My body tenses, then the scent of winterberry and pine hits me and my body instinctively relaxes.
Thorn steps out of the trees, moonlight gliding across his bare chest and wet hair. He looks like he ran straight through the forest — mud on his legs, leaves tangled in his pale hair. He doesn’t speak at first.
Neither do I. Because words are dangerous, and I’ve already broke enough of them tonight.
Finally, he says, “You meant it.”
Not a question, but I nod anyway.
He walks forward until there’s barely a foot between us. His voice soft but hoarse, like it hurts him to say the words. “You haven’t chosen a mate?”
My throat tightens. “It’s not that I don’t wantyou.”
That makes him blink.
My eyes flick away from his toward the grass, my fists clench at my sides. “I’m not sure I wantanymate because I’m afraid. I’m scared of losing my cave, my brother, my choice. I’m afraid that once someone claims me, I become something for them… I become theirs. Not me anymore.”
Silence stretches between us.
“You think that’s what I want?”
I meet his eyes; they are ice and endless.
“I’ve spent a decade watching wolves claim and mark each other, only to watch it fall apart the next season. Watching wolves trade mates like it means nothing. I didn’t wait for fate to hand me a possession,” he says, “I waited foryou. All of you.”
Tears sting behind my eyes for the second time tonight. “I didn’t ask for any of this. I don’t know one thing about being an Alpha’s mate.”
“I know.” He steps closer. “But I’m not here to take anything from you, Ember. I’m not here to cage you or mark you to prove something.”
He leans in, slow, deliberate and brushes his forehead to mine. “I don’t want to own you. I want to stand beside you. You burn so brightly. I just want to be close enough to feel your heat.”
My breath catches. My heart stutters. Gods, I’m surprised it even keeps beating at all.
“I’m still scared,” I whisper.
“I am too,” he whispers back. “Honestly, I’m not sure how to be a mate either. All these years I’ve been looking for one and now I’m not sure I’m good enough for you. Maybe what they are saying is true. Maybe I’m not worthy enough for a mate.”
“I think the fact that you admit you don’t know everything makes you a great mate. Maybe we can figure it out together.” I shrug.
We stay like that, our foreheads touching for a long time. No pressure. No fated promises. Just breath and moonlight mixing with our truths.
When I finally pull back, my voice shakes. “If I give you my heart, you have to promise you won’t hand it back shattered.”
He smiles, wide and devastatingly handsome. “I don’t want it in my hand, Ember. I want it in my chest. Beating beside mine.”
And gods help me, I believe him.
I reach up and touch the cut of his jaw, lined with silver stubble. His long hair is tousled from his run. He closes his eyes like my fingers are fire, and he’s been cold for years.
“You’re not my Alpha,” I whisper.
He opens his eyes again. “No.”
“But I might let you be my mate.”
His inhale is sharp, like I just knocked the wind out of him. Then his mouth is on mine.
The kiss isn’t about claiming or desire. It’s about two souls fighting their whole lives to survive, to finally find the one person who makes surviving worth it.
