Alarik watched as the torches shrank, swallowed by the dunes.
Still, the unease lingered.
“It’s over,” Kaelen murmured, breaking the silence. “And without bloodshed.”
He exhaled slowly, but it didn’t feel like relief.
“Is it over?” Reiya’s voice was quiet, but it cut through the night just the same. “Truly over?”
Neither of them had an answer.
But if he was honest with himself, he’d say they were just beginning.
Kaelen turned toward her, gentling his voice. “For now, it is. You’re safe. The Xians are safe. So many things could’ve gone awry tonight, but somehow, they didn’t.”
She tipped her head slightly but didn’t look at anyone. Her gaze lingered on the horizon, as if waiting for something else to happen.
Alarik watched the way she held herself so still. The way her fingers trembled faintly as she ran them over her wrist. He saw the exhaustion pooling in her eyes.
Their Omega was unravelling, thread by thread.
And yet, she smiled as she looked at them—soft and faint, but warm. “I knew you’d decipher the crumbs I left behind.”
“We had to gamble,” he admitted. “We doubted, but ‘true north,’ coupled with Mei Mei’s pendant, gave us hope. You gave us just enough.”
She stepped closer, taking their hands in hers, her fingers cool and delicate as she squeezed gently.
“Thank you,” she whispered. “For trusting me to handle it my way. I know how hard it must’ve been—for Alphas to hold back when every instinct told you to act.”
Alarik exhaled sharply, closing his eyes for a brief moment. He didn’t want to think aboutearlierwhen all he could do was wait, and watch. She didn’t know how close he had come to losing control.
How his hands had itched to tear through every obstacle between them. How his blood had screamed at him to take action, to protect, to claim, tofight.
It had taken everything in him to allow her to be taken.
And he had to keep sane enough to persuade his brother to do the same.
Kaelen’s fury had burned bright, hot and reckless, demanding action. His own anger was colder, deeper. It settled in his bones, patient and calculating, waiting for the right moment to unleash itself.
Reiya had forced them both to hold back when every instinct screamed at them to tear the world apart for her. She’d asked for trust, and against every primal urge, they’d given it to her.
And she had shown them, again and again, their trust would never be misplaced.
He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her against him, grounding himself in the feel of her—real, whole,here. His forehead dipped to hers, and he inhaled her in. Her breath shuddered softlyagainst his lips, but she smiled and rubbed her forehead against his—a gesture so simple, so natural, so hers.
The tightness in his chest finally loosened.
But even as the moment settled between them, his mind refused to still.
She must have felt his tension, because she pulled back, the sombre expression returning.
“Hassamir and Annaïs are in league with Castiel,” she said, answering the question he hadn’t spoken aloud. “But you’ve likely figured that out.”
Alarik stiffened. Father and daughter—treacherous, scheming sandshrikes. They’d taken Castiel’s offer of resources, his aid, and bartered Reiya’s life for their own grasp at power.
Fury flashed through him, hot and blinding, but he dragged in a slow inhale, forcing the fire to settle.
“We have them in custody now,” he told her. “Hassamir surrendered quickly. Annaïs didn’t. She has more spine than her father, I’ll give her that.”
