Amara
I should've felt guilty. I should've felt broken.
The forest was still around me—silver mist coiling at the base of the trees, the air thick with pine and the memory of fire. A few cinders still glowed in the firepit behind me, and the crackling of the dying embers seemed to echo in my chest, matching the disquiet in my soul.
But all I could think about was him.
Grayson.
The way his lips felt on mine—hungry and wild. The way his hands had gripped me like he was drowning and I was the only thing keeping him tethered to this world. My mouth still tingled from our kiss, my skin flushed from the heat of his body pressing against mine. And worst of all… my heart pounded with anticipation, not shame.
I sat on a fallen log, hugging my knees to my chest. His hoodie still hung around my frame, oversized and warm, and it smelled like him—earth and fire, danger and desire. My thighs clenched as the memory of his touch ignited fresh want inside me.
Sera was practically pacing in my mind.
"He's ours. We were never meant to be anyone else's. You feel it, don't you?"
I swallowed hard, my fingers brushing over the base of my throat. I didn't have his mark—not yet. But something invisible connected us. A bond already rooting itself deep within me, quiet and wild like a seed pushing through soil.
I had felt Cassian's bond. Cold. Clinical. Like a command sealed in blood.
This?
This was fire and stars and breathlessness.
"Don't run from this," Sera urged. "Don't second guess fate. She's always been wiser than we give her credit for."
But it didn't make sense. The Moon Goddess didn't make mistakes. Did she? Was I destined to be betrayed, broken, and then… claimed again? Was Grayson just the aftermath? Or was he the truth that had been hidden beneath a lie?
I thought of the way Cassian had looked at me tonight—like I was a duty he couldn't wait to rid himself of. Then I remembered how Grayson had looked at me in the cave—like I was everything he had ever wanted.
Could it be?
Could I have belonged to the wrong brother all along?
I rose from the log and began to pace, needing to move, to burn off the tremble in my limbs. I traced the edge of the clearing with slow, quiet steps, my thoughts circling faster than my feet.
A rustle in the underbrush made me freeze. My heart leapt, scent sharpening. Not danger. Not prey.
Grayson.
I could feel him before I saw him. His presence was like gravity—heavy and certain, a pull that dragged at every instinct inside me. My body responded before my brain could keep up, turning toward the trees just as he stepped into the clearing.
Grayson
The wind carried her scent straight to me—wildflowers and something darker, richer. Lust. Longing.
Kael stirred in my mind, claws scraping at the inside of my skull.
"She needs us. Go."
I didn't argue. I couldn't. I was already halfway back to her before I realized I'd moved.
She stood in the firelight, hair haloed with silver strands, eyes reflecting the glow like molten amber. Her hoodie—my hoodie—hung loose off one shoulder, the fabric bunching at her thighs. She looked like a dream half-remembered and twice-forbidden.
"Couldn't sleep?" I asked, voice rough.
She shook her head. "Too many thoughts."
I stepped into the clearing fully, letting the silence stretch. I didn't want to startle her, didn't want her to think this was just heat and not the storm it really was.
She took a small step forward. "Did I… was I too much earlier?"
"No." My voice dropped. "You weren't enough."
Her lips parted.
Kael purred in the background of my mind, pacing.
"Touch her. Claim her. She's ours."
I moved slowly, closing the distance between us, my hand reaching for hers. Our fingers brushed. Electricity snapped through the contact, sharp and sweet.
She looked up at me with wide eyes. "Why does this feel like… more than fate?"
"Because it is."
And then I kissed her.
Not the way I had earlier—desperate and fast. This was slower, deeper. My hand cupped her jaw, thumb brushing the corner of her mouth. Her hands slid up my chest, exploring. I groaned as her fingers slid beneath the hem of my hoodie, brushing over my abs.
"Grayson," she whispered. "You make me forget to be afraid."
"You never need to be afraid with me."
Her lips parted, and I kissed her again, this time letting my tongue slide over hers, teasing and coaxing a soft moan from her throat. Her fingers clenched in the fabric of my hoodie. My hands slid down to her waist, pulling her flush against my body. She gasped, feeling the hard line of my arousal against her.
She didn't pull away. She pressed closer.
"I want you," she breathed.
My control cracked.
I growled, low and dangerous, pinning her against the nearest tree trunk with my body. My mouth moved down her neck, nipping the sensitive skin above her collarbone.
"You have no idea what that does to me," I growled. "Hearing you say that. Feeling your body respond to mine."
Amara
Every nerve in my body was alive, tingling with the nearness of him. My thighs were slick with arousal, my heart beating so fast I thought it might explode.
Sera purred in my mind, drunk on the bond, on his touch.
"Yes. Let him in. Let him claim us."
Grayson's mouth was fire as he kissed down my throat, his stubble scraping lightly. My hands slid under his hoodie again, up over the planes of his stomach, his ribs, his chest.
He was sculpted heat beneath my palms, and when I brushed his nipples, he hissed.
"You're playing with fire," he warned, voice thick.
"I want to burn."
His growl rumbled through his chest, and he ducked his head to claim my mouth again. This kiss was more—hotter, hungrier. Our bodies pressed and rubbed and ground together. My hands roamed. So did his.
But just when I thought he'd lose control—when I wanted him to—he pulled back, breathing ragged.
"I can't… not yet," he whispered. "You deserve more than this. Than me giving in to the bond too fast."
I whimpered at the loss, but I saw it in his eyes. The devotion. The restraint.
And I loved him for it.
I leaned up and pressed my lips to his again, soft this time.
"I'm not afraid," I whispered. "I choose you."
And I meant every word.