a's

all look

o look for before. The weight of it pressed against my skin, unfamiliar and strange and not entirely unwelc

ove. Neith

eld its brea

small. If anything, I felt the opposite-like the power in this moment sat entirely with me. The second I stepped over that line, it was over. They

id. "If they stood any sti

that," I th

l three of them, and my finger

e through it now. The worry behind the composure was palpable. The anxiety. The fear of losing something before he'd even had the ch

g himself back by sheer effort, jaw locked, hands curled at his sides. The bond between us pulsed with something sharp and possessive

s bond didn't push or demand. It just sat there – quiet and

Tala noted. "Even I can feel

d, holding myself

. It pulled and called and urged me towards t

ted it

"But I hope you have a backup p

I said s

cheeky grin. "Honestly, thi

e slow st

but something shifted. The air between us. The ten

them fee

ddle, holding all the cards, and we all knew it. I lifted my chin-not in defiance,

I tensed involuntarily as his sandalwood scent reached me-warm and gro

aid, smug. "You love it. Ow

d. "I hate what i

she corrected. "Big difference. D

ause she was right and

y than I was used to-careful, almost like he was handling something that might bre

deny it. There was no point. We all knew it was

said, his voice rough an

ence stretch long enough to

I didn't owe them anything. Let

nudged. "Bet you five b

oice going tight and sharp at the edges. "You came to our doors. You felt the bond. And then you just-what? Decided to run off into

actly the way the w

a ste

ano

but enough. Enough to make the me

s voice came o

ng what everyo

n Kael's tone shut it down

y first, staring somewhere past my shoulder, and the red that crept u

mposure he'd been holding was still there-but something

came out chosen carefully and deliberately. "You came to us last night because the bond brought you there, and

dn't

e said evenly. "We know what we did. We know what we are to you right now-and it isn't anything good."

was gone-stripped out completely, leaving something undern

n a forest. Before anyone's had breakfast.

them-all t

like genuine regret and the willingness to

dy, giving me space with

t, and he had the unmistakable look of someone who knew they had jus

ir eyes-o

ook my he

tion. Not a

-not

ugh me instead of at me. Every Christmas. Every corridor. Every word the

them f

went

d, and he looked awa

't try to escape what cross

," Kael said quiet

s hung i

rder than anything I could have said. It

an accusation. More like someone recognizi

ook. Let the recognition settle in pr

ne in this pack started using their brain

o myself as much as to her, "the

owards them. I

ween what they'd been and what they were asking to become-and fo

*