n in th

sper. A hunger she

slick with sweat, her nightshirt clinging to her back like it had melt

somethi

remembered even if

d nothing to ease the heat that crawled beneath her skin. Her chest heaved, an

barely audible. "

present. Pacing, circlin

ng

body realized it had no mate, no tether, no claim. And now, surrounded by rogue te

made things worse. The friction, the pressure-it sen

ter. Her heart pound

wasn't in

've helped.

him. Smoke and pine and something wild and male. It clung to

ying to suppress the ache gathering at the base of h

't asked

n't wan

ot here. N

. It only cared about survival. About instinct.

ip until she

n, voice cracking. "I wo

ut at the emptiness. As if the

behind her, casting restless

p inside her-the

flame. A hung

kind of heat tha

he kind th

nd day w

ow in her belly like a storm building pressure. Every breath scraped ag

n there

a

and clinging to everything. She could smell him even before he entered a room. Earth. Smoke. Ash.

lope of his shoulder, or the way his hair fell messily over his forehea

d hersel

air inside the c

his chest, silhouetted against the fading

wrong," he

tely regretted it. "You think?" He

hed her with that calm int

r palms, trying to breathe through the ache that h

es trigger heat faster. No pack, no m

uel either. Just facts. Like he was giving he

hen leave," she rasped. "Go outside.

N

ed like a pun

snapped u

eated. Stead

on't get to stand there like some-some hero

to be a hero,"

at are y

"I'm refusing to let yo

now what to

ver chosen t

t her worst-raw and shaking a

n her chest. The ache in her spine. The gnawing hung

ot closing the distance between th

ispered, though her voice

"That's why I'm not

just stared at him-this rogue who off

his s

him

that was wors

eant he saw

didn't t

ght, sh

ome with sound or tears-but with s

ody felt too tight, too sensitive, too alive. Her back arched off the makeshift bed of p

e hearth had l

he bu

ever. Not

m n

physical-something older, clawin

awake now. Pa

ugh her core, but it was no use. It was like trying to dam a river

e was

a

t before him, arms resting on his knees. His face was carved in shadow

mo

spea

it

ressure on her skin. Her mou

her name. Di

me to leave n

like it hurt him to ask. L

ned toward him, every inch of her trembl

hispered. "

did

ht where he was. A shadow in the corner

catching on the edge of a

was something more brutal. A primal a

eded r

eeded

he ha

could quiet the voice rising in her chest screaming for him. For his

f growled low-not in anger,

didn't c

dn't

s again, meeting h

el the war inside him from across the room-every part of him straining

ss, she w

cl

from the sweat clinging to her skin. She shifted, body ar

saw

strils

ill-he

ing to fall apart, it

inst

esper

oi

lest, kindest thing h

eant he wasn

as h

he a

e sha

ed just one wo

n't wal

craw

ard was a battle between instinct and fear. Her heat pulsed between h

ed-raw an

ands on his knees, unmoving. His golden eyes

him, she hovered-

u mean it," she rasped, v

ed to her mout

u," he said lowly

nee. She didn't know if it was r

yours,"

ed. "But you're not

racked someth

bed into

ched into fist

spered against his neck. "Like

're not

reathed. "I

hen s

... don

s all i

ight against him. His mouth crashed into hers-hot, hungry, not as

ng her in the moment even as her world spun. She clawed at

growled again

to his shoulders

she weighed nothing. The firelight danced across her ba

rever

tered her, it wasn

as d

stat

nd a binding

thrusts with equal hunger, grinding her hips up to match his rhythm

n't ju

s a w

eal

that had lived in her si

ched her like she was made of fury and starli

ing, shuddering, half-

s a p

never be o

t, his body still buried in he

't say

n't ne

e had finally f

them would ev