He knew the answer. He just couldn’t say it out loud. Couldn’t admit that maybe Elora had every right to want to hurt him after what he’d done. Back then and now.
But that line of thinking was dangerous. It meant admitting he was wrong, that his suffering didn’t justify what he’d done to her. And if he started down that path, wherewould it end?
No, he’d been pushed too far, broken down too much. Anyone would have snapped eventually. Elora had just been the convenient target for years of rage that should have been hers to begin with.
He clenched his fists harder, forcing himself to focus on something else. Anything else.
It’s her,he repeated to himself, grasping for the earlier rationalization like a lifeline.It’s because I want her. That’s normal. That’s... that’s not what Gerard did to me.
But the words felt more hollow now, after Violette’s probing questions. After being forced to confront, even obliquely, what he’d actually done.
Even as he said it, he wasn’t sure he believed it anymore. But believing it was still better than the alternative.
It had to be.
Chapter 24
Elora
Elora sat on a log, her blood still boiling from the fight. The adrenaline coursing through her veins was intoxicating, her senses heightened and raw. She could still feel the sting of Symond’s blood on her tongue, the taste of it sharp and metallic, echoing through her like a hunger she could barely suppress.
He’d pushed her too far. He thought he could shock her into shifting. And he’d been wrong. The crackle of the energy, the weak charge he’d tried to use, it only added to her frustration.
Her claws flexed against the log beneath her, the bark scraping painfully against her fingertips as if it were reminding her of the power she barely kept in check. She could feel the wildness inside her, that feral side she fought to control. The temptation to give in to it—just for a moment, just to feel the rush again—was almost too much. The thought of her teeth sinking into something again, of tearing through flesh, of hearing that scream…
She shook her head sharply, forcing herself to take a deep breath. She couldn't let that take over. Not when she still had to figure out why Viliam had saved her again.
Her thoughts kept circling back to him.Why?The memories they shared, however brief, were enough to make her feelsomething. Something familiar. And it shook her to her core.But why come back now?
The distant sound of the wind through the trees did little to calm her mind. The deep, gnawing hunger inside her only seemed to get worse. What was wrong with her? She wanted to believe she could control it, but...
Her thoughts were interrupted by the distant, familiar sound of footsteps crunching over the ground. She glanced up, her golden-ringed eyes narrowing at the figure approaching.
Even in the dark, she knew it was Rell—the way he moved, confident, that typical relaxed stride.
He sat beside her on the log, close enough that their shoulders nearly touched.
“I shouldn’t have pushed you back there,” he said, his voice low, not quite apologetic but close. “About the nightglider. I didn’t know it was—whatever it was.”
Elora barely heard him. With him this close, her senses felt flooded. The warmth of his body pulsed beside her, every breath he took sending heat into the air between them. The scent of him—smoke, steel—clung to her thoughts like fog. Pheromones? Instinct? Whatever it was, it tugged at her, sharp and sudden and utterly confusing.
She wanted to tear into him. But not like she’d wanted to tear into Symond.
This was something else.
Her eyes locked onto him, her pupils narrowing. She watched the line of his throat as he swallowed, the tension in his jaw, the faint scruff shadowing his face. She wasn’t sure what she neededfrom him in that moment—comfort, control, closeness, blood—but it hit her all at once, a low, dangerous ache curling deep in her gut.
Rell turned his head, catching her staring. His eyes met hers, dark and steady. He didn’t flinch. Didn’t look away. If anything, he seemed to lean in slightly, drawn into whatever was pulsing between them.
She pressed her palm to her shoulder and shocked herself. The jolt ripped through her body with brutal clarity, and she gasped, teeth clenched, claws retracting as her muscles shuddered and twisted. Her body forced its way back into human form, leaving her weak and shaking.
He watched her carefully for a moment, then glanced away. “I should’ve stepped in sooner. With Symond. That got out of hand.”
To her surprise, Elora laughed. “No. I’m glad you didn’t. I needed that.”
But even as she said it, her mind twisted with the memory of Symond’s weight on her, pinning her, the hatred in his eyes. Not just tonight but before. The memory surged, raw and vivid—the night at the Institute.You deserve this. Every second of it. You took years from me. I’m just giving you a taste of what that felt like.
She blinked hard. Her fingers clenched into her thighs, nails biting into the worn fabric of her pants.
