“Have you seen Raydir?” I asked Caesaria after searching for an hour with no luck.

She pointed in the direction of the lake. “I saw him go toward the falls a while ago.” Her eyebrows knit together. “Did something happen? Is Darius involved?”

“It’s complicated. And yes, he is very much involved.” I placed my hands on my hips and exhaled loudly.

“Go to him,” she said. “To Raydir. You chose him, remember? And Darius can’t ever take that away.”

I hope you’re right. “Thank you.” I laid a hand gently on Caesaria’s arm before heading in the direction of the lake.

Over the past month, the cavern behind the waterfall had become our place to be with each other without a care in the world. If I had to bet, that’s where Raydir had gone.

Once there, I dove into the water not thinking about anything else until I could talk with him. He sat on one of the rocks behind the falls, only looking up after I cleared my throat.

“Ray.” My voice came out soft. “I am so sorry. I had no idea—”

“You weren’t even supposed to have a ceremony.” He sighed. “None of this was supposed to happen. I thought I was protecting you by keeping your wolf spirit hidden.”

“But it’s my wolf, Ray. Don’t you think I should have a say in that?” I cupped his face in my hands.

“Yes, you should. And I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner. But It’s more complicated, Ar. When I approached Darius for the pact, he said there are consequences. For both of us.”

“What sort of consequences?”

He gave me a strained look. “For me, it was carrying two wolf spirits. I would have to take on whatever weight that required. And for you…well, that’s why I had to tell you to say yes at your ceremony.”

I pushed my hand against his chest. “Wait a minute. So you did know he was going to be my Chosen?!”

Raydir shook his head. “Not exactly. Darius sort of knew and I didn’t want to know how so I didn’t ask. He said I’d have to let you pursue him if this whole thing were to work.”

Strangely enough, it made sense. “But I didn’t pursue him. And I don’t want to pursue him. I only want to be with you.”

He brightened but there was still a twinge of sadness in his eyes.

I continued. “You are mine, Ray. And you always will be. I made a promise to you.” I held up my left hand where the gem on my promise ring glimmered even in the shade of the falls.

Raydir inhaled sharply, standing up, and for a second I thought he was going to leave me here alone. Within an instant, his lips were on mine, a flash of lust evident in his green eyes. My hands entangled their way into his hair as our breathing became heavier. He lifted me up, wrapping my legs around his soaked torso and pushing me lightly against the wall of rocks behind us. A moan escaped my lips as his mouth traveled down to a sweet spot on my neck.

“Ray,” I breathed. I was suddenly very aware of the way his mouth felt against my skin and I yearned for more.

He let out a low rumble from his throat, his hands roaming over my back as we moved in a rhythm together. Slowly, the pain and strain washed away as if the falls baptized us with a chance of a new beginning. One hand slipped under my shirt, warmth against my cold skin, grazing my breasts. He peeled the fabric away from my body, tossing it to the rocks with a splat. I cursed myself for not changing out of it sooner, as the wet cotton was sure to stick later on.

My fingers fumbled at the hem of his shirt, running them over his visible muscles. As our mouths found each other again, he tasted like the saltiness of the lake, a zing that left my tongue tingling. Finally, the shirt released its hold on Raydir’s body, allowing me to run my hands along his bare skin as he kissed me, this time nipping at my ear. I curled my fingers in his hair, letting out small gasps as he pressed his body against mine.

Water from the falls rose up and flowed backwards, swirling around us and engulfing us in our own little bubble.

“What the—” Raydir pulled away and nearly dropped me, causing the water to come crashing down on top of us. “What just happened?”

“I-I don’t know.” I ran a hand through my wet hair. “The water just sort of…I don’t even know. You seem concerned about that.”

Raydir shook his head. “I’m not concerned, just surprised. Your wolf is still concealed, so how is your power showing up? But you don’t seem bothered by it—has this happened before?”

“Not exactly. There was this one time where the water seemed to sort of blend around me so I was able to see underwater, but it wasn’t a big deal.”

“Interesting.” He licked his lips but didn’t say anything more. “We should get back.”

I took his hand and we disappeared back through the falls, swimming to dry land. Darius was there waiting for us when we arrived. He leaned back against a tree.

“I see you two have made up,” he commented, nodding to us in turn.

“It’s just been a lot to process.” I smiled up at Raydir. “But he’s worth all of it. So, have you just been waiting for us out here this whole time?”

“Nah, I talked with Caesaria and made another visit to the Swap Shop at the Grand Cabin and…why are you looking at me like that?”

“What?” I crossed my arms over my chest.

A crease formed between Darius’s eyebrows. “I get that I’m not your favorite person, but I should be here for this next Alignment.”

