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There was no lightning crack or grand fanfare. It crept in quietly, infiltrating and creeping under his armor, until his soul pulsed with its eternal truth.

He inhaled, jolted with emotion.

He loved her because she was thunder held in check by will.

She carved stillness out of chaos when he needed it, and because when he was being an ass, she called him on it without hesitation.

She didn’t flinch from his lycan nature, didn’t coddle his demons, and she didn’t need saving.

She gave him crazy love that melted away all his nightmares, past and present.

She fit into the hidden corners of his soul that no one ever stepped into.

His mission to safeguard a flotilla of millions to Pegasi remained unchanged.

His lofty ambitions were still the same, but the summit now appeared different because she crested it.

His arm tightened around her waist, his soul fluxing with emotion.

She murmured in her sleep, nose nuzzling the crook of his neck.

He kissed her hair first. Next, her temple. Then, reverently, the corner of her mouth.

She stirred, stretching with a drowsy sigh, one eye peeking open. ‘You’re awake.’

‘Just,’ he rasped, voice cracked with drowsiness and rawness. ‘But aware enough.’

She smiled against him.

His following rasped words surged from the overflow of his heart. ‘Savvine Bianchi, I love you, I adore you, and you have my heart for eternity.’

She jolted, then exhaled, eyes soft, giving in a smile that undid him. ‘Did you think I didn’t know that already?’

He narrowed his eyes at her. ‘Which means you owe me the same. Say it.’

‘Say what?’ she teased, her lips brushing his chin.

‘Say. It.’

‘Hell, he’s a demanding alpha even when half-dead,’ she muttered, then leaned closer to kiss his surly lips. ‘I love you too, Alexandr-Alexandr Levine Roman.’

He let out a snarl, fingers threading into her hair. ‘Fokk, finally.’

Her laughter echoed in the room as he pulled her to him with a savage growl.

Then his mouth was on hers again, with no desperation, just certainty and truth.

They stayed like that for a while. Wrapped around each other, resting in their shared tranquility.

Because sometimes, love didn’t need fanfare.

It only required your beloved to walk through the fire beside you and come out the other side in stillness and peace.

SAVVINE

The following evening, Savvine stood at Xander’s bedside beneath the soft blue cast of the medbay lighting.

His complexion was no longer scorched, but patches of darkened healing still traced his chest and shoulder.