She tried to sit up, winced, then a look of confusion crossed her face as she noticed the absence of the pain that should have been there. Her hand went to her shoulder, fingers trembling as they found the raised, intricate pattern of the mark. "What did you do?"
I didn't stand. Didn't move from my chair. I made myself smaller, vulnerable, letting her see the full extent of my transgression.
"I refused to lose you."
She stared at the mark on her shoulder, her fingers tracing the patterns that now extended down her arm. The reality of it was sinking in, and I could feel her shock and confusion through our connection.
When she looked up at me again, there was no rage in her eyes. Only a deep, searching uncertainty, and something that might have been wonder.
"The debris from the explosion," I said, the words coming out in a rush, a desperate need to make her understand. "You were bleeding out. Internal trauma, organ damage. The med-kit was useless. The claiming bite was the only way to save you. I know what I've taken from you. I know what I've made you. But the thought of you dying was..." I stopped, swallowed hard against the knot in my throat. "Unacceptable."
She was quiet for a long moment, her hand moving from the bite mark to trace the new patterns that decorated her skin. I could feel her through the bond now, a warm, bright presence at the edge of my consciousness. Her confusion, her fear, but underneath it all, something else. Something that made my chest tight with a hope I had no right to feel.
"You claimed me," she said finally. It wasn't a question. It was a statement of fact.
"Yes."
"Without asking."
"Yes."
She lifted her arm, studying the intricate cobalt lines that now marked her as mine. "These are..." she began, then stopped, searching for words.
"My sigils," I finished quietly. "The claiming bite doesn't just heal—it marks you. Changes you. Makes you..." I couldn't finish the sentence.
"Yours," she said, her voice barely a whisper.
She studied my face, and I let her see everything—the guilt, the desperation, the raw, possessive need that had driven me to break every rule I had ever lived by. I had spent my life in control, a master of my own will. But with her, all of that had crumbled to dust.
I rose from the chair slowly, closing the distance between us until I was standing over her bed. My expression felt wrecked with emotion, every carefully constructed wall I had built around myself lying in ruins at her feet.
"I did it because I love you, Tamsin." The words tore out of me, a confession ripped from the deepest part of my soul. "I broke every rule for you because my life is worthless without you in it."
The silence that followed was more terrifying than any battle I had ever faced. She stared at me, her lips parted in shock, andI realized that the claiming bite—the violation of her choice, the rewriting of her biology—none of that had surprised her as much as those three simple words.
I love you.
I had never said them before. Had never felt them before. Love was a weakness, a variable that could compromise a mission, a vulnerability to be exploited. But standing there, watching the woman who had become my entire universe struggle to process what I had just confessed, I understood that love wasn't a weakness.
It was the only thing that mattered.
She reached up then, her fingers—now marked with delicate cobalt traceries—touched my face. The gesture was so gentle it made my chest ache. Through the bond, I felt her decision before she spoke it.
"Then show me," she whispered, her voice carrying a new strength, a new certainty. "Show me what it means to be yours."
TAMSIN
"Then show me," I whispered, my voice carrying a new strength I didn't recognize. "Show me what it means to be yours."
The words hung between us, a challenge and an invitation.
But he didn't move. Didn't take what I was offering.
"Tamsin." His voice was rough, almost broken. Had he been…crying? "You're still recovering. You need time to?—"
"I need you." I sat up on the bed, the movement fluid and easy in a way that should have been impossible after nearly dying. The claiming bite hadn't just healed me—it had made me stronger. Enhanced. "I can feel what you want through this bond. Stop holding back."
His control cracked. I saw it in the darkening of his red eyes, the jump of the muscle in his jaw.
