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The touch sent electricity through her. Maya's mind flashed back to the medical facility—to the moment her wolf had killed for the first time. Under Kieran's wolf's guidance, she had taken down a guard who'd tried to drag her back to that cold hospital room. The memory should have horrified her human mind, but instead, it felt right. Natural. As if her DNA had been recoded for this very purpose.

"I can't believe I killed today," she said softly, securing the leaf bandage with strips of bark. "In wolf form. It felt..."

"Like coming home," Kieran finished for her.

"Yes." She met his gaze. "How did you know?"

"Because that's what finding your true nature feels like."

Maya nodded, remembering how her wolf had instinctively known what to do after Kieran was shot. Without conscious thought, she'd seized him by the scruff of his neck and pulledhim to safety, traversing miles of mountain terrain with a certainty she'd never experienced in her human form.

"Before you came to rescue me," she admitted, "my wolf was chaotic—shifting in and out without my control and not listening to me. But when you arrived, everything clicked into place." Her fingers traced the edge of his bandage. "My wolf listened to yours instantly. Submitted to you. Accepted its place."

"Not submitted," Kieran corrected, his voice deep with meaning. "Recognized. There's a difference."

He struggled to sit up, grimacing with the effort.

"You shouldn't move yet."

"Turn around," he commanded softly. "Your back needs tending."

Maya hesitated, then complied, presenting him with the long claw marks that ran from her right shoulder blade to her lower back.

Kieran's sharp intake of breath was followed by gentle fingers tracing the edges of her wound. "Who did this to you?"

"The guard with the gray muzzle. Before I..." She didn't need to finish.

"Good." His approval was primal, sending an unexpected thrill through her. "Hold still."

Despite his own injury, Kieran meticulously cleaned her wound, his touch possessive yet gentle. The intimacy of the moment—both naked and tending each other's battle injuries—struck Maya as more binding than any formal ritual could be.

"Your wolf is already healing this," he noted, his breath warm against her skin. "Faster than it should for someone newly awakened."

Maya shivered at his proximity. "I think it's because of you. Your presence seems to stabilize me, physically and emotionally."

His hands worked gently but firmly on her back. His breath was hot against her skin, sending tiny shivers down her spine as he cleaned the long claw wound. His touch was deliberate, almost reverent, as if he were tending to something far more precious than just flesh and blood. She could feel the weight of his body behind her, his legs straddling her hips, his chest pressing close enough that she could feel the heat radiating from him despite his weakened state. The air between them was thick with something unspoken—something primal and electric.

His response to her words was a soft hum, a vibration that she felt more than heard. Then, his lips were on her neck, trailing soft, feather-light kisses along the curve of her shoulder. The sensation was both soothing and electrifying, as if his kisses were somehow stitching her back together from the inside out. She let out a soft gasp, her fingers gripping the makeshift bed beneath her.

"Kieran, you should rest," she breathed, her voice trembling with a mix of surprise and desire.

He didn't stop though. His lips moved lower, kissing along the edge of her wound with a tenderness that made her heart ache. His hands slid around her sides, brushing against her ribs before settling on her breasts. His touch was firm but careful, his fingers teasing her nipples into hardened peaks. Maya's breath hitched, a soft moan escaping her lips as pleasure began to pool within her.

"You're so beautiful," he whispered against her skin, his voice thick with emotion. "Every inch of you."

Maya turned in his lap, her movements slow but deliberate. She faced him now, their bodies pressed together, her hands on his shoulders. His silver-blue eyes were dark with desire, his gaze locked on hers. She leaned in, capturing his lips in a kiss that started soft and tentative but quickly deepened into something hungry and desperate. Their tongues tangled, thetaste of him flooding her senses—wild and untamed, like the forest itself.

When she finally broke the kiss, her chest heaving, she leaned back just enough to look at him. His face was flushed, his breathing ragged, but there was a softness in his eyes that made her heart swell. She trailed her fingers down his chest, marveling at the hard planes of muscle beneath her touch. Her lips followed, pressing soft kisses along his collarbone, down the center of his chest, and over the ridges of his abs. Each kiss felt like a promise, a silent vow to heal him just as he had healed her.

"Maya," he groaned, his voice thick with pleasure as she moved lower, her lips brushing against the sharp V of his hips. His hands tangled in her hair, not guiding her but simply holding on as if he needed the anchor. "Whatever you're doing... I think it's helping. I'm feeling stronger."

She looked up at him, her green eyes meeting his silver-blue ones, and gave him a small, knowing smile. "Good," she whispered before taking his hard length into her hand, her touch firm but gentle. His sharp intake of breath was all the encouragement she needed. She leaned down, her lips closing around the tip of his large cock and felt him tense beneath her.

"Maya, you don't have to—" he hissed softly, his fingers tightening in her hair.

"I want to," she interrupted, her voice steady despite the heat flooding her cheeks. And she did. There was something about this—about the way he responded to her, and the way he seemed to come alive under her touch—that made her feel powerful in a way she never had before. She took him deeper, her tongue swirling around his cock as her hand worked in tandem with her mouth. His groans filled the cave, the sound raw and unfiltered, and it only fueled her determination.

But just as she felt him tensing, on the brink of release, he gently pulled her off him, his chest heaving. "Not like this," hesaid, his voice rough but firm. "I want to be inside you when I come undone."