Heat pulsed beneath it, not steady, not predictable. Alive. Not desire exactly. Force.
“It burns when you’re near,” she said, her voice quieter now, more honest. “It burns when you step away. It burns when I think about you.”
Admitting that last part made her chest tighten. She hated how exposed it sounded. Hated that the Brand didn’t distinguish between proximity and memory, between his body and the idea ofhim.
Alaric’s mouth tightened. “Same.”
The single word landed heavier than reassurance ever could. It toldher this wasn’t a one-sided malfunction. It was a shared condition.
Sera swallowed. “So what is it?”
He hesitated, and the hesitation mattered more than any answer. It wasn’t ignorance. It was restraint, the kind that came from knowing exactly how bad the truth couldbe.
“You know what it is,” hesaid.
“I know what it’s called,” she corrected, forcing herself to keep her hand steady even as heat licked up her wrist. “I don’t know what it means for us.”
Alaric’s expression went still, the way it did when he was about to deliver something unpleasant.
“It means we’re tied,” he said. “Not just connected. Not temporarily. It’s a soul-mate bond.” He didn’t soften the word or dress it up. “In a way people notice. In a way people exploit. In a way people have killed for.”
Sera’s skin tightened. “Killed?”
He didn’t soften it. “In my world, yes.”
Sera lowered her hand slowly, the Brand dimming but still present beneath her skin like a memory that refused tofade.
“You told me not yet because you think sex will… deepen it?” she asked.
Alaric’s gaze flicked to her mouth again, and this time he didn’t look away as quickly. “I think it makes it louder.”
Sera’s pulse jumped.
“Louder how?” she pressed.
His voice roughened. “More reactive. Harder to ignore. Harder to hide.”
“Hide from whom?”
He stared at her, and the air between them tightened. “From anyone who understands what that mark is.”
Sera’s mind went immediately where it had been trying not to go for days.”The people at Severin’s?” she asked.
Alaric’s eyes narrowed. He didn’t flinch at the question. He didn’t deny it mattered. “Yes.”
Sera paused to consider. “You said people exploit. You said people kill. And you told me there are things you need to protect me from. So don’t talk around it. Who’s looking?”
Alaric set his glass down with a careful click. “Everyone looks.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“It’s the only answer that keeps you alive,” he replied, flat and unapologetic, like survival itself didn’t requireexplanation.
Sera leaned forward, hands braced on the counter, refusing to be pushed into a corner. “Stop treating me like a civilian. Iwork for Severin Holdings. Ilive inside systems designed to survive attackers. I’m not naïve.”
Alaric’s gaze sharpened. “Then don’t be naïve about what you just became.”
The words hit.
