Chapter 29: Feverwake
The cave was still.
But the silence had teeth.
I woke in sweat, pulse thrumming.
Kael twitched beside me, head pressed to the stone, brow furrowed like he was fighting something in sleep.
Then I felt it.
Like a wire threading through my ribs.....tight, electric.
Emotion.
Not mine.
His.
It hit me like heat.
Longing. Regret. Want.
And something sharper underneath—
fear he couldn't name.
I curled into myself, but it didn't help.
Because I wasn't alone in my own skin anymore.
> Her hands on me.
Her mouth.
Her saying my name like I deserve it.
Like I'm not poison.
His dream bled into me.
Not words.
Not pictures.
Just raw, burning need.
And I was the one it reached for.
My breath caught. My thighs clenched.
I shouldn't be hearing this.
Feeling this.
I should wake him.
But part of me...
the broken part,
the changing part...
leaned into it.
> What if she stays?
What if she leaves?
What if she finds out what I am?
He moaned low in his sleep.
My name....
not out loud.
But inside.
Inside me.
And something snapped.
The bond between us flared bright and white and hungry, like a star ripping itself open.
Kael gasped awake, eyes blazing.
I jerked back, heart a drumbeat in my throat.
We stared at each other. Breathless. Shaking.
He knew.
I knew.
And the worst part?
We both wanted it again.