"Yes."
"He'll be rough," Knox says matter-of-factly. "Alpha claiming usually is."
I don't know what to say to that. Knox helping me understand what's coming feels surreal given how hard he fights his own bond with me.
"After tonight you'll wear his mark permanently. Everyone will see it."
The claiming bite. On my shoulder where everyone can see it. Public declaration that I'm Caspian's mate.
"I know."
"No going back after this."
"I know."
He looks at me for a long moment, then nods once and disappears back into whatever shadows he haunts. No lecture about being careful. No warnings about making the right choice. Just facts delivered in his usual blunt way.
The medical building door opens and Caspian walks out with bandages on his ribs, cuts cleaned, bruises darkening across his jaw and cheekbone. Whole and alive and victorious.
He stops when he sees me waiting. "Nova."
I cross the space between us. "Your quarters. Tonight."
A low sound in his chest, barely audible. "You're sure?"
"I'm sure." I look at him directly, no hesitation. "Claim me."
The words hang in the air between us: promise, surrender, choice.
He reaches out and touches my face gently despite the violence he just displayed. "I'll come for you after dark so be ready."
"I will be."
He holds my gaze for a long moment, then turns and walks toward the Alpha wing. I watch him go and feel the inevitability of it settling in my bones.
Tonight everything changes.
The sun is setting when I return to my dorm. Lily is getting ready to leave for Emma's and takes one look at my face.
"You okay?" she asks.
"Yeah. Just need some space tonight."
She studies me for a moment, then nods. "Text me if you need anything."
After she leaves, I shower and change into clean clothes, trying to calm my racing heart.
Around nine pm, there's a knock on my door.
I open it and Caspian is standing there. Changed clothes, bandages still visible under his shirt. There's a tension in him that wasn't there before, something coiled and barely held.
"Ready?" His voice is rough.
I grab my key and step into the hallway, closing the door behind me.
This is really happening. I'm walking to Caspian's quarters to let him claim me, to complete the bond that's been pulling at me for weeks. My hands are shaking but it's not fear. It's anticipation.
"Yes," I say.
