The sound of the battle faded into the distance, like a distant echo we could no longer reach. Aidan and I took refuge among the trees, where the moon barely filtered through the branches. We were both breathless, our bodies trembling from adrenaline… and something more.
I leaned against a trunk, trying to catch my breath, but Aidan approached without a word. His golden eyes shone in the dim light, intense, as if he could see right through me. He looked at me like there was nothing else in the world, as if the chaos beyond us didn't exist.
—Sofia… —he murmured, his voice hoarse, filled with restrained emotion—. I thought I could control it, keep my distance from you. But I can't.
I wanted to respond, but I didn't. I didn't know what to say. Because the truth was, I couldn't either.
And that terrified me.
Because it wasn't with Aidan that I was supposed to feel this. It wasn't with him that I had a destined bond. That place belonged to Gabriel. Gabriel, with his intense gaze, with the ancestral connection we shared, with that invisible force that pulled me toward him from the very first moment. But he was no longer mine.
But with Aidan…
With Aidan it was different. Darker. More physical. More… uncontrollable.
When he looked at me, I felt everything inside me melt. When he touched me, even by accident, something inside my chest trembled, as if my body recognized him before my mind. And now, amid the chaos, with the blood still racing in my veins, I wanted him. I wanted him in a way I couldn't explain.
It was heat. It was danger. It was free fall.
Aidan raised a hand slowly and touched my face with a caress that traveled from my cheek down to my stomach. My lips parted involuntarily, as if my body was speaking to him in a language older than words.
Then his lips brushed against mine.
At first, it was barely a touch. But then he kissed me for real, with restrained hunger, with a passion that shook me to the core. And I… let myself. Worse yet: I wanted it. I kissed him back like I couldn't breathe and he was the only way to do so. We devoured each other with kisses.
My hands searched his body almost desperately, tracing his chest, his neck, feeling his heat, his strength. Aidan pressed me against him, his body hard and firm, his mouth now roaming my jaw, my neck, as if branding me with fire.
—You're fire —he whispered against my skin—. And I'm burning for you.
A muffled moan escaped my throat. My back brushed the rough bark, but I didn't even feel it. I only felt his lips, his hands, his quickened breath mixing with mine.
And Gabriel?And the bond?And loyalty?
All of that blurred beneath Aidan's caresses. In that moment, it was just him and me. Desire and confusion. Skin and vertigo. There was no future, no promises, no guilt that could stop what was awakening between us.
Aidan rested his forehead against mine, eyes closed, his voice trembling.
—I don't care what comes next. I'm betting my soul that this… this is real.
I looked at him, my insides at war. I couldn't say yes. But I couldn't lie either.
So I whispered the only thing I felt for sure:
—It is. Even though it shouldn't be.