Page 190 of Untamed

“It’s about Jordyn.”

Her name knocks the air out of me.

It lands in the middle of my storm like a match on dry kindling. My spine stiffens. My breath turns shallow.

“You care about her,” Bianca says. Not a question. A statement. “I see the way you look at her and the way she looks at you. Howtense you get when she’s in the room or her name is mentioned. I know there’s something going on between you. She keeps denying it, but I know my sister and I can see it.”

I don’t speak.

Because what the fuck am I supposed to say? That she’s wrong? That Jordyn means nothing to me? That I don’t taste her every time I breathe?

Bianca waits, arms folded, eyes sharp. She knows. She always fucking knows.

“I’m not asking for details,” she says finally, quieter now. “But I need you to hear this: she’s not ready for someone like you.”

I grit my teeth. “You think I don’t know that?”

“She’s fragile.”

“She’sstrongerthan you think.”

“She’sgrieving,Ares.” Bianca steps in, close enough for her words to cut. “She’s just a girl trying to survive in a world she was never meant to be part of. And you...you're the darkest thing in it.”

My fists curl at my sides.

“Whatever’s happening between you two, end it. Before it destroys her. It’s already staring to pull her under.”

Something splits in my chest. A quiet, invisible tear that feels like bone breaking.

“You really think Iwantthis?” I say, my voice rough with something I won’t name. “You think Ichoseher?”

“No,” Bianca says softly. “But you’ll ruin her just the same.”

That right there lands harder than it should.

I glance away, jaw set, trying to breathe past the pressure in my throat.

“I’m begging you,” she adds. “If there’s even a shred of decency left in you… walk away from her. Marry Giana and forget about my sister.”

Her words strike somewhere deeper than bone.

“I don’t want to lose my sister, Ares. Please, I’m begging you. I would rather she have her heart broken than watch her get dragged into something dangerous. Don’t make her a pawn in whatever war you’re in with your father.”

I stare at her, silent, the weight of every unspoken truth pressing against my ribs like knives.

She doesn’t know.

She has no idea that Jordyn’s alreadyinit. That she’s the centre of the war I’ve been trying to stop. That every choice I make now starts and ends with her name carved into my skin.

“I’d never use her like that,” I say quietly. “She’s not a pawn. She’s the only thing that’s real.”

Bianca’s lips tremble slightly, but she holds my gaze. “Then prove it. Let her go.”

My throat tightens.

I nod, once. Not because I mean it, but because I have to. Because it’s the only thing she’ll accept.

And maybe… maybe it’s the only way to keep Jordyn breathing.

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