The words hit me like lightning, like coming home, like every prayer I never knew I was making. My chest swells with something too big to contain, and I have to close my eyes against the intensity of it.
“Say it again,” I whisper, desperate to hear it, to believe it’s real.
“I love you.” Her voice is stronger now, more certain. “I love your stubborn refusal to give up. I love how you see the best in everyone, even when they don’t deserve it. I love your terrible jokes and your protective instincts and the way you make me feel like I’m worth saving.”
I open my eyes to find her watching me with an expression so tender it takes my breath away. “You are worth saving,” I tell her fiercely. “You’re worth everything.”
When I kiss her, it tastes of salt and promises and the kind of desperate hope that comes from finding something you didn’t know you were looking for. She kisses me back with equal fervor, her hands fisting in my shirt like she’s afraid I might disappear.
“I’m terrified,” she admits against my lips.
“So am I,” I confess. “But I’d rather be terrified with you than safe without you.”
She nods, tears finally spilling over as she leans down to kiss me.
“Beta?”
We break apart, Lithia scrubbing at the tears on her face before she turns around. Levi stands in the doorway, hisexpression carefully neutral though something raw flickers in his yellow eyes as he takes in our intimate position.
“Seriously?” I growl.
“What is it, Levi?” Lithia asks, straightening but not moving away from my bedside.
“Ryker’s holding a debriefing in an hour.” His gaze flicks to me. “He doesn’t expect you to be there.”
“Appreciate the concession.”
Levi’s attention returns to Lithia, and for a moment his professional mask slips. “I’m glad you’re both safe.”
My eyebrows rise. He actually seems genuine.
“Thanks, Levi,” Lithia says gently.
Levi nods, something settling in his expression—acceptance, maybe, or resignation. “I’ll see you both later.”
After he leaves, Lithia helps me get dressed. The medical bay is quiet except for the soft sounds of other patients recovering—several of the rescued prisoners are being treated for malnutrition, poisoning, and injuries.
“He’s taking this better than I expected,” I observe as we prepare to leave.
“He’s a good wolf,” Lithia says quietly. “He’ll find his own path.”
“And us? What’s our path?”
She stops, turning to face me fully. The woman who stands before me isn’t the guarded Beta who’s kept everyone at arm’s length for years. This is someone who’s chosen to be vulnerable, to risk everything for the possibility of something real.
“Forward,” she says simply. “Together.”
It’s not a claiming ceremony or a grand declaration. But it’s enough.
It’s everything.
Chapter
Twenty-Seven
KIER
Iwake to find Lithia gone from her bed, her scent still warm on the sheets but her presence absent. For a moment, panic claws at my chest—old instincts from three years of captivity screaming that she’s been taken, that this peace was just another dream.
