Aria’s POV

The cell smelled of damp soil.

I stood there for a moment, staring at the walls. So this was how Alpha Damien welcomed strangers?

Or mates?

I exhaled sharply and sat on the narrow bench attached to the wall. My arms still ached from the ropes the rogues had used.

He felt it and I know he did.

When our eyes met, something shifted in him. It wasn’t imagined. It wasn’t my fantasy building something out of nothing.

It was real.

Mate.

The word still echoed inside me, ...