The keep had never felt so suffocating.

Aria paced the length of Damian’s chamber, her thoughts a storm she couldn’t calm. Mate. Bond. Cursed. The words Kael had flung at them echoed like scars carved into her skin.

Damian hadn’t denied it. He hadn’t claimed her either. He had stood between her and the rival Alpha like a wall of fire, but when she looked into his eyes, she saw the truth he feared more than war.

The door opened.

She stilled.

Damian entered, shoulders heavy, golden eyes shadowed. For once, he looked… not like an Alpha, not like a predator carved from stone and storm—but like a man carrying a weight too heavy to bear.

“You shouldn’t still be awake,” he said softly.

“How could I sleep after that?” Aria whispered.

He didn’t answer. Instead, he poured himself a drink, his movements taut, controlled.

“Kael knew,” she pressed, the words tumbling out. “About us. About the bond.”

Damian’s jaw tightened. “Of course he knew. Wolves like him scent weakness like blood in the water.”

Her chest tightened. “Is that what I am to you? Weakness?”

The cup froze in his hand. Slowly, he set it down, turning to face her fully. His golden eyes burned, not with anger, but with something rawer, hungrier.

“You’re not weakness,” he said, voice low and rough. “You’re the only thing that feels real.”

The confession punched through her chest, stealing her breath. “Then why do you keep running from me?”

His throat worked. He crossed the space between them in two strides, close enough that the heat of his body wrapped around her, close enough that the bond roared between them like wildfire.

“Because if I stop,” he whispered, “I won’t let you go.”

Her lips parted, her pulse thundering. She could feel it—his restraint hanging by a thread, his control slipping every time their eyes met.

“You don’t have to let me go,” she whispered back.

The silence cracked.

Damian’s hand lifted, trembling, until his knuckles brushed her cheek. The touch was fire and lightning, searing straight through her veins. She leaned into it before she could stop herself, her breath shuddering.

The bond flared. His golden eyes darkened, his body taut with need. His other hand rose to her waist, hovering there, not daring to claim but unable to pull back.

“Aria…” His voice was broken, her name a plea, a warning, a prayer.

She pressed closer, her hands finding the rough fabric of his shirt, curling against the heat of him. “You saved me,” she whispered. “Again and again. But who saves you, Damian?”

His breath caught. For the first time, the Alpha looked vulnerable—his walls cracking, the storm inside him revealed.

“You,” he said hoarsely. “You save me.”

The words shattered her.

Her lips were a breath from his, the fire between them unbearable. Every instinct, every pull of fate, screamed to close the distance, to surrender to the bond.

His forehead pressed against hers, his breath ragged, his hands finally tightening around her waist.

The kiss hovered there—inevitable, earth-shaking—

And then he tore himself away with a snarl, stumbling back as if burned.

Aria gasped at the loss, her chest hollow, her skin still blazing where he’d touched her.

Damian’s hands shook as he dragged them through his hair. His voice was ragged, tortured. “This bond will consume us. And if it consumes me, it consumes the pack. I can’t—”

Her eyes stung. “Can’t what? Want me? Because you already do.”

The silence cut deep. His golden gaze locked on hers, pain and hunger warring in every line of his face.

Then he whispered, almost broken, “You are my mate. And that terrifies me more than Kael ever could.”

Her heart splintered.

Before she could answer, before she could push him to finish what fate had already begun, he turned sharply and strode out into the night, leaving her trembling in the glow of the fire.

Aria pressed her hand to the mark on her chest, her pulse racing in time with the bond that refused to be denied.

He could fight it, deny it, even run from it—but she knew now with brutal certainty:

Damian was hers, and she was his.

And no rival, no council, no curse would change that.