He walked over to the bed, chest glistening with moisture, a towel the only thing separating us. I crooked my finger at him, raising my eyebrows seductively. He grinned and leaned over the bed, heat radiating off of his naked body. My fingers pulled at the towel, releasing its hold on his waist. Slowly, his lips grazed against mine as his fingers connected with my hands. He lifted my arms into a locked position over my head. Warmth spread all throughout my body as he shifted on top of me. His mouth took its time to pepper kisses along my jawline, down my neck, to the valley between my breasts. I melted beneath his touch, my body obeying his every command.

“Ray,” I moaned happily, biting back my desire as his tongue flickered against one of my nipples playfully. He released my hands momentarily and I took the advantage, curling them into his hair as my back arched to meet him. His hands grazed the inside of my thighs; a gasp escaped my lips in response to his touch. My heart beat faster and my eyes closed as he thrust on top of me, both of us reaching a state of pure arousal. Fireworks exploded between us. There was nothing more I wanted in the moment than him.

“I love you,” I whispered as he released me.

“I love you, too.” His voice came out husky and rough. When I opened my eyes, I was met with a steel blue-eyed gaze instead of green.

I gasped, bolting straight up in bed. I whacked the body sleeping next to me with a pillow. “Raydir!”

“Hm? Wha-what happened? What’s wrong? What did I do?” He rubbed sleep out of his eyes. I studied them; green, that was good.

“Arwyn?” He frowned and reached out to brush my hair away from my cheek.

I breathed a sigh of relief and flopped back down on the mattress. “Nothing. Just a dream.”

Raydir rolled over sleepily and soon he was back to snoring lightly.

Last night, I’d stayed up for a while when Raydir had gone to bed as I contemplated things. And I’d made a decision: for the sake of my boyfriend, I would put space between myself and Darius. I didn’t need him breaking apart what Ray and I had worked so hard to build. When I’d come in for bed, I only came in to get my nightgown. I figured Ray might want some time alone. But he’d mumbled my name and reached out an arm for me, so I reluctantly crawled into bed with him.

After my dream, sleep decided it had had enough. So once the sun had risen over the horizon, I quietly slipped out of bed to go clear my head. Raydir was still snoring peacefully, so I leaned over the bed and pressed a kiss to his cheek.

I went to the spot in the clearing by the lake that Caesaria and I had taken up as our archery spot. It was peaceful and where I practiced the best. I hoped today would be no exception.

Thwap. The first arrow embedded itself into the target. Last night was a disaster. Sure, the shared moment with Raydir behind the falls was amazing, but then I had to go and ruin it by getting too hyped in the moment.

Thwap. Then Darius invaded his way into my mind. I could still feel the way his lips tasted on mine and how his hands pressed gently against my waist.

Thwap. And of course, my dream.

I notched another arrow, focusing all my energy on the target. Why was it that when I felt so comfortable with Raydir, my mind decided to spew out new possibilities? What was it about Darius that had me weak in the knees? Maybe it was that stupid smirk he couldn’t seem to wipe from his face. Maybe it was the cerulean blue of his eyes. Maybe it was the way his muscles rippled or the thought of how it would truly feel to have him on top of me, delicately kissing every inch of my body…

Whoosh. The last arrow surpassed the target completely.

I blew out a puff of air and went to retrieve it. In the distance, I heard the sounds of someone grunting. As I pushed through the brush, the outline of a person came into view, along with the arrow jutting from his arm. I let out a gasp as I realized what had just happened. I shot Darius with an arrow while thinking about how good it would feel to be kissed all over by him.

What a way to go.

“Darius!”

He groaned in response. I ran toward where he lay on the ground, clearly in pain.

“Was this you?” he managed to get out.

I dropped to my knees beside him. “You have to know I had no intention of hurting you. I didn’t even know anyone was out here.”

This wasn’t what I meant when I said I wanted to smack him! I internally screamed.

He winced. “Not your fault, Arwyn. But it would be nice if we could get this arrow out of my arm.”

