Chapter 6 Connected Souls

CARIS POV

I groaned into the sheets as I turned my body slowly. My eyes felt like lead and it took everything in me to get them open and when I finally did, my vision was a bit blurry.

“Urgh, why does my head hurt so much?” I muttered to myself, the heaviness slowly leaving my body as I stared at the unfamiliar ceiling.

Huh? This wasn't my dorm room. Where the hell was I?

I heard voices nearby, and that was when the events of last night all came rushing back.

My discovery, the woods, the people chasing me and finally, him…

Oh my gosh—

I sat up fast, throwing the covers off, nearly tumbling to the ground but I caught myself just in time and my blurry vision became bright as I stared wide-eyed at everything.

The sheets looked way too expensive for me to be sleeping in and the room was bigger than my entire dorm room, bathroom included. It even looked bigger than my living room back home.

I finally found them on the other side of the room, leaning against the walls and windows and staring at me with curiosity in their eyes.

All four of the monster boys were standing there.

Nero was right in the middle, looking completely calm, with his hands crossed over his chest like he hadn't treated me like some sort of blood bank last night. He even dared to yawn.

This stupid—

"You psycho!" I screamed and threw myself off the bed and lunged straight at him. I didn't care that he was twice my size or that I didn't have a weapon, I just wanted to tear him apart. I swung a fist right at his face.

He didn't flinch and moved to the side so quickly that I barely registered it but the anger that I felt didn't let me give up. I kept throwing my fists at him, attempting to hit him but every time, I stumbled slightly, even almost losing my footing and it was really getting on my nerves.

"Caris, stop," Nero said, still dodging my blows.

"Hold still!" I yelled, throwing another punch.

"Whoa, calm down," Fen said, stepping in. He caught me by my shoulders, trying to hold me back.

"Get off me!" I wrenched myself out of his grip and spun around.

That was when I noticed Kai standing by the window. The second I saw his face, the memory of the garden flashed in my mind and he smirked as if he knew exactly what I was thinking about. He then winked again and my entire face burned with a mix of fury and embarrassment. Everything was becoming too much for me to handle.

I turned back to Nero again but Fen had grabbed me by both hands, holding them with such strength that I didn't know existed. If he had held me any tighter, he could have broken my wrists.

“Why don't you let me go so I can beat up this crazy person?”I growled at Fen and his brows shot up in surprise.

“Damn, man. You just had to piss off a feisty one, huh?” Fen commented, looking amused.

“I was trying to help her!” Nero sighed and threw his hands in the air in frustration.

"You bit me," I hissed, my body trembling with so much anger.

“I told you to get away from me, didn't I? But you chose to stay so from my perspective, you're at fault in this, don't you think?” Nero responded and I opened my mouth to speak but words failed me.

In a way, he was right. He did tell me to leave but I didn't think he was actually going to bite me. Or maybe it was still the disbelief that I was in the midst of fairytales.

My head dropped and I stared at the ground, refusing to say a word.

"He saved your life," Fen muttered. "If he left you out there and ran to hide his hunger, the others would have killed you."

Fen noticed that I had given up and slowly released my hands and stepped back in case I chose to attack him.

I raised my head and immediately I did, a sharp sensation stung my neck. My hand immediately flew to it and I held down my palms as I felt two slightly deep holes in my neck and it stung so much that I was holding back wincing in pain.

"What did you do to me?" I asked, looking between them.

They exchanged a look, but nobody answered.

"Let me see it," I demanded.

I walked over to the long mirror on the wardrobe and pulled my collar down. Two deep puncture wounds were cut into my skin but that wasn't all. Faint, dark lines branched out from the scabs, forming a strange, permanent pattern on my neck.

I stared at it, horrified.

"It's a blood bond," Kai said, his voice unusually serious. "Nero marked you. Your soul is connected to his now."

"Undo it," I said, spinning back to face Nero. "Take it off right now!”

"You can't just take it off," Fen said. "Breaking a blood bond is dangerous. It can completely ruin you."

"I don't care. I'm not staying tied to him, I am not going to be tied to some freak!"

Everyone went quiet and stared at me and there was a dark look in their eyes that made me want to take my words back but it was already out there.

Someone chuckled and I jumped slightly.

Ronan hadn't moved from his seat the entire time, just watching us. He stood up slowly, his eyes fixed on me.

“Well then, we wouldn't want you to be attached to a freak, now would we? So we can break the bond. Who cares if you go through so much pain?”

His eyes glowed with anger and I could tell from the visible tick in his jaw.

I felt bad for calling Nero a freak but I couldn't back down now. "I don't care how much it hurts. Do it."

Ronan looked down at me with a cold expression on his face. "You say that now. You'll be begging us to stop the moment it starts."

"Try me," I snapped, my fists clenching at my sides.

"Caris, think about this," Fen said, reaching out.

"No," I said, backing away. I looked at Nero, then at the rest of them. "You guys are absolute psychos. I am going back to my room, I am packing my bags, and I am getting the hell out of this place."

I grabbed the door handle and yanked it open.