Instead, he pulled her closer.
The shivering had stopped now. Her skin was warm against his, her body soft and pliant in his arms. The fire crackled, casting them both in shades of amber and gold. Outside, the storm had finally exhausted itself, leaving only the steady rhythm of waves against the shore.
“I should sleep.” Her voice was heavy with exhaustion. “Lilani will want to know I’m okay when she wakes up.”
“Then sleep.” He adjusted their position so that she was tucked against his side, her head pillowed on his chest. “I’ll keep watch.”
“Watch for what?”
“Search parties. Merrick had resources. People will come looking for wreckage.”
She tensed in his arms. “They’ll think I’m dead.”
“Good.” The word was savage. “Let them think it. Let them search and fail and eventually give up. You’re free now, Ariella. Free of the debt, free of the contract, free of everything they tried to chain you with.”
“What about my father?”
The question was soft, almost frightened. He understood. Despite everything Anton Tranek had done, despite the years of using her as a test subject, despite selling her to Merrick to pay his debts, he was still her father. The only family she had ever known.
“That’s your choice to make.” He stroked her hair, the strands finally drying into their natural dark waves. “When you’re ready. But for tonight, you’re here. You’re safe. And nothing—nothing—is going to take you from me again.”
She was quiet for a long moment.
Then her hand found his in the darkness, their fingers touching just as they had on the beach that first day, when he had pulled Lilani from her arms and felt his beast roar to life.
“I choose you.” The words were barely a whisper. “I choose this. The cave and the cliffs and all of it. I choose you and Lilani.”
His chest constricted.
He had spent six years learning to expect nothing—no acceptance, no belonging, no love beyond his daughter’s unconditional devotion. The pack had rejected him. Lilani’s mother had died. Every connection he’d ever tried to forge had been severed, one way or another.
But this woman, this impossible, luminous, fierce woman, had chosen him.
Had nearly died to save his daughter.
Had turned her back on wealth and comfort and everything the human world valued, just to be here in his arms.
“You’re mine.” The words rumbled up from somewhere deep in his chest, more growl than speech. “My mate. My heart. Whatever comes next, we face it together.”
She turned in his arms, her face finding the curve of his neck. Her lips pressed against his pulse point, the spot where a Vultor’s bond-scent was strongest, where mates marked each other during claiming ceremonies.
“Together,” she agreed.
Sleep took her between one breath and the next.
He held her through the night, his beast finally at peace, his eyes fixed on the cave entrance until the first grey light of dawn began to creep in.
The storm was over.
CHAPTER 25
The sound of footsteps woke her.
Ariella’s eyes snapped open, her body tensing before her mind fully caught up. The footsteps were wrong. They were too light to be Valrek’s and too heavy to be Lilani’s. A stranger was climbing the path to the cave, their breath ragged with exertion and something else.Fear.
Valrek shifted next to her, his arm tightening around her waist in a protective gesture that was more instinct than thought. His growl was low and dangerous, barely audible, but she felt the vibration of it through her entire body.
“Stay here.” His voice was rough with sleep, but his eyes were alert, already scanning the cave entrance for threats. “Keep Lilani quiet.”
