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It’s hard, though, now that I know the truth about everything.

“What do you mean, Alina?” Rowan murmurs.

I shrug. “If you had let them…if they killed me, I wouldn’t be your problem anymore. You could have Noah all to yourself, and you wouldn’t have to worry about the prophecy coming true.”

Evidently, that is the worst thing I could have possibly said, because Rowan’s eyes flash with a primal fury that instantly cools into vicious resolve. He drops to his knees in front of me, not caring when the towel loosens slightly around his waist, and takes my hands.

“Please tell me you don’t believe that, Alina.” His voice is a low, fierce growl, but I swear his gaze is shimmering with the threat of tears. “Please tell me you don’t think I’d ever let you die. That I’d ever let anything bad happen to you.”

Deep down, I know he’s right. He’s proven he cares about both me and his son with his constant vigilance and dangerous missions to the western border. My safety is just as much a priority to him.

Deeper down, though, I am still wounded by the rejection. I think it’s a part of me that will continue to hurt for a long while.

I try to look away, but Rowan moves closer and takes my chin in hishand, gently turning my face so that I have no choice but to meet his gaze.

“I would kill a hundred more men for you,” he says, voice firm with promise. “I would do anything…Alina, I love you. I have loved you from the moment I realized you are my Mate. I loved you even as I immediately regretted rejecting you. I’ve loved you for all the years we’ve been apart. You have always owned a piece of my heart, and if fate hadn’t crossed our paths again, I know I would have gone the rest of my life loving you, even if it meant loving a ghost.”

I’m not aware that I’m crying until I feel a warm tear trickle down my cheek. Rowan swipes it away with the pad of his thumb.

You love him, too, croons the wolf. Even if you don’t want to. Even if it scares you. Even if you can never have him.

“Rowan…”

“It’s okay,” he breathes. “You don’t have to say anything. You don’t even have to love me. You just need to believe me, and trust me when I say that there is nothing I wouldn’t do for you.”

I hiccup on a sob. “I believe you.”

“You do?”

I bite my lip, nodding.

“Then show me, love.”

Without hesitation, I reach for him in answer, and Rowan doesn’t need to say anything else. He’s a man of action, after all. He moves on instinct, all strength and desire, and captures my lips in a passionate kiss.

And, because I just can’t resist him anymore, I pull him closer. He responds in kind, lurching forward to rise and wrap his arms around me. There’s a tangle of bare limbs, a lighthearted moment of clumsy fumbling, and then we’re both falling backwards onto the bed. Rowan is on top of me, his now-naked hips pressed between my spread thighs, and when he groans, I know it’s because he can feel how damp I am even through the fabric of my underwear.

I claw at his shoulders, moaning into his mouth as he devours me with a fiery kiss. It’s all tongue and teeth, hot and messy, and I wouldn’t want it any other way.

My heart beats so hard and fast that all I can do is cling to him ashis erection presses against my inner thigh. Seconds later, Rowan rips off my underwear with one sharp tug.

“Please,” I breathe into his mouth. “I’m yours.”

I’ve always been yours…

My bra is gone next, and I barely even register its absence until Rowan breaks the kiss to lower his head and drag his teeth lightly against my nipple. I bow into his body, pulsing with raucous heat between my thighs. I spread my legs further, digging my heels into his hips in hopes of guiding him exactly where I want him to be.

“Alina,” he gasps as he nudges against my entrance. “Alina, if I—if we…the bond…”

I know what he’s trying to say. If we do this, there’s a good chance that the bond will repair itself. The rejection will heal, and we’ll be a Mated pair again. No more pain. No more dull, insistent ache that I’ve carried with me for the past decade.

No more suffering, except for the fact that a newly accepted bond means that I will then be granted the power to ruin him, just as the prophecy warns.

“I know,” I cry, another fresh slew of tears spilling out. “I know we can’t—”

“I want to,” he whispers in my ear. “I want you so badly. Please let me make love to you, Alina. Let me repair what I’ve broken. I don’t care about the prophecy. I’d let you ruin me a thousand times over.”

There’s a tiny voice inside me that knows I should be wise about this. Even with both of us naked and panting, and his cock a hairsbreadth from sinking into me, I know it would be smart to put an end to this right now.