It didn't take long for the Renegades to falter. One tried to run. Mallack stopped him with a spear to the back. One after the other, he cut them down until none were left standing.
When it was done, Mallack stood at the center of it. Even blood-soaked, his jaw clenched, and his hair plastered to his temple, he was a sight to behold. His chest rose and fell in shallow, ragged pulls. His head turned to survey the area, and our eyes locked.
With a cry, I ran forward, the world blurring as I crossed the distance. I didn’t care that I was barefoot. That I was crying. That my body ached and my hands trembled. I justran.
Straight into him.
He caught me with a grunt, wrapped his arms around me like he needed me to hold him up as much as I needed him to be real.I buried my face in his chest, not caring about the blood or the dirt.
“I thought you were dead,” I whispered.
"Reckless seffy, you should have run," he pressed out in a choked voice.
“I couldn't leave,” I said, choking down the wordyou, before it left my mouth.
He held me tighter at my words, like the very sound of them undid something inside him. His hand slid up my back, fingers threaded into my hair, pressing me closer. I didn’t resist. I didn’t want to. His heart thundered against my cheek, wild and raw and real.
We stood in the silence, the ruin of battle curling around us like smoke, and yet in his arms, I was anchored and felt nothing but heat. When I tilted my head back to look at him, he was already watching me.
His face—bloodied, bruised, so achingly familiar—was only inches from mine. His breath still came in sharp bursts, but his focus was steady. Consuming. His gaze dropped to my lips, and mine to his. And just like that, the air between us changed. Became charged with an electricity that threatened to set us on fire.
Time slowed. The pain in my limbs dulled. The world blurred at the edges, all of it falling away as the space between our mouths dwindled to a whisper. His grip tightened on my waist. I felt his nose graze mine, and the breath we shared seemed no longer enough.
He was going to kiss me.
And I was going to let him.
Even without memories. Even without knowing what we were or what we’d been, I wanted it. I wantedhim.The way my body ached for the feel of him, the way his name sat on my tongue like a vow.
Our lips were so close, only the width of a feather separated us, when a sound broke through.
A groan.
Pained. Faint. Familiar.
Our moment shattered like glass as Mallack tensed.
He closed his eyes and pressed his forehead to mine for the barest second, breathing out through clenched teeth, before stepping back.
I turned with him, breath still uneven, and spotted one of the dragoons trying to sit up, his hand slick with blood as he reached for his sword. Another, further out, stirred in the grass with a low moan.
“They’re waking,” I said, swallowing hard. “Some of them.”
He nodded once and limped forward, his movements slower now, deliberate. “We need to get them upright. Stop the bleeding where we can.”
Together, we moved quickly. I tore strips from the tent lining for bandages, while Mallack knelt beside each fallen warrior, checking pulses, calling names, wiping blood from faces with a gentleness that didn’t fit a male who’d just butchered dozens of Renegades.
“Korran,” he barked, shaking his second in command by the shoulder. “Wake up.”
Korran groaned, coughed, and finally blinked up at him. “You’re alive?”
Mallack grunted. “Barely. Don’t make me regret it.”
I passed him a length of cloth, and we worked in unison. My hands shook at first. This wasn’t my world, or at least I didn't think so. Not blood and wounds and battlefields, but it didn’t matter. They needed help, and for whatever reason,Ihad been spared.
I recognized a dragoon with a gash in his leg as one who sat near me last night when we sat around the fire, laughing. I pressed fabric to the wound, whispering words of comfort.
Mallack glanced over at me with an unreadable expression on his face. But something in his eyes—something fierce and tender—settled the storm inside me. We didn’t speak about what had almost happened. About the kiss that hovered between us still like unshed breath.
