The Mate I Never Chose
His scars, those jagged maps of bioluminescence that traced his shoulders and throat, glowed with a faint, rhythmic pulse—a sickly, pulsating cyan that mirrored the heartbeat of the peak itself.
"Stop touching it," Arung’s voice rasped. He was ten paces back, huddled under a thick, thermal-rated blanket, his breath blooming in white plumes. He was still clutching his side, where the bandage was soaked through with a dark, stubborn stain. "You’re acting like the mountain is a lover. It’s a rock, Rangga. A very large, very inconvenient rock."