After thirty more minutes of snowball carnage, the three of them finally said their goodbyes to the kids and started the walk back toward the castle. It was fully dark now, lanterns glowing along the main path, flakes drifting lazily from the sky.
Nova felt exhaustion pulling at her bones — the good kind, the kind that came from laughter and warmth and finally, finally feeling like she belonged somewhere.
Elle was animatedly telling Cael about a kid who tried to duel her with a stick, and Cael kept reenacting his "snow monster death scene," each version more dramatic than the last. Nova laughed at both of them.
They had just stepped onto the castle grounds when something fast — too fast — blurred through the dark.
Before she could register it, strong arms were around her waist, lifting her clean off the ground.
Nova shrieked.
Jax spun her once, laughing against her neck, then peppered her face with kisses—cheeks, nose, forehead, anywhere he could reach. Nova dissolved into breathless laughter, clinging to his shoulders.
"Did you miss me?" he murmured, breath warm against her cheek, his grin entirely unrepentant.
Elle snorted so hard she choked. "Coming from the one who just ran at his mate like she had been gone a year."
Jax shot her a glare.
Nova didn't hesitate. "Yes, I did."
Her fingers curled into the back of his cloak. That answer wrecked him in the best way.
Jax leaned in, lowering her just enough to kiss her.
WHACK.
A snowball hit him squarely between the shoulder blades.
Jax froze.
Elle gasped as if witnessing a historic event. Nova covered her mouth, trying not to laugh.
Slowly, dramatically, Jax set Nova back on her feet.
Cael stood ten feet away, expression completely deadpan, holding another snowball like a man ready to go to war.
"Oops," he said. "Cold out here. Slippery hands."
Jax bent, scooped up a handful of snow, and threw it with Gamma-level precision.
Cael yelped as it nailed him right in the chest. "CHEATER!"
"You started it," Jax growled, already forming another.
Nova doubled over laughing as Elle dragged her to the side.
"Oh gods," Elle muttered, "Here we go again."
Cael dodged behind a tree. "YOU CAN'T HIT ME! I SAVED CHILDREN TODAY!"
"I DON'T CARE," Jax shouted back, "YOU INTERRUPTED MY MOMENT!"
Snow flew. Threats were made.
It was stupid, ridiculous… and perfect. The four of them dissolved into pure chaos.
Cael and Jax battled like rival generals. Elle fought dirty — ice down Jax's collar, a direct hit to Jax's knee. Nova, despite being half-injured and exhausted, became a silent assassin, nailing Cael's ear twice and once in the back of the head when he wasn't looking.
By the end of it, all four were soaked through — hair plastered to their foreheads, snow melting down their coats, boots squishing with every step.
They were laughing like children.
Nova couldn't remember the last time she'd felt so light.
When the final snowball truce was called, Jax didn't even give her a chance to negotiate.
He scooped her up — one arm under her knees, one around her back — and she didn't protest for a single heartbeat.
"You're freezing," he said, voice low but warm. "I'm not letting you walk another step like this."
Elle and Cael shared a knowing look, equally amused and fond.
"Try not to drown each other," Elle called.
"Try not to pretend you're not about to do the same thing," Jax shot back over his shoulder.
He carried her through the corridors in silence — the comfortable, intimate kind — snow melting off both of them, his boots echoing through the stone halls. Every so often he kissed her temple, or brushed his cheek against her hair.
When they reached his quarters, he nudged the door open with his shoulder and set her down only long enough to lock it behind them.
Jax's eyes softened immediately when he looked back at her — at the snow in her lashes, the pink in her cheeks, the clothes soaked through to skin.
"Come here," he murmured.
He helped her peel off each layer with careful hands, slow and gentle, though they trembled slightly from how close she was and how much he adored her. Her fingers caught the hem of his shirt and tugged, and he let her undress him too, neither of them breaking eye contact.
By the time the steaming bath was ready, they were both shivering from cold and anticipation.
Jax lifted her again — because of course he did — carrying her toward the bath with a warmth in his eyes that melted her completely.
"Let's fix this," he whispered, stepping into the steam with her held securely against his chest. "You're not being cold on my watch."
He lowered them both into the water, and the world went quiet.
Just heat.
Just him.
Just them.
And the slow, unspoken promise that she was his home — and he was hers.
Jax dried her off slowly, taking his time, brushing warm towels over her skin with a gentleness that made something soft bloom in her chest. When she was warm again, she slipped into her pink silk shorts and matching camisole — the pale fabric clinging delicately to her still-damp skin.
The sight of her in those pajamas knocked the air clean out of him. They were innocent, soft, simple… but on her? They undid him. His stomach flipped, his pulse kicked, and that warm flutter of butterflies he'd been battling for weeks erupted all over again.
He swallowed hard, tugged himself together, and pulled on just a pair of briefs before climbing into bed behind her. Nova curled naturally into him — her back against his chest, her legs tangling with his without hesitation, her fingers finding his forearm and tracing idle shapes against his skin.
He wrapped both arms around her, tucking her under his chin, breathing her in. Vanilla and moonlight and something that felt like home.
Her breathing evened out quickly — exhaustion, relief, the day finally catching up to her — and within minutes she was asleep, soft and deep.
Jax lay awake behind her.
Watching the slow rise and fall of her shoulders.
Feeling the steady thrum of the matebond.
Feeling everything.
He brushed a strand of hair off her cheek and whispered into it — barely audible, just breath against her skin.
"I love you, Nova."
The words were raw, unguarded, finally free.
He knew she couldn't hear but he said it every night after she'd dozed off into sleep.
He pressed a soft kiss to her shoulder.
"I love you more than anything," he murmured again, voice breaking on the truth of it.
And holding her like that — fragile, warm, safe in his arms — he finally let his eyes close.