She exhaled sharply, rolling her shoulders as if trying to shake off the weight of it. “I don’t know.”
His brow arched. “Try again.”
She pressed her lips together, frustration rising—not just with him, but with herself. “I don’t want to believe it.”
“But deep down, you do?”
She hesitated, then forced herself to meet his gaze. “I’m afraid to know the truth.”
“And what truth is that?”
Her throat tightened, but she refused to back down. “That he wasright. That my body—when I’m in Heat—won’t care who’s touching me. That instincts will override everything else. And one day, I won’t be able to stop myself. I’ll become . . .” She swallowed hard. “A mindless thing, desperate for any Alpha’s touch.”
Kaelen watched her silently for a moment. “What about earlier at the bathhouse? Did you care that it was us with you? Holding you?”
She hesitated, her face heating. “That was . . .” She shook her head. “I don’t know.I thought I knew, but Jodhar’s taunting made me question everything all over again. Earlier, I was also under the influence of my Kindling symptoms.”
“And that made everything untrue?”
“No, but . . . how much of myself can I trust? I want to know if it wasmein control.” She swallowed, her voice quieter now. “I want to know if the pleasure I felt at your touch was because of the connection I’m building with you and Lark . . . or if it was just my body reacting, telling me to latch onto an Alpha and fulfill some bodily purpose.”
His lips parted slightly, as if he hadn’t expected her to say it outright.
But she wasn’t finished.
“And don’t you want to know, too?” Her pulse thundered in her ears, but she pushed forward, because this mattered—becausetheymattered. “Don’t you want to know if what I felt for you, for Lark was real? That it wasn’t instinct overriding everything?”
His golden eyes darkened, but he said nothing, watching her like she was something he had to study carefully.
A dozen words tangling behind her lips before she finally found the right ones.
“Because I think you both deserve an Omega who wantsyou—Kaelen, Alarik—not justanyAlpha who happens to be there when the need arises.”
Kaelen sighed, shaking his head as if she were an impossible puzzle he couldn’t help but love solving. His lips quirked—somewhere between fondness and exasperation—but his eyes, warm and golden, held something deeper.
“What am I supposed to do with you when you’re being so lovely and maddeningly sensible?”
She blinked, thrown off-balance. “Because I ask too many questions?”
His hand lifted, fingers tracing the line of her jaw as if memorizing it. “Because every time you do, I only fall harder.”
She could only stare at him, her heart in her throat. It felt as though he’d found the softest part of her—and pressed there. Gently, unrelentingly. She swallowed against the swell rising in her chest. The space between them seemed to hum, drawn taut with something tender and electric, every nerve attuned to him.
Kaelen exhaled, thumb brushing her cheek, his voice dropping. “You’re an impossible woman, and yet—there’s no one else I want.”
Her lips curved slowly. “But I’ve often heard Alarik say you’re the impossible one.”
His smile softened, laughter spilling out like he couldn’t help it. His eyes glinted, a mix of amusement and something warmer. “Then perhaps the gods are teaching me a lesson.”
She let out a laugh too, and he tilted his head, studying her as if he wanted to hold onto this moment forever.
“Are you in Heat now?”
Her cheeks flushed. “No—no, I am not,” she said, the words tumbling over themselves before she could catch them.
His eyes remained locked with hers. “I know how much Jodhar’s bite still lingers in your mind. So, let me show you. Let me prove your body is capable of choice—that what you feel is yours to give, not something stolen or forced. Not something driven by impulse or circumstance. And while I’m at it . . .” His voice dipped lower, rich with quiet intensity. “Let me erase the memory of his touch from your skin.”
She parted her lips, pulse hammering against her ribs. “What do you mean?”
