His gaze locked on mine, unflinching. “I already don’t.”
The cave fell silent again, but it wasn’t empty. The air between us pulsed, charged with something fragile and dangerous. I leaned into it, into him, letting my forehead rest against his shoulder.
He didn’t move for a long moment. Then his arm slid around me, slow and careful, pulling me against him. His chest rose and fell beneath my cheek, solid, grounding.
For the first time since Hydra had chained me in silk and lies, I let myself close my eyes.
And I didn’t feel like a prisoner. I felt… free.
38
Beckett
She was warm against me, her head tucked into my shoulder, her breathing slow and uneven like she didn’t quite trust herself to rest. Every instinct screamed at me to keep my eyes on the cave mouth, to stay sharp. But I couldn’t stop noticingher. The curve of her body against mine. The way her fingers still tangled with mine like she wasn’t ready to let go.
“Elara,” I murmured, low.
Her head tipped back just enough for her eyes to find mine. Shadows danced there—fear, fire, and something that looked too much like hope.
“This is dangerous,” she whispered.
“Everything about us is dangerous.” My hand slid from her back to her jaw, rough fingers cradling her face. “Doesn’t mean I can stop.”
Her lips parted, breath catching. Then she closed the last inch between us, kissing me like the world outside didn’t exist. Like Hydra wasn’t hunting us, like orders didn’t matter. Just heat and need and the wild truth neither of us could bury anymore.
I pulled her closer, her body sliding into my lap, legs wrapping around me like she’d been made for it. The kiss deepened, turning hungry and desperate. Her hands fisted in my shirt, tugging me down, down, until the weight of me pressed her into the sand.
Her gasp filled the cave when my mouth trailed to her throat, tasting the salt of sweat and the edge of her pulse hammering beneath my lips. She arched into me, her nails scraping fire down my back, every touch daring me to take more.
“Beckett,” she whispered, raw and unguarded, like my name was the only tether she had left.
I groaned against her skin, heat pounding through me. “Say it again.”
Her lips brushed my ear. “Beckett.”
The sound wrecked me. I kissed her harder, hands roaming the curve of her waist, the slope of her hip, memorizing every inch of her like I’d never let Hydra steal this from her again.
Clothes slipped away in a tangle of urgency and need, skin meeting skin in the dark. The cave was nothing but shadows and echoes, but in that moment, it became a sanctuary. Her body pressed to mine, breathless and trembling, and the way she clung to me like I was more than just her guard—like I was hers.
And when I finally gave in completely, it wasn’t about breaking rules anymore. It was about claiming something Hydra could never touch.
Her.
Us.
39
Elara
The cave was quiet again. Only this time, it wasn’t suffocating.
Beckett’s arm was draped across my waist, heavy and solid, anchoring me to the earth. My body still hummed from him, from us, every nerve alive in a way Hydra had never let me imagine. I curled closer, cheek against the heat of his chest, breathing in the faint scent of sage and desert dust clinging to his skin.
For the first time in years, the shadows didn’t feel like a cage. They felt like shelter.
“You should be asleep,” he murmured, voice rough from everything we’d done, everything we hadn’t said.
I smiled against his skin. “And miss the chance to see you like this? Not a chance.”
