“Connection. Trust. The way you look at me like I’m the most fascinating thing you’ve ever seen.” She was blushing now, she could feel it, but she refused to look away. “The way your hands shake when you touch me, like you’re holding something precious. The way you promised to never lie to me and then kept that promise, even when the truth was devastating.”
“Those are just?—”
“Those are everything,” she said fiercely. “Those are the things I’ve been dreaming about my whole life without knowing what to call them.”
She took a breath.
“I don’t know what the future holds. I don’t know if we’ll survive the jungle or reach your friends or build the kind of life I’m imagining. But I know that I want to find out. I know that I want to find out with you.”
He stared at her for a long moment. Then, slowly, the tension in his body eased. The fierce protectiveness in his eyes didn’t fade, but it shifted—became something warmer, something that looked almost like hope.
“One more day,” he said. “We prepare tomorrow, and then we leave.”
“Together.”
“Together.” He pulled her closer, and she went willingly, pressing her face against his chest and breathing in the warm, wild scent of him. “Whatever happens, Liora. Whatever we face out there. I will do everything in my power to give you the life you deserve.”
“I know.” She wrapped her arms around his waist and held on tight. “That’s why I trust you.”
They stayed in the shower until the water ran cool, then dried each other with rough towels. Something had changed between them. The hesitation that had marked their previous interactions was gone, replaced by an easy familiarity that felt like it had been years in the making rather than days.
They dressed quickly. Baylin collected his weapons and prepared to leave, but paused at the door.
“Be careful,” he said. “Don’t do anything to alert ARIS that we’re planning something.”
“I’ll be very boring,” she promised.
“Good.” He gave her one last long look, then disappeared through the door.
She spent the next few hours in the library, selecting books to bring with her, trying to balance practical knowledge against the limited space she would have for personal items. Despite the seriousness of the situation, she couldn’t suppress her excitement. Tomorrow, she would leave. Tomorrow, she would see the world she’d only ever read about.
Tomorrow, she would begin the life she was meant to live.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Later that evening Baylin found Liora in the greenhouse. She was gathering produce to dry for the journey as well as collecting her most precious seeds.
“You’ll miss this place,” he said quietly.
“My greenhouse? Yes.” Her face was peaceful. “But hopefully I can build something new.”
“With me?” he asked, still not quite able to believe it.
“With you.”
And then she kissed him.
He meant to keep it light, to maintain the careful distance he’d been preserving for days, the thin barrier of restraint that kept his beast from doing something irreversible. But when she rose onto her toes and pressed her mouth to his—soft and curious and impossibly trusting—every rational thought in his head scattered like ash in the wind.
“Baylin.” His name on her lips was an invitation.
He answered by cupping her face in his hands and deepening the kiss.
The greenhouse surrounded them with humid warmth and the green scent of growing things. Somewhere nearby, Pip chirped once and then fell silent—perhaps understanding, perhaps simply accepting. He didn’t care. All he cared about was the feeling of her body pressed against his, her small hands gripping his forearms, and her breath catching when he traced his tongue along the seam of her lips.
She opened for him without hesitation.
Mate, his beast rumbled. Ours. Finally ours.
