“You're my flame, Aniyah.”
My eyes snapped to Van. My head felt like it had been knocked off center, spinning while the rest of me remained frozen. He was looking at me like I’d just stabbed him, as though my silence had physically hurt him, but he didn’t know. None of them did.
“My magic, Ni,” he said, trying to keep his voice steady. He approached me with his hands up, using all the caution of a man edging his way toward a wounded animal who was about to bite. “I’ve never used it on you. Because I can’t.”
I shook my head, backing away as if it was the only way to get clarity. I’d always assumed it was because I never used mine on him, that it was some unspoken rule between us. It always felt a little like cheating, using magic to get what I wanted, and I never wanted to feel that way about Van.
Then I bumped into a wall of muscle. No, not a wall, a man. Lucus.
His arms circled my waist like they belonged there, his chin gently resting on the crown of my head. Did he think I was his? He had no right tofeelthis way about me.
He lived halfway across the damn world. This was a temporary thing for him, a layover, a moment. That was it.
Then his lips grazed that tender spot beneath my ear, and my whole body betrayed me. Fire crackled down my nerves like a fuse had been lit. My knees wobbled. My breath hitched.
"You’re my mate too,” he whispered, and I wanted to scream.
I went to yank myself out of his arms, but he held me tighter, forcing me to listen. His voice dipped lower, all silk and certainty. “I have proof. This isn’t wishful thinking. It’s not a trick. It’shere.”
His finger brushed the sensitive spot behind my ear again. “A blood-red diamond. My mark.”
No.
I shoved him away. This time, he let me go, and I bolted to the bathroom. My pulse thundered in my ears as I clawed open drawers, frantic. I found the handheld mirror and yanked it up to the side of my face, pulling my ear back.
There it was.
A red diamond, small and sharp as a secret. It was etched into my skin like it had always been there, just waiting to be seen.
My hands trembled. My legs threatened to fold right under me. That same awful warmth pulsed low in my stomach again, the kind that whisperedright, even while everything else screamedwrong.
I set the mirror down and walked out in a daze. “It’s impossible,” I murmured, more to myself than anyone.
“Why?” Lucus stepped into my space, pressing me back against the wall, caging me in. A sick part of me responded to the show of dominance with something close to thrill. Something dark and reckless inside of me sparked to life, begging for a fight just so we could burn.
One of the strings inside of me lit up, pulsing red-hot, and I started to realize what they were. Something my parents occasionally talked about.
“It’s impossible,” I said again, louder this time, daring him. Daring the world to prove me wrong.
Lucus slammed a fist into the wall beside my head, and I had to bite back the twisted grin that tried to break across my face. The tension between us was always edged with dominance and heat, and my body didn’t care that this wasn’t the time for either. Mychest rose, defiant. Part of me wanted to push him, to provoke him… then fuck him.
Gods, what’s wrong with me?
“Why?” he snarled.
The pressure in my head built to a breaking point, and the walls began closing in again.
“Because…” I closed my eyes and clasped my hands behind my back, trying to anchor myself. This wasn’t foreplay. This was serious. I repeated that in my head like a mantra, begging my body to listen.
Lucus growled again, low and furious. Ras was right behind him, tugging at his shirt, trying to get him to back off. Lucus didn’t even flinch. He just shook him off, silver eyes locked on mine. This time, when he leaned in, his forehead rested against mine, and his voice dropped. It was still commanding, but now there was something raw laced in between his words.
“Because why, Aniyah?”
I clenched my jaw. I didn’t want to say it. We’d all sworn not to, but I couldn’t lie either, not completely.
“Because of the invisible tattoo on my lower back,” I bit out.
Confusion swept across his face and those of the others.