“To what? Babysit?” I scoffed. “I appreciate you telling me that I’m gonna shift on the Alignment, but your services are no longer needed. We can handle it from here. Don’t you think you’ve been here long enough?”

Darius glanced at Raydir with raised eyebrows. “Look, Ar, I—”

“You don’t get to call me that, Darius.”

“Fine. Arwyn, I told you that the pact sort of makes us a package deal. I have to stay and—”

“Babysit.”

“Monitor the situation. And because there is more to the curse than just the shift.”

“We already know her gift,” Raydir piped up.

I whacked his arm. “And apparently we’re just gonna tell Darius now?” The less he knew about us, the better.

Raydir glanced at me. “First of all, ow. And second—”

“Raydir thinks my power has something to do with water because when we were, uh, behind the falls, there was a moment where the water sort of embraced us. It wasn’t a big deal, except that this doofus almost dropped me.”

“Why would—you know what, I don’t wanna know.” Darius smirked. “But that does sound like it’s your power.”

The dinner bell tolled in the distance.

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“We should head back to the Grand Cabin,” Raydir said. “We can talk about this more later.”

I didn’t want to leave just yet. Darius still had some serious explaining to do. Like how he knew he would be my Chosen.

“You go ahead,” I said, kissing his cheek. “We’ll catch up.”

Once Raydir was out of view, I turned to address Darius, poking my finger at his chest. “Why do you always have to go and ruin everything?”

Darius smirked. “You don’t like that I crashed your moment with Raydir.”

“You’re meddling where you don’t belong. And you’re still here so spit it out. What do you want?”

Darius sighed. “You have your power which is a good thing. But it also means that the pact will now only last until the Alignment.”

“Can I ask you something?” We started walking back toward the Grand Cabin.

“Sure.”

“You said that because of the pact, you have a connection with both me and Raydir. I thought only mates could do that? You know, have a link.”

Darius scratched the back of his neck. “Only mates have a secure link bond. But that link becomes more established after the, er, marking.”

My fingers flew to the spot on my neck where Raydir had teased just minutes before. Did he know? “So what does it mean if he hasn’t, um, marked me yet since we’re going into the second Alignment?” I mentally kicked myself. If he didn’t, he does now. Good job.

“It doesn’t mean much,” he said. “You still chose him. You’re still his. But you are still eligible in the eyes of wolf law.”

I raised my eyebrows. “Wolf law? Is that something else I should know about?”

“In due time. For now—” he paused, suddenly on alert.

“What?”

Don’t say anything. Just trust me.

Trust you?! Why should I tru—

He pushed me behind a tree, our bodies closer than they had ever been before. I could feel his heartbeat against my chest.

“What was that about?” I hissed.

Don’t say anything.

“Stop doing that! For the love of—” he cut me off by pressing his lips against mine. My body fought to resist him at first but slowly melted at his touch. He tasted like honey, which was a contrast from the saltiness on Raydir’s lips from earlier. The air smelled musty, as if it were going to rain, and I wondered just how much my emotions could control water—or weather. My hands fell awkwardly at my sides, as he wrapped his around my waist, pulling me against him. Did it feel…good…to kiss him? What was I even doing?!

I pushed away from him. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?!”

“I heard something. And it didn’t sound safe.”

“And that’s how you tell someone there’s a threat?” I flailed my arms. “You’re insane, Darius! I have a boyfriend!”

He peeked out from behind the tree. “We should be clear now.”

I brushed my finger lightly over my lips. They gave off a slight tingle from the kiss. “So can we go back now?” As fast as I could, I wanted to get far away from Darius. He was the last thing I needed today.

***

Everyone was already gathered outside of the Grand Cabin, seated at wooden picnic tables, when we arrived. Several servers came around with plates of rainbow macrou that Caesaria and I had caught earlier in the day.

Caesaria waved me over, but when she caught sight of me standing awkwardly next to Darius, her eyes changed to a stormy grey from their usual blue.

“I…Later,” I said to Darius, rushing over to my friend.

She glared at me, stabbing forcefully at her fish.

“Ok what did I do?” I asked her, keeping my voice low as I accepted a plate from one of the servers. Tonight we were having green beans served with the macrou, grown in one of the Darqua valley gardens.

Caesaria pursed her lips in thought before answering. “You know how I can sense things about you—or anyone else—with just a glance?”

“Yeah.”

“Something happened between you two, didn’t it?” Another stab at the fish.

I looked down at my plate. ‘Pulsating’ sounded intense. And it had only been one little kiss. Because he was trying to shut you up, moron. Then why did it feel so good?

