Clear as a breath against my skin. That flicker of irritation, his pointed frustration curling at the edges of my thoughts like smoke. My chest tightens.
“I felt it,” I whisper, staring at him. “Knox, I?—”
The rest of the sentence dies on my tongue.
Because I don’t need to say it out loud. He already knows.
And when his eyes widen—sharp inhale, nostrils flaring, pulse hammering beneath his skin—I know he feels me, too.
A tremor runs through me, dizzy and unreal. The world seems to tilt.
The bond.
Ittook.
I can barely breathe. My pulse races so hard it feels like my ribs can’t hold it in. “Can you—” I swallow, voice trembling. “Can you feel me?”
Knox doesn’t move. Not at first. He’s so still it’s like the world’s stopped spinning just to give him a second to process it. His lips part, breath catching in his throat, andthen—slowly—his expression breaks open into the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.
A smile. Wide, bright,real.
“Yeah,” he breathes. “Yeah, sweetheart, I can.” He lets out a shaky laugh, his whole chest rising like he’s been holding that breath for days. “I thought I felt you earlier when you were talking to your family.”
My eyes widen. “You did?”
“I think so.” His voice is low, unsure. “You were so happy, and I felt it—this deep warmth in the back of my head. But I didn’t know if it was real or if I was…hoping.” He exhales, eyes locked on mine, and grins, boyish and incredulous. “But right now?” He taps his temple with his uninjured hand. “Right now I can feel exactly how annoyed you are with me.”
A startled laugh bursts out of me. “You can?”
“Crystal clear,” he says, grin widening. “And it feelsamazing.”
Knox is still grinning when footsteps sound behind us.
Tadeo’s voice breaks the quiet. “What’s going on in here?”
We both turn toward the doorway. He’s standing there barefoot, hair rumpled, his bare chest on full display. His gaze flickers between us—my wide eyes and Knox’s ridiculous smile, to our hands still tangled together on the table.
“Our bond,” I say, my voice trembling with disbelief. “It…it took.”
For a second, Tadeo just stares at me, not breathing. Then his mouth falls open. “You’re serious?”
Knox nods, still looking dazed. “She can feel me.”
The sound that bursts out of Tadeo is half laugh, half gasp. In a blink, he crosses the room, moving so fast thechair beside me rattles. He falls to his knees and catches me up in a hug that nearly knocks the air from my lungs.
“Oh, Dios mío, mi amor!” he says against my hair, voice cracking with relief. “You did it, baby.”
“Who did what?” Alex asks as he steps into the room. He’s holding a pair of tongs in one hand, a half-charred burger in the other. Dakota’s right behind him, sun still on his skin, sunglasses pushed up in his hair.
Tadeo turns toward them, eyes shining. “Their bond took,” he blurts, practically shouting the words. “Sky and Knox—their mental bondtook.”
No one moves. The air hangs heavy with the smell of grilled meat and smoke. Then Alex’s mouth drops open. “You’re kidding.”
“I’m not,” Tadeo says, stifling a laugh. Then he looks back at me, eyes wide and sparkling. “Right?”
I nod, my throat too tight for words. And in that instant, Knox’s joy floods through me—bright, fierce,pure—like sunlight breaking through a storm. It’s not just emotion; it’s warmth, steady and sure, echoing in the back of my mind until I can’t tell where his happiness ends and mine begins.
That’s all it takes.
