There was nothing sexual about it—not yet, not now. This was something more primal, more essential. Two bodies seeking heat and comfort in the aftermath of trauma, finding safety in each other’s arms.
He pulled furs over them both, creating a cocoon of warmth. The fire crackled softly in the hearth, its light casting dancing shadows on the cave walls. Outside, he could hear the storm finally dying, the wind dropping to a low moan.
“Is she really asleep?” she whispered.
He glanced towards Lilani’s alcove, where his daughter hadn’t moved since he’d laid her down. “Yes. She’ll sleep through the night.”
“Good.” Ariella’s voice was stronger now, though still threaded with exhaustion. “She shouldn’t have been there. On the shuttle. How?—”
“She must have followed you.” The words were bitter on his tongue. “I should have known she wouldn’t stay home when she knew you were in trouble.”
“How did she even know?”
“I don’t know.” And that was the terrifying truth of it. His daughter had some connection to Ariella that he didn’t fully understand—an instinct that seemed to bridge the gap between their species. “She just… knew.”
She was quiet for a moment, her breathing slowly steadying against his chest. Her skin was finally beginning to warm, the terrible ice-cold fading to something merely cool. He could feel her heart beating, stronger now, more regular.
“Valrek?”
“Mmm?”
“I left him to die.”
The words hung in the air between them, heavy with implications. He knew she meant Merrick, the male who had tried to cage her, who had forced her into that terrible suit, and who had threatened everything she loved.
“I know.”
“I could have saved him.” Her voice cracked. “He was pinned under a beam, and he was screaming, and I just… swam past him. I chose Lilani over him.”
“You chose life over cruelty.” His arms tightened around her. “You chose the innocent over the corrupt. That’s not murder, Ariella. That’s survival.”
“Is it?” She pulled back just enough to look up at him, her eyes bright with unshed tears. “Because it felt like murder. When I saw him reaching for me, begging me to help, I wanted him to die. I wanted him to feel what it was like to be trapped and helpless and?—”
He kissed her.
It wasn’t planned, wasn’t calculated. It was pure instinct, a need to stop the spiral of guilt before it consumed her. His mouth found hers in the dimness, soft at first, then deeper as she responded with a sound that was half-sob, half-moan.
She tasted like salt and sea and survival.
“Listen to me.” He pulled back just far enough to speak, his forehead pressed against hers. “That man tried to steal you. He tried to break you, to silence your Song, to turn you into something small and controllable. When he died, the universe corrected an injustice.”
“You can’t believe that.”
“I can,” he said fiercely. “I’m Vultor. We understand justice better than any human. And I’m telling you—justice was served.”
The tears finally fell, sliding down her cheeks in silver trails. He kissed them away one by one, his lips tracing the paths they carved across her skin.
“I thought I’d never see you again.” Her fingers found his face, tracing the hard lines of his jaw, the ridge of his brow. “When the shuttle hit the water, when everything went dark… I thought of you. Standing on that beach, watching the lights go out.”
“I was there.” The admission hurt more than he expected. “I saw it happen. I thought…”
I thought I’d lost you.
I thought my world had ended.
I thought the only thing left for me was to follow you into the dark.
But he couldn’t say any of that. The words were too raw, too vulnerable, too close to the beast that still paced behind his ribs.
