The world shrank to the space between his breath and my skin. The crackle of the fire, the whisper of the wind, everything faded into a dull roar in my ears. My heart wasn't beating. It was a frantic bird slamming against the bars of my ribs.
It's you.
Two words, and my lie turned to ash.
I jerked back, tearing my shoulder from his grasp. The movement was clumsy and desperate. "I don't know what you're talking about," I choked out. The denial felt weak even to me.
Zevran didn't lunge. He didn't snarl. He stood there like a statue carved from shadow and firelight. His golden eyes burned with a new, possessive clarity. The hunter had finally identified his quarry.
"Don't," he said, his voice low and dangerously calm. "Don't insult us both by pretending now." He took one deliberate step forward. "The control. The fighting style. The way you flinch. The way my presence seems to unmake you." His lips curved into a humorless smile. "It all makes a sick, beautiful sense now. Soren Silvius. The last Starlight Omega."
Hearing my true title on his lips sent a violent shudder through me. It was a death sentence. I stumbled back another step, my mind racing, searching for an escape that didn't exist. The forest had become a dark prison.
"My family," he continued, advancing slowly, forcing me toward the trunk of a massive pine, "were the Gravekeepers. Our duty was to ensure your kind never rose again. To put the Starlight out for good." He shook his head, a look of reverent disbelief on his face. "And here you are. Not just an Omega. A myth. Hiding in plain sight."
My back hit the rough bark of the tree. Nowhere else to go. The heat in my body spiked. The suppressants were useless against the tidal wave of my own biology, unleashed by fear and his overwhelming presence. My scent, that sweet fragrance I had spent a lifetime burying, now hung in the air between us.
"Please," I whispered. I hated the sound of it. It was the plea of an Omega, not the command of an Alpha.
Zevran closed the final distance. He didn't pin me. He simply stood there, caging me in, his body a wall of heat. He lifted his hand. I flinched, expecting violence. But his fingers were surprisingly gentle as they brushed a strand of sweat-damped hair from my forehead.
"Please what?" he murmured, his thumb stroking my temple. The touch was intimate and disarming. "You have no idea what you're doing to me. What your scent is doing. It's not just an order. It's a compulsion."
His other hand came up to rest on the tree by my head, his forearm brushing my cheek. I was surrounded by him. His scent, his power, his confusing blend of threat and tenderness.
"All those years, listening to the stories. I thought they were hunting manuals," he confessed, his voice rough. "Turns out, they were warnings." His gaze dropped to my lips. "Warnings for the Gravekeeper who would find the one Omega he couldn't destroy."
My breath hitched. This wasn't happening. He was supposed to expose me, to attack me. Not this terrifying seduction.
"Get away from me," I managed, but the command had no force. My body betrayed me, leaning into his warmth. A deep, instinctual part of me screamed that this Alpha was safe. It was the most dangerous lie my biology had ever told me.
He ignored me, lowering his head until his lips were beside my ear. "I can smell your fear," he whispered. "But that's not all I smell. There's something else underneath it. Something that calls to me."
His mouth brushed the shell of my ear. A bolt of pure pleasure shot down my spine. A soft, involuntary moan escaped me. I clenched my fists, nails digging into my palms, using the pain to anchor myself.
"Stop," I begged, my eyes squeezing shut.
"Look at me, Soren."
I shook my head, a frantic, helpless motion.
"Look. At. Me."
The Alpha command in his voice was undeniable. It vibrated in my very bones. My eyes flew open, meeting his. In their golden depths, I saw the storm. The conflict of his legacy, the shock of my existence, and a raw hunger that mirrored the one waking inside me.
His control was fraying, too.
"Your body is telling you the truth," he said, his voice thick. "Even if your mind is still fighting it. You don't want me to stop."
He was right. That was the most terrifying part. The part that felt like complete surrender. The cage wasn't just breaking. I was helping him tear the door off its hinges.
His gaze fell to the pulse hammering at my throat. He watched it, his own breath coming faster. The air was thick with our scents. His stormy power. My sweet surrender.
"Tell me to leave," he challenged softly, his lips hovering a breath from mine. "Tell me to walk away, and I will."
He was lying. We both knew it. But he was giving me the illusion of choice. The final shred of my dignity.
I opened my mouth. The word "go" formed on my tongue.
But it never came out.
Instead, a different sound escaped my lips. A broken, shuddering sigh of defeat.
It was all the answer he needed.
Zevran closed the small distance between us, and his mouth found mine.