“I know.” He kept his voice quiet, still looking furious, as though the very idea of one of his warriors waking and seeing what he saw was unacceptable.
The air quivered with more than tension, threads of magic shifting in the silence, alive and waiting, as if it had chosen this moment, her most vulnerable, her most unguarded.
Jakobav’s hand twitched at his side. Restraint was carved into the hard set of his jaw, in the way his eyes kept burning hotter each time they dragged back to hers, heat answering heat.
“I can feel it,” he murmured, barely louder than the wind.
“What?” she whispered back.
“Your power.” His gaze locked on hers, unwavering. “It’s awake.”
Ella’s breath stuttered, shallow and thin.
“Do you feel it?” he asked softly.
She blinked, disbelief spilling faster than her words. “I feel naked, Jakobav.”
His mouth twitched, the ghost of a smirk threatening and then dying before it formed. His gaze dropped openly now, tracing the bare line of her collarbone, the curve of her breasts, the vulnerable length of skin she hadn’t managed to hide. When he spoke, his voice was low, roughened into something close to a growl. “That too.”
The answering pull low in her belly was immediate. Treacherous. Her hands drifted lower, hovering near her thighs, fingers curling as she fought the instinct to hide the place that ached most and the equally reckless urge to do nothing at all.
The realm itself seemed to stir, a faint echo threading through the forest beyond their circle of firelight, as if even the trees leaned closer to watch.
Her skin was still searing against the night air as Jakobav scanned the shadows for a threat, every muscle coiled, every line of his body honed into lethal intent.
Her skin tightened, drawn too taut over her frame.
“I’m going to ask you something,” he whispered, his gaze fixed on the dark beyond the fire. “And I need you to tell me the truth.”
Her throat was dry. “What?” she whispered back.
“Is your magic doing this because of me…or because of the breach?” His words stayed low, barely more than breath.
Ella blinked, stunned.
“I can handle either,” he went on, his gaze snapping back to hers, voice steady and almost frightening in its calm. “But I need to know which one is about to kill me first.” His tone remained hushed, every word guarded.
Gods, he couldn’t possibly be serious, and yet he looked at her with the focus of a man facing war.
His gaze dipped lower again, and in that motion, she saw hunger—not for her power, but for her, raw and unmasked. Ache surged through her, enough that her nipples tightened against the cold air.
Ella followed the path of his eyes to the space between her thighs, where his gaze lingered, darkening. His throat worked once in a harsh swallow, and when his eyes lifted to hers again, the restraint there was brutal, almost savage.
She couldn’t look away. But the question still burned in the silence. Him, or the breach? Her body answered before her mind could; her back arched, need spilling from her skin in restless waves.
Jakobav leaned in close enough that she felt his warmth roll over hers and that one breath too deep would have brought his mouth to hers. The air thickened, swollen with magic and lust, tangled tight between them.
A rustle of fabric past the fire pulled them out of the moment, and Jakobav’s head whipped toward the sound, predator-quick. The sound was heavy, likely Thane turning in his sleep. They both held their breath, waiting to see if he would sit up, speak, or stir again. He didn’t.
The camp settled back into stillness.
As if suddenly remembering she was still naked—and that anyone could wake and see her—he shot forward, one hand seizing the fur thrown near her feet, the other bracing against her hip for leverage. He tugged the covering upward in a single pull.
The fur snagged on her pack, and he yanked it free with a rough jerk. His bracing hand slipped, knuckles brushing the inside of her leg before his fingers slid suddenly between her thighs, pressed into a slick warmth that answered more than she wanted him to know.
Ella’s breath fractured. Sensation crashed over her in a raw, helpless wave.
Jakobav froze. He dropped the fur; it landed across her chest. But his other hand remained a heartbeat too long, still cupped against the most sensitive part of her before he finally tore it back.
