It threatens to roll me, to swallow me whole?—
But fuck that.
Kael moves. Not fast. Slowly. Like he’s waiting to see if I’ll bolt. Or maybe even stab him.
Honestly? I consider both.
I cross my arms, shoving all my hurt and rage behind a brittle shield of indifference. “Well?”
His lips part. He hesitates before he finally says, “I wasn’t looking for a mate.”
The words punch through me. A direct hit, right in the gut. My stomach twists, nausea clawing its way up my throat.
Didn’t look for me.
Didn’t want me.
I force my spine to steel, even as my entire fucking soul crumples in on itself. “Fuck you,” I say, my voice steady, my tone deadly. “Seriously, go suck a thorny Glowranth dick and choke on it.”
Kael winces.
Good.
And yet he still doesn’t backtrack. Doesn’t apologise. But for the first time since I met him, he actually looks uncertain. The warrior I’ve come to expect—the one always in control, always put-together, always unshakable—is gone. And I don’t know what to do with the male standing in front of me, fumbling through his words like he doesn’t know how to hold onto them.
“I was born into service,” he says, his voice rough. “I was meant to die in service. My loyalty was to Prince Aelith. Only him.”
I sneer, shaking my head. “Oh, fuck right off.” I don’t understand that kind of devotion, that level of self-sacrifice. I know I should respect it, should see this as some kind of cultural divide?—
But it’s so damn hard when it’s my life he’s talking about.
Kael exhales sharply, his nostrils flaring. “The moment I felt you on Terrafeara,” he admits, “I fought my instinct every day not to find you. Not to claim you. Not to make you mine.”
My dick should not stir at that. At the possessive gleam in his eyes. At the absolute conviction in his voice. He doesn’t deserve my perfect cock showing any interest.
“I had to forcefully stop myself,” he continues. “Neither my shame nor my promise to serve Prince Aelith would have allowed it.”
I bark out a bitter laugh. “That’s the whole ‘my word is my bond’ shit, right?”
Kael nods once.
“And your bond to me?” I snap. “That’s worth jack shit?”
His expression darkens, his markings pulsing wildly. “Not anymore,” he says, the words weighted.
My blood runs cold.
Because suddenly, I remember?—
The bond.
His words before I passed out. He started the bond. He saved my life. Is that what it took?
My stomach clenches. “Because the process has started?”
“Yes,” Kael confirms. “Saving your life was one stage. Another was absorbing your blood.”
Jesus, fuck.
