"Tomorrow night," I said, leaning up to kiss Kaelan, then Riven, then Vale, then Thane. Each kiss a promise. Each touch a vow. "I'll be ready."
"We'll be waiting," Thane said, his voice still thick with tears but steadier now, his hand finding mine and squeezing tight. "We're always waiting for you."
I swam toward the surface, my lungs beginning to burn. But before I broke through, I looked back. Four sirens floated in the dark water below me. Four braids, woven with strips of my clothing, marking them as mine.
Four pairs of eyes, watching me with devotion so absolute it made my chest ache.
Mine, I thought, and the word sang through my blood like a promise.All mine.
I surfaced with a gasp, hauled myself up the rope ladder, and collapsed on the deck of the ship.
One more night.
Then I would be free.
Chapter Twenty-One
RIVEN
I couldn't stop touching it.
The braid. Her braid. The one she'd woven into my hair with her own fingers, using strips of fabric from the clothes she'd worn while running, while hiding, while surviving everything the world had thrown at her.
Mine now. She was mine now. They were all ours, but she was also mine, specifically mine, and the proof of it was woven into my hair where I could feel it every time I moved.
I ran my claws along the rough fabric for the hundredth time since she'd left, feeling the texture, breathing in the faint traces of her scent that still clung to the threads. It wasn't enough. It would never be enough. I needed her back, needed her here, needed her body pressed against mine so I could convince myself she was real.
"You're going to wear it out if you keep touching it," Vale said, his voice soft with understanding rather than mockery. He was floating nearby, his own braid catching the bioluminescent light, his silver eyes still red-rimmed from crying.
"I don't care," I said, my voice coming out rougher than intended. "Let it wear out. She'll make me another one. She'll make me a hundred. A thousand. However many I want, because she's ours now and she's never leaving."
"She's not ours yet," Kaelan said quietly, and the words hit me like a physical blow. He was hovering at the edge of our group, his dark eyes fixed on the distant surface where she'd disappeared. "Not completely. Not until we get her off that ship."
"Then we get her off the ship," I snarled, my claws extending, rage building in my chest like a living thing. "Tonight. Right now. I'll swim up there and?—"
"And what?" Kaelan turned to face me, his expression calm in that infuriating way that meant he was barely holding himself together. "Slaughter the entire crew? Drag her into the water while she's unconscious? She asked for one more night, Riven. We’ll give her one more night."
"One more night is too long," I argued, my tail lashing through the water hard enough to create small currents. "Her heat is coming. Every moment she spends on that ship is another moment something could go wrong. Another moment that bastard Cort could?—"
"I know," Kaelan's voice cracked, just slightly, and I saw the facade slip. Saw the same desperate, clawing fear that lived in my own chest reflected in his dark eyes. "Don't you think I know? I want to tear that ship apart with my bare hands. I want to kill every alpha and beta on board and carry her into the deep where no one will ever find her. But she asked for time, and we’ll give her what she asks for. Always."
I wanted to argue. Wanted to rage and snarl and demand that we go get her right now, consequences be damned.
But I couldn't. Because Kaelan was right, and we both knew it. She'd chosen us. She'd braided our hair and declared us hers and said she wanted to stay forever. But she'd also asked forone more night, and if we couldn't give her that—if we couldn't respect her choices even when they terrified us—then we didn't deserve her.
"Fine," I ground out, the word scraping against my throat like broken coral. "One more night. But the moment the sun sets tomorrow, I'm going to that ship. And if anyone—anyone—has touched her, I will make them suffer in ways they cannot imagine."
"Agreed," Thane said softly, and I turned to look at him in surprise. Sweet, gentle Thane, who cried at the sight of injured creatures and touched everything like it might break. His golden-brown eyes were hard now, glittering with something I rarely saw in him. "If anyone hurts her, I want to help. I want to be there when you—when we?—"
"You will be," I promised, swimming closer to him, pressing my forehead against his. "We'll do it together. The whole pack. No one hurts what's ours and lives." He nodded, tears still tracking down his face, but there was steel beneath the softness now. Steel that Lily had put there, somehow. Steel that made me love him even more than I already did.
"We need a plan," Vale said, ever practical beneath his emotional exterior. He was running his fingers along his own braid, the same compulsive touching I couldn't stop doing. "Not just for getting her off the ship. For after. The transformation. The heat. Everything."
"The transformation has to come first," Kaelan said, his voice steadying as he slipped back into his role as pack alpha. "Before her heat fully hits. If she transforms while in heat, it could be dangerous. The magic might not take properly."
"How long do we have?" I asked, forcing myself to think strategically instead of just wanting to kill things.
"Not long," Vale said grimly. "Her pre-heat symptoms were strong last night. The suppressants are failing. Once her heatbreaks through completely..." He didn't need to finish. We all knew what would happen. Her scent would become irresistible to any alpha or beta within range. The crew would know exactly what she was. And there would be nothing she could do to stop them.
