LOGINLeah
Ronan stepped out from the trees, followed by Kael and Turk. All three were in their human forms, dressed for travel and combat.
"Guess we were a bit late, but we tried." Kael sighed as he moved to check on the lycans.
"What are you doing here?" I was relieved and confused to see them here.
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KeanuThe musk rolled through my body in a second wave, thicker than the first, and the warmth behind my ears blazed so hot I could feel my skin glowing. The need to touch her hit me like a physical force. Not gentle this time. Not the tentative, wondering reach of someone discovering something new. This was primal. Feral. The dragon beneath my skin surfacing with a possessiveness that rewrote every innocent impulse I'd ever had.I growled. The sound came from deep in my chest, low and resonant, vibrating through the space between us. She stirred against me, her eyes opening, and whatever she saw in my face made her breath catch.I shifted over her. Braced my forearms on either side of her head. Her dark hair fanned across the moss beneath us, and her green eyes locked onto mine with an intensity that told me she felt it too. The second wave. The pull that had no intention of letting either of us rest tonight.Her hands traveled up my sides, her fingers tracing the lines of muscle alo
KeanuA gentle smile spread over her lips. It transformed her face, softened every hard edge she’d been carrying, and for a moment I could see the woman underneath the armor. She was beautiful. Not the kind of beautiful that needed to be announced. The kind that existed quietly, only revealing itself to people who were paying attention.She guided my hands. Showed me where to touch, how to touch, with a patience that made something in my chest crack open. She placed my palm against her breast and I felt her heartbeat hammering beneath my fingers. She showed me how to trace the curve of her waist, the dip of her hip, the places that made her breath catch when I found them. Every reaction she gave me was a lesson I memorized instantly.She laid me back against the soft earth and the moss, and the forest canopy stretched
KeanuNight fell and the forest changed. Tempest said we can’t travel at night and will have to wait until daylight to leave.The canopy blocked most of the starlight, but what filtered through turned everything silver and shadow. The spring beside us caught the glow and held it, changing the water into a ribbon of liquid moonlight. The temperature dropped, the way it does in old forests where the trees hold the cold close to the ground, but I didn’t feel it. The heat beneath my skin was running hotter than it had all day.Tempest had built a small fire. Not with matches. She’d placed her palm against the kindling and it had caught, a flicker of heat that came from her hand like the most natural thing in the world. I’d watched her do it and said nothing. She’d told me to keep her secret and I would. I wondered what she was though.We sat on opposite sides of the fire, the prepared cure cooling in a sealed container between us. The noctis bloom paste had reduced properly. Dark, thick,
Keanu“Why do you need noctis bloom?”I didn’t have a reason to lie. And honestly, looking at her face, I wasn’t sure I could have managed one if I’d tried. Something about her made the usual deflections feel cheap.“My sister is sick. A virus she picked up in a place saturated with dark magic. It’s parasitic. Feeds on her powers. The healers said the noctis bloom can cure it, but it has to be prepared properly.”“Your sister.” She studied me. “You came into a forest full of feral creatures to find a plant for your sister.”“I’d walk into a volcano for my sister.”“That’s either very brav
KeanuThe forest was old.The trees here were massive, their trunks wider than cars, their canopies so dense that the sunlight filtering through looked like it had been chewed up and spit out in thin, golden threads. The undergrowth was thick with ferns and moss that covered everything in a carpet of green so vivid it almost looked fake. The air smelled like wet soil and flowers and something underneath it, something ancient that had no name but made the hairs on my arms stand up.I’d been walking for hours.Cain’s maps were good. He’d marked the likely growth zones for the noctis bloom in red ink, with notes about terrain, water sources, and the “feral supernatural creatures” that populated the deeper part of the forest. His handwriting was surprisingly neat for a man who could crush a skull with one hand. I appreciated the effort. What I didn’t appreciate was the footnote at the bottom of the final map page: Don’t do anything stupid. — CainHelpful.I scratched the back of my ear. T
LeahKeanu met his eyes. Something passed between them. Not spoken but understood. The agreement that had been building since the moment Keanu called Darien about the virus. One stays. One goes.“I’m going to stay with Leah,” Darien said. “You fly to the forest, find the noctis bloom, and bring it back.”Keanu nodded. No hesitation. He’d been waiting for this. He wouldn’t have left before Darien came home, wouldn’t have taken even a single step out of the kingdom without knowing that the man who would die for his sister was at her side. But now Darien was here. And the path was clear.“I’ll find it,” Keanu said. “Take care of her.”“With my life.”
LeahI sighed as I sat next to Anton in the dim light of early morning. Keanu was sleeping on the recliner even though I'd told him he could use my room. He'd refused, insisting on staying
"If you are still needed?" His silver eyes flashed with confusion. "What does that mean? Leah, we are mates. You aren't going to deny that. Not after that kiss. Surely you know—"I reached out and gr
Keanu was sitting up when we entered, looking completely unharmed and far too energetic for someone who'd been unconscious just moments ago. His eyes lit up when he saw me."Leah!" He bounced slightly on the bed. "Did you see me? I was a dragon! An actual dragon! I can feel my dragon side so much b
One of the healers followed me in, launching into a clinical explanation. “We’ve run every test we have. Blood work, scans, toxicology screens. There’s no sign of poison in his system. No physical injury. No virus or infection. His body just shut down.”







