Arin
The wind had grown warmer.
Or maybe it was just me.
I pressed a trembling hand to my chest, but my pulse refused to steady. It raced under my skin like wildfire, every beat louder than the last, every breath pulling heat through my body as though I had swallowed the sun.
What was happening to me?
I had come to the garden to escape, to hide from the image of Roan and Nova wrapped around each other like something sacred. I had wanted to cry. To scream. But now… now I couldn't even think.
My skin felt too tight. My lips dry. The air was thick, almost syrupy, clinging to me in a way that made me feel seen… watched. Even in the solitude of the garden.
The roses were too red.
The moon, too bright.
And everything smelled sweet. Too sweet.
I stumbled forward, one hand brushing against the ivy-covered archway as I moved deeper into the hedges. My legs felt… weak. But not in a way I recognized. It wasn't sorrow this time—it was something else. Something wrong. My body didn't belong to me anymore.
"Steady," I whispered urgently to myself. "Breathe."
But my breath came in shaky gasps, my fingers trembling.
Why did the breeze feel like a touch?
Why did the ground seem to tilt beneath my feet?
A branch snapped behind me.
Voices.
Low. Male. Unfamiliar.
I froze.
Their laughter spilled into the stillness like oil in water, breaking whatever fragile grip I still had on my senses.
No.
No, I couldn't let anyone see me like this.
Not now.
I turned and ran—deeper into the garden maze, my feet barely finding their path, heart hammering against my ribs like it was trying to escape. The silk of my robe caught on a thornbush, ripping, but I didn't stop. I couldn't.
The voices came again—closer now.
Were they following me?
Or was I imagining it?
Everything was melting around the edges—colors too vivid, shadows too long. The stone pathway blurred, and the scent of honeysuckle and crushed petals made my head swim. Every breath made my skin more sensitive, every step sent tingling shivers up my thighs, through my spine, my skin.
My stomach twisted.
This wasn't grief.
This wasn't heartbreak.
Something was wrong with me.
I stumbled into a clearing, chest heaving, and gripped the edge of the marble fountain to keep from falling. The water shimmered like glass, moonlight dancing on its surface, and for a moment, I thought I saw my reflection ripple. Eyes wide, pupils blown, mouth parted in a soundless plea.
Heat pooled low in my belly.
I bit down on my lip so hard I tasted blood.
What is happening to me?
I dropped to my knees beside the fountain, the stone cool against my burning skin. My head swam with thoughts that weren't mine. Hands on skin. Lips on a throat. Teeth. Heat. Craving.
I pressed my palms against my temples. Stop. Stop it.
Had I taken something that did not agree with me?
Was I sick??
A voice echoed through the hedges.
"Did she come this way?"
I scrambled back to my feet, nearly slipping, and ran again—this time without direction, just instinct. Just fear. The garden blurred into shadow and silver light, and all I could think was don't let them find me like this.
I did not know what was happening but I had a feeling that if those voices found me I would be in serious danger… I needed to get away.
However, no matter how fast I tried to stumble away, no matter how far. I could hear the voices following just behind me. Seemingly inescapable…
To make matters worse, the moon seemed to have almost disappeared underneath the canopy of trees, leaving me running in almost complete darkness.
Then i ran smack into what felt like a solid wall of muscle.
Roan
It started with heat. Subtle at first, like the flicker of a flame behind my ribs. I thought it was just tension. Residue from the fight with myself. With Nova. With what I had allowed to unfold tonight.
But then it pulsed.
Hot. Low. Wrong.
I rubbed at the back of my neck and poured a glass of wine from the decanter by my desk, hoping to numb it. To slow the humming beneath my skin.
The wine was bitter. Not the usual vintage. I barely tasted it as it slid down my throat. The second swallow was heavier. The third, the third lit me from the inside.
My head dropped forward, elbows on my knees. A flush spread down my neck, and I couldn't breathe without imagining a scent, her scent. Wild rain and summer wind. Something primal coiled low in my gut, and when I shut my eyes, I felt it.
A call.
Not a voice, but a pull.
Faint at first.
Then undeniable, inescapable..
I staggered to my feet, barely registering how I reached the door. My hands shook as I gripped the frame, trying to steady the storm raging beneath my skin. Something was wrong. This wasn't desire, it was instinct. And it wasn't mine alone. Something, someone was out there, waiting. They needed me.
My feet moved before my thoughts could catch up. Down the hall. Past the guards who I barely noticed as they bowed. Out into the night.
The palace gardens swallowed me whole. The breeze tasted like temptation. The trees reached like witnesses.
I didn't know where I was going.
I just knew.
The moon had vanished behind thick clouds. The hedges closed in around me. The deeper I walked, the louder the blood in my ears became. The scent hit me first, crushed rose petals and something sharper. Not perfume. Skin.
I slowed.
My breath caught.
Someone was here.
Someone breathing fast. Unsteady.
I stepped through a curtain of vines into a shadowed clearing and froze.
My body moved of its own accord. She stumbled into my arms like she'd been waiting. Like she'd been calling to me all along.
Our hands found each other, hungry, trembling, uncertain. My lips brushed the edge of her jaw, and her breath hitched. She tasted like rain. Like something I should've never touched but couldn't stop craving.
I didn't care who she was.
She didn't ask who I was.
We were fire and shadow. Smoke and heat.
Her fingers tangled in my shirt. My hands buried in her hair.
A groan escaped me. low, ragged as her lips parted against mine.
Every thought I'd ever had, every memory, every weight of duty melted away.
There was only her.
Only now.
Only this ache between us, frantic and desperate, like we were the last two souls in the world.
I don't know how long we clung to each other. Minutes. A lifetime.
It wasn't love.
It wasn't tenderness.
It was instinct. Wild. Unforgiving. Beautiful.
And beneath it all, something ancient whispered through our blood.
Mate.