Chapter Ten
Chosen
Knox
Briana says I am her mate, and something inside me goes quiet.
Not calm.But quiet in the way the world goes quiet right before a storm breaks.
She stands in front of me with her hand in mine, the door open behind her, Ari and Akasha staring at our joined fingers as if they were witnessing the birth of a new religion.Briana’s palm is warm against mine.Small and human but stronger than anything I have ever held.
She chose me.Not because of fate.Not because of the beast.Because I stood still and let her come to me.
My chest feels too small for my heart.The beast in me lowers its head.
Mate, he whispers.
This time, I don’t correct him.
Briana’s fingers tighten around mine, not enough to hurt.Enough to call me back.Her eyes are on Ari, but her pulse beats hard beneath my thumb.Nervous but not afraid.There’s a difference.
I know the shape of her fear now.The scent of it.The way it lifts sharp and metallic from her skin, the way her body braces before her mind gives permission.This is not that.This is want wrapped in uncertainty.This is choice standing on shaking legs.
I want to drop to my knees.I want to press my mouth to her palm and promise every brutal, bloody, impossible thing inside me belongs to the word yes when she gives it and stops dead at the word no.
Instead, I stand still.Because Briana is holding my hand, and for now, that’s everything.
Ari’s gaze flicks from Briana to me and back again.Her mouth trembles, caught somewhere between smug and emotional.
“If either of you makes me cry,” she says, “I will be furious.”
Briana’s fingers twitch in mine.“You cry over commercials.”
“Only emotionally manipulative ones.”
Akasha smiles, but her eyes stay soft.“The decoy collar is ready.”
The change in Briana is immediate.Her body doesn’t pull away from mine, but I feel the tiny shock that moves through her hand.The way her fingers go cold.The way her breath catches before she forces it steady.
My beast rises, but I keep him down.
Briana looks at me, and I know what she is going to ask before she speaks.Remind me.I turn fully toward her, ignoring the others, ignoring the hallway, ignoring the war waiting below us.
