Heat crawls up my neck. "I didn't really do anything."
"You trusted me." His voice drops lower, more serious. "That's everything, Serah. Everything."
My throat tightens. I don't know how to respond to that kind of reverence, that weight of meaning. So I kiss him instead—soft and tentative, morning breath be damned.
He groans against my mouth, rolling us so I'm beneath him. The shift reminds me of muscles I've never used, of being filled and stretched and claimed in ways I never imagined wanting.
When he pulls back, his expression is conflicted. "We should head back before people notice we're both missing."
Reality crashes in. The settlement. Other people. The fact that whatever this is between us exists in a careful bubble that daylight will complicate.
I nod, swallowing disappointment. "Right. Of course."
He kisses my forehead before standing, offering me a hand up. We dress in silence—our clothes still damp from rain but wearable. The intimacy of pulling on our tunics while watching each other feels different than undressing did. More vulnerable somehow.
Outside, dawn paints the canyon in shades of pink and gold. Beautiful and indifferent to the way my world shifted on its axis last night.
Rakk catches my hand as we start down the path. "Serah."
I turn.
"This wasn't just—" He pauses, seeming to search for words. "I don't want this to be one night. I want more. Wantyoumore."
My heart does something painful and hopeful in my chest. "I want that too."
His smile could light the entire canyon. "Good. Then we figure this out together."
Three weeks passin a blur of stolen moments and careful secrecy.
We meet by the river every night, sometimes talking for hours, sometimes barely speaking before his mouth is on mine and we're tearing at each other's clothes with desperate hands. He tells me stories that make me laugh until my sides ache—tales of Kaelen's serious demeanor cracking around Lola, of Zurkar's dry sarcasm, of growing up as the Chieftain's son under constant scrutiny.
"Dad wants me to be more serious about being a Chieftain," he admits one night, lying beside me on the riverbank with my head pillowed on his chest. "He thinks it's time."
My stomach clenches at the idea of anything changing. "And?"
"And I'm not ready." His hand traces lazy circles on my shoulder. "He's not thrilled."
I want to ask what that means for us. If he sees me as a something worth altering his future for or just someone to pass time with until he makes a real choice. But the question feels tooheavy, too dangerous. So I stay quiet and let myself pretend this is enough.
"I miss Kaelen sometimes," he continues. "Since he mated Lola, he's different. Happy, which is good. But we don't spend as much time together. It's like—I'm losing my best friend to something I should be celebrating."
"That's normal," I say softly. "People change when they find their person."
"Yeah." He's quiet for a moment. "I've just felt trapped lately. Like everyone's deciding my future except me. Dad wants alliances, the clan expects certain things, and I'm just—" He exhales hard. "I'm tired of being what everyone else needs."
I tilt my head to look at him. "What doyouneed?"
His eyes meet mine, intense and vulnerable. "This. You. Nights where I can just be Rakk instead of the Chieftain's son or a potential alliance or whatever role I'm supposed to play."
Something warm and terrifying unfurls in my chest. "I like just-Rakk."
"Good." He kisses me, slow and deep. "Because he's obsessed with you."
We make love under the stars, his body covering mine, his hands worshiping every inch of skin like I'm something precious. I learn the sounds he makes when I touch him certain ways, learn how to drive him as wild as he drives me. Learn that pleasure can be mutual, can be given freely without coercion or payment.
I'm starting to believe I could have this. Could havehim. Could build something resembling a future instead of just surviving day to day.
It's dangerous, this hope. But I can't seem to stop feeding it.
