The forest swallowed them whole.

Jace didn’t slow until his lungs burned and his legs ached from the sprint. His arm stayed locked around Rhea’s waist, his grip firm but protective, his body moving with animal speed through the trees. Every branch he dodged, every shadow he slipped through, she felt the raw power in him. He ran like the night itself bent to his will.

Rhea’s heart thundered, her cheek pressed against the warm plane of his throat. His scent filled her head—smoke, musk, earth, and something sharper, wilder, that made her pulse race. Every jolt of his stride rubbed her closer against him, her lips brushing skin, and the thought of how close his mouth was, how easy it would be to kiss the place where his pulse throbbed... it stole her breath.

When he finally stopped, it was sudden, his body going tense before sliding into a hollow between rocks and thick ferns. He lowered her gently, his arm loosening but not letting go, as if afraid she might vanish.

His chest heaved with each breath, muscles slick with sweat and streaked with blood, but his golden eyes burned only for her.

“Are you hurt?” His voice was rough, almost breaking. He leaned in, searching her face, his hand brushing against her side where her dress had torn. The touch was feather light, but it set fire to her veins.

“I’m fine,” she whispered, though her voice cracked. Her gaze trailed down his chest, catching on the deep gashes along his arms, the blood trickling across hard muscle. “You’re not.”

He shrugged it off, leaning so close his breath ghosted over her lips. “Don’t worry about me. I’ll bleed, I’ll break, I’ll die... but I won’t let him touch you.”

The words pierced her chest. No one had ever spoken to her like that. Not with such raw conviction. Not even Mira, who loved her, not even the goddess who marked her.

Her hand rose on its own, trembling as she brushed her fingers across his jaw. His stubble scraped against her skin, rough but grounding, and when his eyes closed at her touch, her heart twisted. A low growl rumbled from him, deep and primal, vibrating against her palm.

She should have pulled back. She should have been afraid of what this meant. But before she could think, his mouth crashed into hers.

The kiss wasn’t gentle.

His lips claimed hers with desperate hunger, a storm breaking after years of silence. Heat surged through her body, burning away thought and fear, leaving only sensation. She gasped into him, her fingers clutching his shoulders, nails digging in as if she needed him to keep breathing.

Jace groaned against her mouth, pressing her back against the rock. His body trembled, bloodied but unyielding, as though every fiber of him existed only to hold her closer. His hands gripped her waist, pulling her flush against him, his heat searing through the thin fabric of her dress.

Her mind screamed danger. Dorian. The pack. The laws. But her body betrayed her, arching toward him, chasing the taste of his lips as though she had been starving for him all her life.

The kiss deepened, slow then fierce, his tongue sliding against hers, claiming and testing, wild and unrestrained. The taste of him filled her senses, raw and untamed, everything she had been told to fear and everything she could never walk away from.

Her legs weakened. She clung to him, gasping when he broke from her lips only to trail fire down her jaw, across the soft skin of her throat. Her head tipped back against the stone, lips parting, a soft sound escaping her before she could bite it down.

“Rhea,” he breathed against her skin, his voice rough and ragged. “Tell me to stop... if you want me to.”

Her chest rose and fell hard, the world blurring around the heat between them. She wanted to tell him no. She wanted to stop this madness. But her lips wouldn’t form the word. Her nails pressed deeper into his shoulders, pulling him close until her lips brushed his ear.

“Don’t,” she whispered.

The bond inside her snapped tighter, flaring with heat so sharp it left her gasping.

Jace groaned like the word had broken him, his mouth finding hers again, hungrier, fiercer. Each kiss tasted like fire and war, like surrender and defiance all at once.

Her body burned under his hands, her heart soaring and breaking at the same time. She wanted to stay in this hollow forever, hidden from every law, every duty, every cruel pair of eyes. Just her. Just him. The way it should have been.

But then—

A branch snapped.

Jace froze, his body going rigid. His claws slid free with a low scrape, sharp and gleaming. He pushed her behind him in one swift motion, his golden eyes blazing as they scanned the trees.

Rhea’s breath caught. The forest was too quiet. No night birds. No wind. Only the pounding of her heart.

“Hunters?” she whispered, her voice barely a sound.

Jace’s nostrils flared. His jaw tightened. His voice came out like a growl. “No. Worse.”

The words chilled her blood.

Shadows shifted at the tree line. Slow, deliberate. Then the glow of fire split the dark, the flicker of torches swaying as men closed in.

Voices followed, low and commanding, the sound of boots crunching leaves in rhythm.

And then he stepped forward.

Alpha Dorian.

He emerged from the trees with the ease of a predator, his eyes glowing molten gold, his smile sharp enough to cut. His aura rolled over them, heavy and suffocating, demanding submission.

Rhea’s knees weakened. The weight pressed her down, urging her to bow, to lower her head like every other wolf. Her bond with Jace pulsed against it, pulling her in the opposite direction, fire against iron.

“I told you, Rhea,” Dorian said softly, his voice cutting through the night. “You can’t run from me.”

Jace growled, low and savage, his stance shielding her, claws bared, ready to strike. His body trembled with the urge to tear into Dorian, yet he stayed firm, waiting for the right move.

More shadows poured in behind Dorian. Hunters. Wolves are loyal to him. Torches blazed in their hands, flames licking the dark, weapons glinting in the light.

Rhea’s breath hitched. They were surrounded. Trapped in the hollow with nowhere to run.

Her hand clutched Jace’s arm tight, clinging to him, the only anchor she had left. Her lips brushed his shoulder as she whispered, “What do we do?”

Dorian’s smile widened, his eyes never leaving hers. His voice dripped with poison.

“You come back to me, Luna... or I’ll burn this forest to ash around you.”

The torches flared higher. The pack closed in. The bond in her chest screamed, splitting her in two—between fear, desire, and the fate she could no longer deny.

And for the first time, Rhea realized her choice might doom them all.