She nods. "Yes, Fen. I think I’ve always felt it, I just didn’t know what it was."
I've moved closer, one hand now cradling the back of her neck, our foreheads nearly touching. “Do you regret it? Resent it?”
“No. Never,” she answers softly.
"You came back," I whisper, still unable to fully believe it. "You came back to me."
"I did," she says, and there's a vulnerability in her voice I've never heard before. "Though technically, your grandfather didn't give me much choice. He just merged me with this bossy wolf and pointed me in your direction."
A broken laugh escapes me.
Her eyes search mine, and I see the questions there. So many questions. But right now, all I can focus on is her mouth, so close to mine. The wolf in me howls its demand, clawing at my restraint.
"Astrid."
She answers by closing the distance between us, her lips meeting mine with a hunger that matches the desperation building in my chest. The kiss is not gentle. It's claiming and being claimed, a reaffirmation of life after too much death.
Her directness has always undone me. I deepen the kiss, pouring everything I can't yet say into the contact. Her arms wrap around my shoulders, pulling me closer as she falls back onto the furs I've laid out, taking me with her.
The kiss transforms from desperate reunion to something more elemental. My hands frame her face, thumbs tracing the curve of her cheekbones before sliding into her hair, cradling her head as I claim her mouth completely. Her lips part beneath mine, her tongue meeting mine in a dance that sends fire racing through my veins. Each taste of her is an intoxication, a confirmation that this miracle is real—her warmth, her passion, her life restored to me.
"I thought I'd lost you forever," I murmur against her lips, the confession torn from somewhere deep within me. "I felt you grow so cold in my arms."
"I'm here now," she whispers back, her breath warm against my skin. "I'm real."
To prove it, she takes my hand and places it over her heart. The steady rhythm beneath my palm is the most beautiful thing I've ever felt—life where there had been death, hope where there had been only emptiness.
"Feel that," she says, her eyes holding mine with fierce intensity. "I'm alive, Fen."
Something breaks open inside me at her words, releasing a flood of emotions I've been holding at bay. Relief, joy, and bone-deep need crash through me in a single overwhelming wave.
I surge forward, claiming her lips with a ferocity that comes from centuries of longing compressed into days of unbearable loss. My mouth finds hers not just with hunger, but with the raw certainty of a predator reclaiming what was nearly stolen from him.
She responds in kind, her body arching into mine, the blanket falling away completely. The firelight bathes her naked skin in golden warmth, highlighting every curve and valley.
I devour her with my eyes, memorizing every inch of her. The smooth plane of her stomach, the gentle swell of her breasts, the elegant line of her throat. My breath catches as the amber light plays across her skin, illuminating her like a vision from some half-remembered dream.
Her hands move to my chest, pushing me back slightly so she can see me too. Her dark eyes meet mine, and I catch my breath at the sight. Her irises are now rimmed with the telltale golden glow of a wolf. The transformation is subtle but undeniable, this physical evidence of her changed nature sending a jolt of visceral satisfaction through both man and beast within me.
Her gaze rakes over me with unmistakable yearning. The blanket around my waist loosens, and she makes no move to adjust it.
"I missed you," she murmurs, the quiet admission carrying more weight than elaborate declarations. Her fingers trace the lines of muscle across my abdomen, each touch igniting my skin, sending shivers cascading through me.
"And I you," I reply. "More than I have words for."
My lips find her throat, tracing the delicate skin there. I can feel her pulse beneath my mouth, the rhythm quickening as I move lower. My teeth graze her collarbone, not quite biting, but hinting at what's to come. She gasps, her fingers tightening in my hair. A low moan escapes sends heat pooling low in my belly.
Her hands aren't idle, exploring the planes of my back. When her nails scrape lightly down my spine, I growl against her skin, my wolf rising to the surface like a tide answering the moon's call.
She pulls me back up to seize my mouth, the kiss fierce and commanding. Her leg hooks around my hip, pulling me more firmly against her. The contact ignites every nerve ending, the heat between us building to an inferno that threatens to consume us both.
And I want it to.
My hand slides down her side, over the curve of her hip, tracing patterns on her thigh that make her breathing hitch. When I find the sensitive skin of her inner thigh, she breaks the kiss on a gasp, her head falling back against the furs.
"Fen, please."
I trace my way back up her body, mapping every inch with lips and tongue and gentle teeth. The soul shard beneath her skin pulses with amber-white light as I near it, growing brighter when my mouth hovers over the spot.
