Chapter 31-40

Chapter 31
“That day I left you,” Zev said quietly as he smoothly accelerated the Jeep onto the highway, “Nick showed up. You have to understand, Nick never showed up when I was in the world. We’d talk on the phone and stuff, but he wasn’t part of the fake family they gave me. They didn’t want anyone making the connection with the program, and Nick’s at the center of that. So when I walked into the house after school and he was in the living room… I knew.”

“Knew what?”

“I knew that they knew we’d had sex. And they knew I was bonding to you.”

Her head whipped around and her eyes widened. “But you just said—”

“I didn’t bond the way the older Chimera bond, Sasha. I didn’t have this lightening bolt that fused my soul to yours. For me it was quiet. It’s just… you’re a part of me. I could feel it happening, though I didn’t recognize it at the time because the older Chimera had described the bond and what I was experiencing was different. I kept telling myself it wasn’t the same so it wasn’t a problem but… But they knew. Somehow they knew. Nick was there to take me away.

“At first I fought it. But then he started talking. He was being really kind. He told me they realized how much I cared about you and he made it sound like he admired that. He was so manipulative. I thought he was giving me hope! I started talking about how amazing you were and… but as soon as I started being open about that, it all fell apart.”

Zev got lost in the memory of that day, the darkness that covered him from that moment on.