She was slumped in the back seat, still tenderly rubbing her wrists.
It was like seeing her injuries for the first time-the bruising along her jaw and wrists, the blood at her temple. My heart clenched so hard it hurt.
Guilt sank its claws into me. If I’d been faster, if I’d given in to my instincts earlier, I could’ve stopped them before they laid a hand on her.
The scent of her blood cut through everything else, and for a moment, I thought I’d lose control entirely.
But then she smiled weakly, her voice a hoarse whisper. “Ashar, hi.”
The vice around my heart eased ever so slightly as Ashar nudged at her shoulder, breathing her in to reassure myself she was alive. I hadn’t lost her.
SERAPHINA’S POV
I managed a strained smile that cost more energy than I had. “Thank you for the rescue,” I whispered, my voice frayed from fear and fading adrenaline. “Both of you.”
Ashar whimpered, looking pointedly at my wrists.
It was a little surreal to be in the presence of Kieran’s wolf. He was majestic with his golden brown fur glinting in the light of the setting sun and his dark eyes watching me intently.
“I’m fine,” I said, “I can hold on till we get medical attention.”
It was meant to be reassurance, more for him than me, because I wasn’t even sure I believed it.
My wrists throbbed, the zip tie marks burning under my skin, and my temple was slick with half-dried blood. Every breath made my ribs ache.
Ashar huffed, his breath hot against my cheek, but instead of stepping back, he lowered his head to my shoulder.
I thought it was just more scent-checking, his way of making sure I was still whole. But then his tongue swiped over the cut at my hairline.
“Kieran-” I tried to lean back, but he didn’t stop.
His tongue was rough, warm, and…gods, it shouldn’t have been comforting. And yet, instead of pain, a strange heat spread through the wound. The throbbing dulled until it was gone altogether.
“What the ” I touched my temple. The cut was…closed. No blood, no swelling. Just smooth skin where a gash had been seconds ago.
Before I could process it, Ashar’s head dipped lower, brushing against my jaw, then the bruised skin along my wrists.
His tongue rasped over the marks, each touch sending a pulse of heat through me. The pain ebbed in waves until it was nothing but the ghost of what had been there.
I stared at him, wide-eyed. “You-you healed me.”
He pulled back just enough for me to see the blood-matted fur around his mouth. His eyes locked on mine, dark and intense in a way that made my breath hitch.
Then, without warning, he stepped back-and began to Shift.
Bones cracked, fur receded, muscle and skin twisting until Kieran was kneeling there in the street, naked, chest heaving, eyes still wolf-bright.
“Sera,” he said, my name rough and low like gravel in his throat.
And then he was on me, one hand cupping the back of my head, the other pulling me forward until his mouth crashed against mine.
SERAPHINA’S POV
My mind exploded into a whirlwind.
I should have pushed Kieran away the second his mouth claimed mine-every rational thought in my head screamed that I should.
But there was this inner pull, this traitorous force buried deep in my bones, that made me lean into him instead of away.
It was like my body had been waiting for this, and the relief in his kiss sank into me like sunlight breaking through a storm.
His lips were hot, demanding, almost frantic, and underneath that hunger I could taste the edge of his panic and something wild-sharp, intoxicating.
I could feel the wild thud of his heart, feel his passion in the unrestrained way his mouth moved against mine, in the desperate press of his palm at the back of my neck, in the raw, untamed energy that poured from him.
Without thinking, I responded, unable to help the small, helpless sound that escaped me.
My fingers curled into the warm, hard muscle of his shoulders, clutching like I could anchor him-like I could calm whatever storm was tearing him apart inside.
The heat from his sweat-slicked skin seeped into me, chasing away the lingering cold that had wrapped around me ever since the rogues had taken me.
And the longer his mouth stayed on mine, the further the pain in my body receded.
My ribs didn’t ache so much. The throbbing at my temple faded. The sting in my wrists dulled to nothing but a memory.
It wasn’t just Ashar’s strange healing touch-it was the way Kieran kissed, pouring everything he was into it, leaving no space for fear or pain to survive.
He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me out of the backseat, anchoring me between his body and the car.
He deepened the kiss, angling my head so his lips could move more fully over mine, and a low, guttural sound rumbled in his chest.
His tongue swept against mine, coaxing, claiming, tasting me like he couldn’t get enough.
Heat unfurled low in my stomach, curling and tightening until I was breathless.
Gods help me, I didn’t want to stop.
I matched the urgency of his mouth with my own, letting myself drown in the taste of him
-the mix of adrenaline, sweat, and something simultaneously achingly familiar and deliciously foreign.
My pulse roared in my ears, my fingers sliding from his shoulders to his neck, feeling the strong line of muscle there as I pulled him closer.
His arms tightened around my waist, smashing me harder against the hard lines of his naked body, and I whimpered, my hips canting of their own accord.
And then I felt it.
Hard. Heated. Pressing into my hip.
A jolt of reality crashed through the fog.
I froze, the haze of heat in my veins icing over in an instant.
Kieran’s hand was still at the back of my head, holding me to him like he thought if he let go, I’d disappear.
His breathing was harsh against my lips, and when I broke away, he chased me forward, his mouth brushing mine again like he couldn’t help himself.
“Kieran,” I said sharply, shoving at his chest.
His naked, toned, slick chest.
He resisted for a heartbeat, his grip tight, before finally letting me push him back. His eyes glinted like obsidian jewels, pupils blown wide, lips swollen and wet from our kiss.
He’d just taken on a mini army of rogues and hadn’t looked as…wrecked as he did now.
For a charged moment, neither of us moved. The air sparked between us like a live wire dancing dangerously close to a pool of gasoline. One wrong move and the world would explode around us.
I swallowed tightly, and training my eyes above his shoulders felt like a more challenging task than childbirth.
“Sera.”
The guttural, raw way he called my name, every muscle in his body pulled taut, was the last push back from the cliff’s edge I’d almost dived off of.
“What the hell was that?” I demanded, pressing back against the car in a bid to put space between us.
Kieran’s brow furrowed, like he couldn’t understand why I’d pulled away or my words. “
What do you mean?”
“What do I mean?” My voice sharpened. “I mean that while I’m grateful you rescued me, I’m not going to thank you with my body. We are not doing this. We are divorced, Kieran.
You’ve moved on, I’ve moved on-“
His jaw tightened, his chest rising and falling like he was still coming down from the fight- or the high of the kiss.
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