They were talking inside—low voices I could barely make out. Jade's sharp tone, Violet's softer one. I didn't intend to listen, but my ears caught fragments.
"Is there an attraction now that you're marked?"
"…my body doesn't know the difference between safety and danger anymore…"
A tightness bloomed behind my ribs.
I hadn't expected her to welcome the bond. Hell, I'd barely been conscious of the decision when I marked her. But hearing the way she struggled with it—it stirred something savage and possessive in me, something I barely kept leashed.
She was mine. Whether her mind accepted it yet or not, her body already knew.
Still, I forced myself to step back. She deserved time. She deserved choice. Things that had already been taken from her once.
I would not be the one to steal them again.
But I would keep her close.
No matter what.
Violet Pov
The moon had long since risen when I stirred again.
