“It was strangling your gills.”
“It was strangling my soul.” She kicked the silk aside and picked up the echo-pipe, running her fingers across its surface. “What should I do with this?”
“Leave it here. It’s safer here than carried out in the open.”
She nodded, placing the pipe carefully on a stone ledge near the sleeping furs.
“If something happens?—”
“It won’t.”
“But if it does.” She turned to face him, her expression serious. “Make sure Lilani knows I wanted to come back. Make sure she knows I would have stayed if I could.”
The words twisted something in his chest.
“You’re coming back,” he said firmly. “I refuse to accept any other outcome.”
“Valrek—”
He crossed to her in two strides and pulled her into his arms.
“You are my mate. You are the mother my daughter has been waiting for. You are the only creature in this universe who makes my beast purr instead of roar.” He pressed his forehead to hers. “You are coming back. Say it.”
Her eyes were bright with unshed tears.
“I’m coming back.”
“Again.”
“I’m coming back.”
He kissed her—long and deep and thorough—and then forced himself to let go.
“Before the sun reaches its peak,” he reminded her.
“Before the sun reaches its peak,” she agreed.
She turned and walked out of the cave, and he watched as she climbed down the path to the beach and disappeared into the sea. The bond still thrummed between them and he focused on it, letting it anchor him.
She would be fine.
She would come back.
He had to believe that.
The alternative was unthinkable.
He foundthe strange Vultor at the edge of the woods behind the cliff, sitting on a fallen log like he owned the entire forest, one boot propped against a moss-covered rock, and a blade spinning lazily between his fingers.
He approached with his claws half-extended and his beast prowling just beneath his skin. Every instinct screamed caution—this male was young, strong, and carried himself with the easy confidence of someone who’d survived things that would break lesser warriors.
“So you’re Valrek. The exile.” Not a question. The stranger’s amber eyes tracked him closely despite his relaxed posture. “The one living in the sea caves with the halfling child.”
“And you’re trespassing.”
“Am I?” A cocky grin split the stranger’s face. “Didn’t realize you’d claimed sovereign territory. Should I have sent a formal delegation?”
His growl was low and dangerous.
