The Messenger( Iva) novel Chapter 53

Unrest-1

The drive was quiet.”

25 Points

Not the comfortable kind-no, this silence was heavy, thoughtful, stitched together by things neither of them dared say out loud. The city lights slipped past the windows, smearing into gold and white streaks as Sergio drove with one hand on the wheel, the other resting tensely on the console.

Iva sat curled in the passenger seat, the warm weight of the food container balanced on her lap. The smell should have made her stomach growl. It didn’t.

Her chest felt… wrong.

Sergio slowed when they reached her stop. The car came to a halt in front of the hostel, neon sign flickering, paint peeling, shadows clinging to the corners of the building like they knew better than to leave.

He stared at it.

Then at her.

Then back at the building.

“You’re living here?” he asked, disbelief written openly across his face.

Iva nodded, suddenly self-conscious. “It’s temporary.”

His jaw tightened, but he didn’t comment. After a second, he cut the engine.

She offered a small, tired smile. “Thank you. For the ride. And… for the food.”

Sergio waved it off, but his eyes lingered on her a moment longer, sharp and searching. “Get some rest, little wolf. And eat. I don’t want to see you fainting again.”

“I will.”

She stepped out of the car, pulling the strap of her bag over her shoulder. The door closed with a soft thud, and as the car drove away, the night seemed to rush in to fill the space he left behind.

Iva stood there for a moment, staring at the hostel entrance like she wasn’t entirely sure how she’d made

it back.

Then she went inside.

Her room greeted her with the same dull familiarity-narrow bed, flickering lamp, chipped desk, the faint smell of detergent and old wood.

She set the food container down on the small table with careful hands.

Her body moved, but her mind lagged behind, caught somewhere else.

Somewhere darker.

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< Unrest 1

Somewhere with deep eyes and a voice that commanded without shouting.

Her chest ached.

+25 Points>

Not sharp pain-worse. A hollow pressure, like something had been ripped away and left an echo behind. Without thinking, she pressed her palm over her sternum, massaging slowly as if she could soothe whatever was wrong.

“Avalon?” she whispered.

“Yes,” her wolf answered immediately, alert.

“Are we sick?” Iva asked softly. “Because this doesn’t feel normal.”

There was a pause-longer than usual.

“No,” Avalon said at last. “This is the mate bond effect.”

Iva froze.

“The… what?”

“The bond,” Avalon repeated gently. “It’s reacting to proximity. And now to absence.”

Her breath hitched. “But we never felt this with Nick. Never like this.”

The name tasted bitter in her mouth.

“That bond was… muted,” Avalon replied carefully. “Unbalanced. He resisted it. Rejected it before it could fully bloom.”

Iva swallowed hard. “And this one?”

“Our second chance mate is different,” Avalon said. “Stronger. More receptive. More aware.”

Her heart started racing again.

“So the intensity is higher,” Iva murmured, piecing it together. “Because he didn’t push it away.”

A terrifying thought struck her.

“Do you think he felt it?” she asked in a whisper. “The stranger from the restaurant. Do you think he felt the bond too?”

Avalon hesitated.

“Honestly? I don’t know.”

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