Papers lie scattered across her desk where we’d mapped patrol routes mere minutes ago. I touch one absently, trailing fingers over territories and boundaries. Such arbitrary lines. As if the forest and mountain recognize human claims. As if what burns between us would respect such boundaries.
My resolve breaks.
I track her scent through Haven’s Heart’s winding corridors, ignoring the alarmed glances from passing council members. Let them stare. Let them whisper. My wolf demands its mate, and I no longer possess the strength to deny it.
Her trail leads to private quarters in the eastern wing. I pause at her door, fist raised, giving her one final chance to maintain the distance we agreed upon. Then I knock, the sound echoing like thunder in the silent hallway.
No answer. But her heartbeat races on the other side—I hear it clearly, matching the frantic rhythm of my own.
“Ember.” My voice emerges as a growl more than a word. “Open the door.”
Silence stretches between us until finally, the lock clicks. The door opens just enough to reveal her face, composed despite the chaos I scent beneath her careful mask.
“You shouldn’t be here.” Her voice holds no conviction.
“Yet here I stand.” I push the door wider, forcing her to step back. “We need to finish what we started in your office.”
I enter without invitation, closing the door behind me. Her quarters reflect her nature—practical furniture interspersed with unexpected wildness. A ceremonial knife is displayed alongside diplomatic medals. Ancestral fire panther statues beside formal council documents. Two natures fighting for dominance, just as two aspects war within her blood.
“There’s nothing to finish.” She crosses her arms, creating a barrier between us. “What happened was a momentary lapse. It won’t be repeated.”
“Momentary.” I stalk closer, watching her pulse jump in her throat. “Is that what you call this fire between us? This bond that strengthens each time we’re together?”
“Call it what you want.” She backs away until a writing desk stops her retreat. “Attraction. Biology. Inconvenient chemistry. It doesn’t change our reality.”
“Our reality is this.” I gesture to the invisible current connecting us. “Not your council. Not my pack. This pull between us that you’re still denying.”
“I’m not denying it exists.” Her eyes flash, gold flecks brightening with anger. “I’m accepting we can’t act on it.”
“Can’t or won’t?” I move closer still, until barely a handspan separates us. “There’s a difference, Ambassador.”
“Both.” She tilts her chin upward, defiant despite her obvious response to my proximity. “I have duties to Haven’s Heart. You have obligations to your clan. We lead people who depend on us.”
“People who may soon be at war,” I remind her. “What then? Will your duties matter when our people slaughter each other?”
“That’s why we must focus on the alliance.” She sidesteps, creating distance. “The bear threat gives us the opportunity to unite our forces. If we let this—” she gestures between us “—distract us, we risk everything.”
“Tell me, then.” I track her movement, unwilling to surrender the chase. “List all the reasons we should continue denying what the Moon Goddess herself has ordained.”
Her jaw tightens. “Fine. My people view wild shifters as primitive threats. Your pack considers civilized shifters corrupted weaklings. I represent Haven’s Heart’s diplomatic corps. You lead a clan that still threatens our settlements.”
“Is that all?” I ask, unimpressed.
“We come from different worlds.” Her voice rises. “I was raised with books and council meetings. You were taught tohunt and fight. I believe in negotiation. You value strength above all else.”
“You know nothing of what I value,” I growl.
“I know you’d choose death over compromise.” Her words strike with precision. “You said it yourself in the forest. You’d rather die than change.”
“And you?” I challenge. “Would you surrender your identity so easily? Abandon everything you’ve fought to become?”
She flinches as if struck. “That’s not fair.”
“None of this is fair.” I move forward again, closing the distance she created. “The Goddess rarely concerns herself with fairness when selecting mates.”
“That’s my point.” She presses back against the desk. “Why would she bind together two people who cannot possibly coexist? It makes no sense.”
“Perhaps,” I suggest, my voice dropping lower, “that’s exactly why she chose us. Because what makes no sense to you makes perfect sense to her.”