“Right. Let’s get you to the healers. Can you stand?”

“Yes, but I was hoping you could get it out.” His breath came out in short gasps.

“Me?” I squeaked.

“Yes, you. I trust you to do this.” He tilted his head at me.

I nodded. I didn’t know why he trusted me, but that didn’t matter right now. My fingers fumbled with the fabric of his shirt, then paused. “Um, I’m going to need to rip your shirt to make a tourniquet.”

“That’s fine. Just do it quickly.”

I smirked. “Not exactly what a girl wants to hear.”

Darius laughed, offering me a smile amidst his pain. “Feisty, aren’t we?”

“Shut up and stay still!” I wrapped the cloth around the arrow. “This is gonna hurt a bit. Should I count to three?”

“Yes.”

“Okay. One, two—”

“Wait, no! I changed my mind!”

“Too late, three!”

Darius howled in pain, his voice echoing through the entire valley. So much for peace and quiet. Once the arrow was out, I quickly wrapped another piece of fabric around his arm, pulling it taut around the wound.

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“There.” My fingers lingered on his arm for just a moment too long, his skin warm beneath my grasp. I cleared my throat. “Now we really need to take you to the healers to make sure you don’t get an infection.”

“Right.” He drew his gaze up to meet mine.

Damn those blue eyes. I swallowed, hoping he couldn’t hear my heartbeat. “We should get back.”

I stood up and started to walk away. “You coming or what?”

Darius smirked and followed me. We walked in a brief silence back toward the cabins. The entire time I waited for Darius to say something, anything. The silence was just becoming too much for me, and I couldn’t take it anymore. “So are we going to talk about yesterday?”

“Which part? A lot of things happened yesterday.” He clutched his arm as we maneuvered around a branch that stuck out from a tree.

“The kiss. Why did you have to kiss me?”

“Well technically, I didn’t have to.”

“But you did.” I stopped and crossed my arms over my chest. “You haven’t told me why. You just…did.”

“I told you there was a threat. And you wouldn’t stop talking—”

“So you kissed me because I wouldn’t stop talking.” I let the words roll over my tongue. In all honesty, it seemed like something I would do with Raydir. But with Ray, it would’ve been romantic. With Darius, it was just plain unnecessary. “And that was the only way? The only thing you could think of?”

Darius let out a nervous chuckle. “It was spur of the moment. I wasn’t thinking straight.”

I scoffed. “That’s a terrible apology.”

“What else do you want to know?” he asked, ignoring my comment.

I kicked the ground with the toe of my boot. “How does our connection go away?”

"Once the protection is lifted on the Alignment, we won’t have the connection anymore," he said. "But there could be another reason.”

“What’s that?” I asked.

“There have been some cases when a maiden accepts her Chosen that they, despite still having a dormant wolf spirit, can connect with them through their thoughts,” he explained. “Many believe it’s myth or superstition. Others call it ‘mind reading’.”

I thought about my ceremony. Did saying yes to Darius open a gateway between our minds too? And if it did, what would that mean for me and Raydir?

“Here we are.” We entered the medical cabin, and one of the healers took Darius to a table.

“What happened?” she asked, glaring at me.

“Archery incident,” Darius said. “It was my fault entirely.”

The healer continued to glare at me disapprovingly. “Let me get the salve.”

“Why did you lie to her?” I asked once she left.

“Because it was an accident, and you shouldn’t have to take responsibility for that. Plus, in a way it was my fault.”

I froze. “How was it your fault? I’m the one who shot the arrow.”

“You shot Darius?”

Raydir’s voice caught me off guard, and I turned to see him walking over to us holding a bowl of salve. Since modifying his training schedule, Ray had turned to studying medicinal herbs and had quickly become one of the best healers in the valley. We learned his power was plant manipulation, and he had put it to good use.

“It was an accident,” I clarified. “ I went to the range because archery helps me ease my mind. And then I slipped and one of my arrows missed the target.”

