Page 79 of Donovan

Finn nodded. “No matter what.”

Asher’s lips quirked. “You’re not getting rid of us that easily.”

Eventually, they left.

The cabin door clicked shut behind them, leaving only the sound of the crackling embers and the faint wind outside.

I didn’t move. Didn’t get up from the couch.

I felt drained, in a way I hadn’t felt in a long time. But for once, it wasn’t exhaustion born from fear or survival. It was something else.

A kind of weight that had lifted. A kind of peace I wasn’t used to.

The sound of footsteps pulled me from my thoughts.

Declan.

He stepped inside, his gaze immediately finding mine.

His expression softened as he took me in. The way I had all but melted into the couch, the way my body had finally relaxed for the first time in a long time.

“You alright?” he asked, his voice low, rough around the edges.

I smiled. A real smile.

“Never better,” I murmured, reaching for him.

He didn’t hesitate.

Declan crossed the room in two strides, sinking down onto the couch beside me. I pulled him in, wrapping my arms around him, breathing him in.

His body was cool, solid, familiar.

For the first time in a long time, I was happy.

Not just relieved. Not just safe. Not just surviving.

Truly, bone-deep happy.

The kind of happiness that settled in my chest like a steady heartbeat, warm and solid, something I never thought I’d have again.

I pulled Declan closer, my fingers threading through his hair, feeling the way his cool body pressed against mine.

His hands roamed over my back, slow and deliberate, as if memorizing me all over again.

I shivered under his touch, not from the cold but from the way my body responded to him so effortlessly.

I tilted my head, pressing my forehead against his, breathing him in.

His scent was familiar now. Something uniquely him beneath the traces of pine and firewood from the cabin.

I swallowed, my heart hammering in my chest as I murmured, “I love you, Declan.”

He stilled for half a second, then his grip on me tightened.

His lips brushed against mine, just barely, a whisper of contact before he pulled back just enough to look me in the eyes.

His gaze burned.