I didn’t speak to Draven for the first hour of the drive back.
Couldn’t. My throat was too tight and my hands wouldn’t stop shaking and if I opened my mouth I was pretty sure I’d scream or cry or both.
He’d bet himself. Traded his freedom for an alliance we might not even be able to use if the demon killed us all first.
And he’d done it without even asking .
The anger was easier than the fear so I let it burn, let it fill my chest where grief wanted to live, and stared out the window while trees blurred past and my brain kept replaying Lysander’s smile when Draven agreed.
"Selene." Draven’s voice was quiet. "You need to breathe."
"I’m breathing." The words ca out sharp.
"You’re hyperventilating."
Was I? My chest felt tight enough that breathing seed optional, that thing where your lungs forget they’re supposed to expand and contract and you have to manually remind them.
I forced air in through my nose. Out through my mouth. Repeat.
It didn’t help.
"Pull over." My voice cracked. "I need—I can’t—pull over."
He pulled onto the shoulder without arguing and I was out of the car before it fully stopped, stumbling into the tree line because the car felt too small and my chest felt too tight and I was either going to vomit or pass out or both.
I made it ten feet before my knees gave out.
Draven caught before I hit the ground, arms banding around while I shook apart.
"You can’t go back there." The words tore out of . "You can’t—I won’t let you—"
"We’re not going to fail." His voice stayed level. Certain. "So I won’t have to."
"But if we do—"
"Then I pay the price I agreed to." He pulled closer. "Selene, look at ."
I didn’t want to look at him. Didn’t want to see the resignation in his eyes.
"Please."
The please broke again.
I looked up and his eyes weren’t resigned. They were fierce and certain and convinced down to his bones we were going to win.
"I’m not going back there." He cupped my face. "Because you’re going to unite the factions. You’re going to stop the demon. And we’re going to prove Lysander wrong about all of it."
"You don’t know that." My voice ca out small. "What if I’m not strong enough? What if I fail and you have to—"
"Then I’ll deal with it." Simple. Direct. "But I’m choosing to believe in you instead of preparing for failure."
The faith in his voice cracked my chest open.
"I can’t lose you." The confession tore out raw and honest. "I just got you. All of you. I can’t—" I couldn’t finish.
"You won’t." His forehead pressed to mine. "I promise."
"You can’t promise that."
"I just did."
I wanted to argue. Wanted to point out that promises didn’t an anything against demons and vampires and prophecies that might be wrong.
Instead I kissed him.
Hard and desperate and honest in ways I couldn’t articulate, pouring every ounce of terror and rage and love into it until we were both breathless.
When we pulled apart his eyes had gone dark and through the bond his desire crashed into mine so hard I gasped.
"Selene—" His voice had gone rough. "We should—"
"I don’t care what we should do." My hands fisted in his shirt. "I care that you just bet your freedom and I need—" I couldn’t finish. Just pulled him closer.
He understood.
His mouth found mine again and this ti the kiss was slower, deeper, tasting like desperation and need and the kind of claiming that went beyond physical.
"Here?" His hands were already sliding under my shirt. "On the side of a highway?"
"I don’t care." And I didn’t. Didn’t care that we were exposed, that anyone could drive past, that this was reckless and stupid and exactly what I needed. "I need you to know you’re mine. That no vampire gets to own you ever again."
That snapped whatever leash he’d been holding.
His hands were everywhere and his mouth followed, and when he pushed back against a tree I went willingly, wrapping my legs around his waist while he held up like I weighed nothing.
"Tell to stop." His teeth grazed my neck where Kael’s claiming mark sat. "Tell this is a bad idea."
"Don’t stop." I rolled my hips against him. "Don’t you dare stop."
He didn’t.
Through the bond I opened my connection all the way and felt the other three respond—Kael’s sharp interest, Riven’s patient amusent, Thorne’s feral approval—and pushed desire at all of them so they’d know exactly what was happening.
Let them feel it. Let them share it. Let them know Draven was ours and no one got to take him.
His hands found the button of my jeans and I helped him because patience was beyond , and then there was nothing between us except intent and need and the kind of desperate claiming that ca from almost losing soone.
When he pushed into I shattered imdiately, coming apart on a broken sound while he held through it.
"Mine." The word ca out fierce. Certain. "You’re mine and I’m keeping you."
"I know." His voice was wrecked. "I can feel it through the bond."
Good. Let him feel it. Let him know I wasn’t letting him go without a fight.
We moved together and it was desperate and raw and honest in ways sex had never been for before, and when I ca again his na tore out of like a prayer.
He followed, his forehead dropping to my shoulder while he shook with it.
We stood there breathing hard while the world slowly ca back into focus, and through the bond I felt the other three settling—satisfied and amused and absolutely aware of what had just happened.
"We’re going to win." I whispered it against his neck. "We have to."
"We will." He pressed a kiss to my temple. "Because losing isn’t an option."
I wanted to believe him.
I was choosing to believe him.
Even if my hands wouldn’t stop shaking and my chest felt too tight and the weight of what he’d agreed to sat heavy in my bones.
We got back in the car and drove ho in silence that felt different this ti—not angry, just processing—and I stared out the window trying not to focus on how we’d just gained an alliance and potentially lost one of my mates in the sa conversation.
The demon had to die.
We had to win.
Because the alternative was losing Draven, and that wasn’t sothing I could survive.
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