“It’s everything,” I said simply. “But I won’t settle for anything less. You shouldn’t either. No one should.”
She didn’t speak for a long moment. Her gaze drifted down to the space between us, then back up. Something fragile and fierce flickered in her eyes.
“And if I can’t give you that?” she whispered.
“Then I’ll wait,” I said, stepping even closer, “but I won’t settle. Not for scraps. Not for silence. And definitely not for just tonight.”
Silence stretched between us, heavy and sacred.
Finally, she reached for me.
“Then don’t settle,” she said softly, placing my hand over her heart. “Because I’m trying. And if you’re patient with me, I think I can get there.”
My thumb brushed against her collarbone, feeling the quickening of her pulse beneath her skin. “That’s all I need to hear.”
She exhaled slowly, then leaned in, pressing her forehead to mine.
“I’m scared,” she admitted.
“So am I,” I whispered back, anchoring her to me with both hands now. “But I’m not going anywhere.”
Then she kissed me, not with hesitation, but with trembling truth.
And for the first time, I felt herchooseme.
Her mouth found mine with a hunger that didn’t surprise me so much as it consumed me. This wasn’t about slow discovery or tentative touches. It was about connection. Raw and real. A reclaiming of something fragile and new before it could be buried again beneath fear.
The water lapped around us as I pressed her gently against the smooth stone wall of the pool, my hand trailing from her hip to the small of her back. Her fingers dug into my shoulders, her legs parting to pull me closer.
She whispered my name against my lips, and the ardency in her voice made something in me snap.
My control.
My restraint.
All of it.
I lifted her easily, her legs wrapping around my waist, our bodies aligning as if molded for this. And maybe they were.
True mates weren’t supposed to exist anymore.
But gods help me, this didn’t feel like fiction.
It felt like fate.
Meera’s breath hitched as I lifted her higher, her back pressing against the slick stone. Water cascaded in soft rivulets down her skin, pooling where our bodies met. Her thighs tightened around my waist, grounding me in the present moment—one where there was nothing but her. No forest. No thread. No cursed realm with too many eyes.
Just Meera.
My mate.
I kissed her again, this time with no restraint. Her mouth opened under mine, hungry, hot, tasting of want and something dangerously close to surrender. My hands roamed her body like I was memorizing it by touch; over her ribcage, up her sides, cupping the generous curve of her breasts. She gasped into mymouth when my thumbs brushed her nipples, already sensitive from exposure and desire.
“Vareck…” she whispered, arching into my touch.
The sound of her voice—needy, breathless—tore a groan from my throat. I kissed my way down her neck, nipping just beneath her ear where her pulse fluttered like wings. “Say it again,” I murmured against her skin.
“Vareck.”
