I'm not fighting with her.

Amara's POV

The ride to school was oddly quiet. After the moment Ryder and I shared this morning, everything felt... different. The air between us had shifted, like the weight we’d been carrying for weeks had finally been lifted, if only a little. But the tension was still there, lingering in the background, like a storm on the horizon waiting to make its move.

Ryder drove in silence, his hands gripping the steering wheel tighter than usual. I could tell he was still processing everything. I was too. The bond, our feelings, the mess we’d all gotten tangled in—it was overwhelming.

But for now, in this moment, I didn’t want to think about it. I wanted to enjoy the simple things, like the way the sunlight filtered through the trees, the gentle hum of the engine, and the feeling of Ryder being close.

I glanced over at him, his jaw tense, eyes focused on the road. He looked so serious, so distant, like he was somewhere else entirely.

"Ryder," I said softly, breaking the silence.

He turned to look at me for a moment, his eyes softening when they met mine. "Yeah?"

"Are you okay?" I asked, my voice quiet, but full of concern.

He sighed, his gaze flickering back to the road. "I don’t know. This... everything... it’s still hard to wrap my head around."

I nodded, understanding more than he knew. The bond was confusing, and so were my feelings for all three of them. It wasn’t just a crush or a passing attraction—it was deeper, tangled with something primal and fierce.

"I don’t know how to handle all of this either," I admitted, glancing out the window. "But I do know that I don’t want to lose you, Ryder. Or Jaxon. Or Caden."

His grip on the steering wheel tightened, and he shot me a quick glance. "You won’t lose us, Amara. I won’t let that happen."

His words were filled with such conviction that it made something in my chest tighten. It was a promise—a fragile one—but a promise all the same.

We pulled into the school parking lot, and the moment of peace between us seemed to end as quickly as it had begun. The tension in the air thickened again, the reality of our situation crashing down on me.

"Here we are," Ryder said, killing the engine.

I stared out at the school building, the noise and chaos already starting to pick up around us. "Yeah," I said, my voice quiet. "I guess this is where everything gets harder."

Ryder turned to me, his expression unreadable. "No. This is where we start figuring it out. Together."

I nodded, feeling a small spark of hope flicker in my chest. Maybe things wouldn’t be so hard if we really were in this together.

I hoped.

---

The school day stretched ahead, a whirlwind of noise, faces, and expectations. As I walked through the hallways, I could feel the weight of everyone’s gaze on me. Not that I could blame them. The triplets were never far behind, their presence like a shadow in the crowded corridors.

But today was different. Today, I couldn’t shake the feeling that things between us—all of us—had shifted. Even though the bond remained complicated, the air between me and Ryder felt clearer, less suffocating. But with each step I took, my mind kept wandering to the other two: Jaxon and Caden.

I knew it wasn’t just Ryder and I who were struggling with this. Jaxon, with his usual nonchalance, had barely looked me in the eye this morning. And Caden… well, he hadn’t said a word to me since yesterday, his usual warmth replaced with a cold distance.

Was it possible to break the bond between us? Could we be okay again without tearing each other apart?

As I rounded the corner towards my locker, I bumped into someone—someone I really didn’t expect to see today.

“Watch where you're going,” a familiar voice said, sharp and cold.

I looked up to find Caden standing there, his arms crossed over his chest, eyes dark with something unreadable.

“Caden,” I said, trying to mask the surprise in my voice. “You okay?”

He didn’t answer right away, his gaze flicking to the ground before meeting mine. There was an odd tension in the air, something that felt like it was simmering just beneath the surface.

“Yeah,” he said, voice low and tight. “I’m fine.”

I tilted my head, studying him. “You don’t look fine. You’ve been avoiding me all morning.”

He exhaled sharply, running a hand through his hair, clearly frustrated. “It’s not just about you, Amara.”

I took a step closer, my heart pounding in my chest. “Then what is it about? Because I don’t know how much longer I can keep pretending everything’s okay when it’s not.”

His eyes flashed, and for a brief moment, I saw something raw behind them. He stepped closer, lowering his voice. “I’m trying, Amara. I really am. But I don’t know how to handle this bond. How to handle you.”

Before I could respond, a voice interrupted us.

“You two seriously gonna stand here all day?” Jaxon’s voice cut through the air, and I turned to see him leaning against the locker door, a smirk plastered on his face. “If you’re gonna fight, at least do it somewhere private.”

Caden stepped back, his posture defensive. “I’m not fighting with her, Jaxon.”

“Oh really?” Jaxon raised an eyebrow. “Because it looks like you are.”

I sighed, rubbing my temples. This was exactly what I didn’t want—more tension. More fighting.

“Enough,” I said, raising my voice for the first time. Both of them turned to me, surprise flashing across their faces. I took a breath, trying to steady myself. “I can’t keep doing this. We can’t keep doing this.”

Caden looked like he was about to say something, but I held up a hand to stop him. “I need you both to understand something. I’m not going to keep letting this bond destroy us. I can’t keep letting it drive a wedge between us. We need to talk about this. All of us.”

There was a long, heavy silence. Finally, Jaxon pushed off from the locker, his expression more serious than I had ever seen it. “Okay. Fine. Let’s talk.”

I glanced at Caden, who seemed hesitant but eventually nodded.

"After school," I said, my voice steady now. "We’ll figure this out. Together."

As I walked away from them, I couldn’t help but feel a sense of dread settle in my stomach. It wasn’t going to be easy. But maybe, we could start to understand each other—all of us.