BOUND BY FATE: ENTANGLED WITH MR HELL - Chapter 42: Chapter 42

Rosa's body trembled, not just from the drug coursing through her veins, but from the whirlwind of emotions she couldn't contain. The moment Bryant laid her gently on the bed and turned to leave, something inside her shattered.
"Don’t go... please," she whispered, her voice hoarse and laced with desperation.
Bryant froze mid-step.
She sat up, clutching the sheets tightly, her breathing shallow, her cheeks flushed. Tears rimmed her eyes, and her body trembled not from fear but from a deep, aching need. She didn’t understand it completely, but she knew she couldn’t let him walk out that door.
He turned slowly, his expression unreadable, his jaw tight.
"Rosa, you’re not well. You need rest."
"No," she said with more firmness than expected. She stood on unsteady feet and walked toward him, her steps hesitant but determined. Her hands reached for his, and she placed them gently on her waist. "I don’t want to be alone tonight."
Her touch burned against his skin. She looked up into his eyes, and for the first time, he saw her not as Luna, not as a responsibility, but as a woman whose heart was laid bare before him.
Bryant felt his guard waver.
"This isn’t you," he murmured. "You’re not thinking clearly."
She shook her head, her fingers trembling as they reached to touch his chest. "But I feel everything so clearly right now. And I know it’s you. I don’t understand why you make me feel safe, even when I’m breaking. But I do."
Her words pierced through his armor. His hands instinctively reached for her waist, steadying her as she leaned into him. He could feel her heartbeat, fast and desperate.
"Rosa..."
She looked up again, her lips parted, her eyes glossy and warm. "Bryant... stay. Please. I need you."
He lowered his head slightly, their foreheads nearly touching. Her breath fanned across his cheek, sweet and urgent.
The silence between them thickened with tension. He knew this wasn’t the right time, not with the drug still influencing her, but the connection between them felt primal, magnetic. Her presence, her voice, her scent—it all called to something buried deep within him.
She leaned in closer, her lips brushing against his jaw. It wasn’t lust in her voice, not entirely—it was vulnerability, unfiltered and raw. "I don’t want you as the Alpha... just you."
His eyes closed briefly, pained. "You don’t know what you’re asking."
She rested her head against his chest. "Maybe not. But I know what I feel."
A long pause passed. Then, gently, he wrapped his arms around her and held her close. No words, just silence and warmth. The kind that heals. The kind that says: I'm here.
Outside, a storm had begun. Soft rain tapped against the windows, wind rustling the leaves beyond the walls. It was as if the world outside mirrored the chaos in both their hearts.
Rosa's breathing slowed in his arms. The heat that had clouded her senses began to ease under the comfort of his touch.
He looked down at her, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear. "I’ll stay. Just tonight."
She smiled softly, her eyes already fluttering shut. "Thank you."
And for the first time in a long while, Bryant sat still beside her, his arms around her, watching over her as sleep finally claimed her.
But his eyes didn’t close.
Because while she rested, he wrestled with the truth.
Something was shifting between them.
And that scared him more than anything else.