[MARA]"Stop trying to peek.""I'm not peeking.""Your eyebrows are doing the thing."I didn't know my eyebrows had a thing, but I pressed the blindfold tighter just to end that particular conversation. Rhys's hands stayed warm on my shoulders, steering me down the corridor with more patience than he usually had. From ahead, I caught Caine's low voice and Zane telling someone to move.The carpet changed. Then stairs. Rhys's grip shifted to my elbow."Three more steps," he said.I counted them. A door opened. Warmth hit me—amber, lamp-warm.Rhys pulled the blindfold free.Streamers were everywhere. Red and gold. A banner across the far wall in Zane's neat handwriting: Happy Birthday, Mara. Balloons pressed at the window like they were trying to get out. A low table held my favorite pastries—honey walnut, from the bakery in town I'd mentioned once, months ago. And Caine stood in the middle of everything with his arms folded, looking like he absolutely had not spent an hour blowing up ba
Last Updated : 2026-06-05 Read more