Looking through the crowd, Raydir caught my eye from across the fire, giving me a small nod before turning back to Bennett and Darius. They were all deep in conversation, most likely about the next Alignment.

I turned back to Caesaria. “One kiss doesn’t mean anything, Cae.”

“Wait a minute. You kissed him?”

“Before you read anything into it, we were talking and he sensed danger. So he pulled me behind a tree.”

“And he kissed you?” She raised her eyebrows. “With no regard for your relationship whatsoever.”

“He was protecting me from danger,” I protested, although it wasn’t clear whether I was trying more to convince her or myself.

“A kiss is still a kiss, Ar. And it’s worse that you even felt something with it.”

“How do you know that was me and not him? And are you sure you aren’t letting your own feelings cloud your judgement? I know you’re still in love with him—”

“Let’s get one thing clear.” Her voice burned as deadly as the fire. “I am not in love with him. I have never been in love with him. But you…you have Raydir. Why the hell do you need Darius too?”

“I never said I wanted him!” I protested, my voice rising higher than I wanted it to.

“Well, actions certainly speak louder than words, don’t they?” She abruptly stood up and dumped her half-eaten meal into the fire.

When she returned, her next words turned my heart to ice. “Just remember who it is that gave up everything to be with you, nearly sacrificed himself so that you wouldn’t shift right away. Think about that for a change, hmm?”

Raydir. I froze.

Dammit, I was supposed to meet him.

Without another word, I ran back toward our cabin and threw open the door. Raydir was sitting on the couch staring at the wall with his arms crossed over his chest.

“Oh my God. Ray, I’m so sorry, I—”

He put up his hand to stop me. “I’m not going to say anything because he showed up, so let’s just try to enjoy a nice romantic evening together without any mention of you-know-who.”

I swallowed and nodded silently. Raydir stood up from the couch. At first, I thought he was going to just walk away. Then he swept me into his arms, pressing his lips against mine while his fingers ran lightly over my back. My clothes were still damp from the waterfall. I leaned into his touch, weaving my fingers through his hair as I let his kisses wash away the feeling of Darius from my lips.

“Ray, I have to tell you something.” The guilt was eating me up inside.

He pulled back. “What’s wrong?”

“When you left the lake,” I started slowly and Raydir’s eyes narrowed, “something happened. There was something following us, so Darius pushed us behind a tree and then he sort of, um, kissed me.” I winced at how fake the story sounded. I was seriously going to slap Darius.

“He kissed you.” Raydir repeated.

I nodded. “But I stopped it. I told him he couldn’t do that and he knows that you and I are dating, so it was entirely out of line.”

“Damn straight,” he muttered. “So he kissed you and then what?”

Outside, the sky was beginning to turn different shades of orange. Soon it would be too dark for us to enjoy a sunset dinner, although I wasn’t sure either of us could enjoy it right now.

“And then I came back to where everyone was having dinner,” I said.

Raydir mulled this over, not speaking. “And it didn’t mean anything?”

“Of course not! He just ambushed me and I stopped it as fast as I could.” My heart pounded in my chest. I couldn’t mess this up with Raydir. Now I was really going to smack Darius.

“I know. I trust you, Ar.” He brushed the back of his hand over my cheek. “Darius on the other hand, I don’t trust.”

“And you have every reason not to trust him,” I said. “I won’t be around him anymore. I can’t stand the fact he’s been here this long. Maybe he’ll leave after the Alignment—”

Raydir raised his hand to stop me. “As much as I’d enjoy Darius leaving and never coming back, he knows things. He’s dealt with this a lot longer than us and we’re kind of stuck with him.”

I frowned. We were at least stuck with him until our mind link ceased to exist. Maybe once the Alignment hit, once Raydir and I completed the marking, Darius could leave us alone for good. By now, the sky had darkened and our plans of a romantic dinner together whisked out the window.

“Not exactly the evening you had planned, huh?” I asked, leaning my head against his chest.

Raydir kissed my hair. “We’ll take a raincheck.”

My frown deepened. “Ray—”

“Arwyn, please.” He swallowed and pain swam in his eyes. “I don’t want to do this. I don’t want to fight about Darius tonight. If I’m not allowed to fight with him, then we can’t fight about him either.”

I sat up. “Can we, I mean, can I do anything to make it better?”

Raydir shook his head. “We can just stop talking about it. Because the more I think about him kissing you, the angrier I get. And I don’t want to be angry.”

I nodded silently. We sat there together, tension growing between us, until Raydir stood up from the sofa. He pressed a soft kiss to my temple then went into the bedroom. Guilt flowed through me as I thought about everything that had happened.

If only I’d pushed Darius away before the kiss.

If only I hadn’t felt anything.

If only.