“Then how did it embed itself into Darius’ arm?” Raydir removed the tourniquet, turning his arm over roughly. “Mm, you did a nice job with this.”

Darius winced in pain. “Careful!”

Raydir took the salve and carefully spread it on the wound. Darius hissed at the touch. “Hold still.”

“I’m trying.”

Raydir turned to me. “Arwyn, you seem to be very distracting for Darius right now.” There was an edge of irritation in his voice.

His words twisted my heart, but he was right. He was absolutely right. Darius couldn’t keep still, his gaze kept traveling over to me and he wouldn’t shut up.

I thrust my thumb over my shoulder. “I’ll just be outside.” I got up and left the medical cabin without a glance back.

The fire from the night before had died out, turning the rocks beneath an ash white color.

Footsteps approached behind me. Given the slight hesitation in their steps, it could only be one person.

“So, you shot Darius?” Caesaria asked. There were no traces of anger in her voice which pleased me, although my guilt was still present.

“It was an accident. I didn’t even know he was there. I don’t normally miss when I practice, but today I was just—”

“Thinking about him?” She sat beside me on one of the logs. “Arwyn, I’m sorry about yesterday. I know your kiss with him didn’t mean anything. You told Raydir, right?”

I nodded. “He let it slide because Darius had been protecting me from something but he was still upset. And I don’t blame him for that. I mean, I had just told him that I felt nothing for Darius. Why would I turn around and do something that showed the complete opposite?” And it was true. I have no idea what changed to spark those thoughts about him in my head.

“Maybe the Alignment is messing with your head,” she offered, as if reading my mind.

I raised my eyebrows.

“What? I can sense your feelings, remember?”

I blew out a puff of air. “Yeah, I forgot about that. Can I ask why it meant so much to you yesterday?”

She gave me a small smile. “I didn't tell you this before, but he was my best friend. A few months older than me, he wanted to protect me, especially when he found out about my power. During the school incident, he froze. He wanted to help me, but couldn’t.”

I nodded, remembering the story Darius had told me.

“Then there was the incident when I shifted and I injured him. We never got the chance to talk about it, and having him here now brings up all sorts of feelings and memories. Plus, two empatis together makes for a very…intense amount of feelings.”

“Empa-what?”

“Empatis. That’s what our gift is called since Darius and I can both feel emotions and desires of other people.”

“So then what’s mine called?” I looked down at my hands.

Caesaria raised her eyebrows. “Did you find your gift already?”

I nodded. “Yesterday after Darius got here, Raydir and I got into an argument. When I went to find him, we kissed behind the waterfall. And then he almost dropped me because the water had sort of woven its way toward us of its own free will.

“Ah, I see. An acquator. Water bender. That makes a lot of sense. And what about Raydir?”

“Plant manipulation. That’s why he’s been working as a healer. It’s fantastic, really.”

“He’s a chlorovoltae. Speaking of…” She inclined her head to a spot behind me. I turned and smiled as Raydir walked toward us. The sleeves of his shirt were rolled up to his elbows, exposing the toned muscles in his arms.

“Hey,” he greeted me with a kiss.

“Hi. Are you ready for lunch?”

Ray scratched the back of his head. “Actually, the healers need me at the med cabin all afternoon, so I won’t be able to have lunch with you after all.”

“Oh. That’s ok. How’s um, how’s Darius?”

“He’ll live. We're releasing him in a few.”

I breathed a sigh of relief. “Good. I didn’t mean for Darius to get caught in the middle. And about last night—”

“I know. I’m not mad at you for last night, Ar.” He glanced back at the medical cabin. “Listen, I have to head back. But I’ll see you tonight, right?”

I kissed him again. He kept his hands on my waist, pulling me firmly against his body. I melted into his touch. “See you tonight.” Once he left I turned back to Caesaria who locked eyes once again on a spot behind me and stood up.

“Gee, look at the time. I have places to be, so I’ll catch you later, Ar.”

“Don’t you dare—” My nostrils flared.

She hurried away, leaving me stunned.