“A good memory to replace the bad,” he murmured. “One that belongs to you. Tous, if you’ll let it.”
His voice was low, patient. Even now, he was still offering rather than demanding.
He rose to his knees, closing the space between them, but he didn’t touch her—not yet. Instead, he let the moment stretch, his golden gaze flicking up to meet hers, waiting. “May I?”
Reiya swallowed. At this moment, there was no fever in her blood, no instinct clawing at the edges of her control, no desperate haze muddling her thoughts.
She wasn’t in the throes of Heat. She was fully aware, completely herself.
Yet, Kaelen’s presence still set her pulse racing. The warmth of his body, the intensity in his stare, the deep timbre of his voice—all of it sent heat curling through her, low and insistent, pooling at the bottom of her stomach.
It wasn’t the Heat that caused all these sensations—it washim.
Slowly, she nodded, her voice unsteady but sure. “Yes.”
Kaelen’s lips parted slightly, warm air ghosting over her skin as he leaned in, inching slowly, giving her time to pull away.
She didn’t.
His lips met her neck, a whisper of warmth against her skin. Reiya arched instinctively, eyes fluttering shut as she surrendered—not to instinct, not to biology, but to him. Her fingers curled into his tunic,gripping tight, as if anchoring herself against the sudden wave of sensation. Heat bloomed where his mouth lingered, not the fevered desperation of her Kindling, but something richer, deeper—pleasure that was entirely hers to claim.
A shudder rolled through her as Kaelen’s lips moved, pressing slow, reverent kisses along the fading bruise. A quiet gasp slipped past her lips, the sound barely more than a mewl, but it was enough. Kaelen stilled, his own breath catching, his arms tightening around her in response. Then—his exhale, warm and unsteady, ghosted over her skin, sending a fresh tremor through her.
Her body knew before her mind could catch up. The one word, the title she’d denied him, surged within her, pushing against the walls of her hesitation.
Alpha.
The thought alone sent her pulse skittering, her resolve unravelling thread by thread. She should have resisted. Should have pulled away before she lost herself completely.
But when his tongue flicked out, a featherlight tease against her skin, a soft, helpless sound escaped her.
Kaelen made a sound too—low, rough, and entirely unguarded. His grip tightened, arms wrapping around her as if he could draw her inside his own warmth, to claim every shiver, every unspoken plea as his to answer.
Her stomach clenched with something deep and unfamiliar, something that went far beyond instinct and need. It was terrifying in its intensity, in the way it rooted itself so effortlessly inside her.
Because she wasn’t just responding to any Alpha’s touch.
She was responding to Kaelen.
And gods help her—she wantedhim.
Her heart quickened as she clutched his shoulders, moving to bury her fingers in the wavy strands of his golden hair. Her senses drowned in the intensity of the moment.
This was what she had yearned for—not dominance, not power, but connection. Trust.
Her fingers flexed against his nape, her body humming with an unfamiliar certainty. “Kaelen . . .”
Yet, the word echoing in her mind, in the depths of her soul, was different.Alpha. Alpha. Alpha.
When Kaelen finally drew back, he didn’t move far. They remained impossibly close, their foreheads nearly touching, their breaths tangling in the space between them. Reiya’s lashes fluttered open, her gaze lifting to his, drawn into the golden depths that held her as if she were precious.
“Still think it was just instinct back at Solmaz’s?” His voice was low, edged with something dangerously tender.
Her pulse thundered in her throat. She had spent so long fearing that her body would betray her, that instinct would strip away her control, reducing her to something she wouldn’t recognize.
But this . . .
This was different.
