Too open.
The instant he realized he wasn’t alone, his gaze locked ontome—ontous. Recognition flared, sharp and immediate, followed by something like panic.
“No.”
The word slammed into me without sound.
“Get out!Leave! You can’t be here!”
I felt his fear spike—not for himself, but outward. Protective. Desperate. He surged toward the connection with everything he had left, shoving hard, violently, like hands to my chest.
“They’re watching. You have to—”
The link collapsed.
Not gently. Not naturally.
Heslammedit shut.
The backlash threw me back into myself, breath ripping from my lungs as if I’d been struck. The green vanished. The pressure vanished. The echo of him lingered only long enough to leave my hands shaking.
I staggered, vision tunneling.
His arms wrapped around me from behind, pulling me back against his chest with a gentleness that seemed at odds with everything I knew about him. I felt his chin brush the top of my head. Felt the ragged edge of his breathing against my hair.
“He pushed you out,” Ryzen said hoarsely, already knowing.
I clutched at his shoulder, heart hammering. “He’s alive,” I whispered. “He’s trapped. And he’s terrified we’ll follow. Worried we’ll be caught too.”
Through our bond, something shifted.
The desperate loneliness I’d sensed in him earlier—it was still there. But now it had direction. Purpose. Need focused into a single, searing point.
Her.
Me.
Him.
He needed my light. My guidance. Neededme—not just as a tool to reach his brother, not just as a student to train, but as…
I turned in his arms.
His eyes were wild. Cracked open. Vulnerable in a way I’d never seen from the lethal, controlled Verya male who kept the world at dagger’s length.
“Selena.” My name on his lips was a warning and a plea.
I kissed him.
The contact shattered something between us. His hands came up to cradle my face—claws careful against my cheeks—and he kissed me back with a desperation that stole my breath. Deep. Needy. Full of want that had been building since the first moment our minds touched.
Through our bond, I tasted the echo of Zirene’s desperate pulling. The aftermath of his shadow’s possessive rage. And beneath it, Ryzen’s need—raw and aching and finally, finally allowed expression.
He pulled back first, breathing ragged, eyes too bright to hide what churned behind them.
“This is…” He swallowed hard. “This wasn’t supposed to happen. I didn’t think we would find him.”
He’s alive,” I said softly. “Youfeltit. We saw him.”
