylon.

My bond with Caden was complete. What I felt with Tylon was like an unlocked chapter, hazy and blurry and untouched.

I followed Caden’s stare.

спар

Leo’s human body lay in Tylon’s arms, limp and terribly still. His chest wasn’t moving. His head hung to the side in an uncomfortable angle, and blood was smeared across him.

The reality slapped me in the face all over again as the newness of shifting, having a wolf and new bonds ebbed.

“No,” I whispered, but no sound truly left me. The word was buried under the pounding in my ears.

The world was tilting again. My legs barely listened to me when I tried to move. I tried to walk, but my new strength made my steps uneven and unpredictable. My muscles were too tight and too loose at the same time. I nearly collapsed.

Caden reached me before I fell and caught me around the waist, lifting me as if my bones weighed nothing. But even through the warmth of his hands, I could feel how distant he was, how much he was thinking, and how badly he didn’t want to believe what he already knew.

“Maya,” he said quietly. “Slow down.”

But I couldn’t. I needed to get to Leo.

Tylon looked up when we reached him. His eyes were wet, and he didn’t bother to hide it.

“He’s

gone,”

“Tylon said softly, voice breaking despite the strength he tried to force into it.

The words crushed something inside me.

I dropped to my knees so fast Caden had to catch me again. My hands shook as I reached for Leo’s face, brushing my fingers along his cheek, hoping for warmth or movement or… anything!

But there was none, and the crushing stillness of him hollowed something inside me.

I reached for him with trembling fingers, desperate for any trace of warmth or life.

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