His nestqueen in his arms. His clanbrothers gathered close. The warm light of home and love fierce enough to make the darkness feel smaller.
Odelm pressed his forehead harder against Selena’s, breathing her in.
Not clingy,he reminded himself.
But when she held on like he was the only solid ground in a storm—when the whole clan held on, circled around her like planets around their sun—maybe holding on wasn’t the same as clinging.
Maybe it was just love, refusing to let go.
And maybe that was exactly what all of them needed tonight.
8
Zirene
The gazebo sat at the edge of the garden like a promise half-forgotten.
Zirene found her there, short silver hair catching moonlight, the soft curve of her belly pressing against the shawl she’d wrapped around her shoulders. Lunkai painted everything in shades of pearl and shadow—the climbing vines, the stone bench, the female who’d somehow become his entire universe.
She didn’t turn when he approached. Didn’t need to.
His shadow moved before he did, slipping across the grass to curl around her ankles, her calves, the familiar shape of her that it knew better than he knew himself. The darkness was possessive in ways Zirene had long stopped trying to control. It wanted her close. Always close.
So did he.
The night air carried the scent of active night plant-life and something sweeter beneath—Selena’s own fragrance, that impossible blend of exotic flowers and warmth that had imprinted itself on his very soul. He breathed it in as he steppedinto the gazebo, letting the familiar comfort of it settle into his bones.
She leaned back into him before his arms even found her waist.
“I could feel you watching from the doorway.” Her voice was soft. Tired in ways that had nothing to do with sleep.
“I wasn’t watching.” His chin found its place atop her head, his paws spreading across the swell of her belly where their daughter grew. Another impossible miracle that he’d never expected to have—again. “I was memorizing.”
Selena’s laugh was quiet, barely a breath. “That’s worse.”
Perhaps it was.
But tomorrow he would board theShadowClawand fly toward a war that might swallow him whole, and he needed this image carved into the marrow of his being. His Nova, bathed in moonlight, safe within the circle of his arms. The weight of her against his chest. The steady pulse of her life force through their bond—that blazing gold that anchored him when nothing else could.
His Nova. His light in the darkness—even his own.
His shadow tightened around them both, a living cocoon of darkness that blocked out everything beyond this moment.
Things weren’t supposed to be like this.
The thought crept in unbidden, familiar as an old wound. He was supposed to be Royak’s right paw, his brother’s shadow in truth—the weapon wielded by a wiser hand. Instead, Royak served as his. The Aldawi Sovereign, a title Zirene had never wanted, had never prepared for, thrust upon him by the cruel machinations of fate.
Ruling hadn’t made life easier. Only lonelier.
Until she’d returned to him. And now, he was leaving her…
“You’re thinking too loudly.” Selena’s fingers traced patterns across his forearm, her touch grounding him in the present.
“I have much to think about.”
“You always do.” She tilted her head back, ocean-deep eyes finding his in the darkness. “But tonight isn’t for strategy or war councils or the fate of the empire. Tonight is ours.”
Ours.
