THE AFTERMATH OF POWER

Cassian didn’t stop moving.

His arms stayed tight around me as he carried me through the darkened forest, his steps fast and deliberate, his breath coming in short, sharp bursts.

I wasn’t sure if it was from the fight.

Or from what had just happened.

What he had just done.

My fingers curled weakly against his shirt, my body heavy from blood loss, but I forced myself to focus.

Because I could still feel it.

The raw power rolling off him, the way his entire body was rigid, his jaw locked so tightly that I thought it might snap.

He hadn’t said a word since the fight ended.

And that silence was worse than the battle itself.

“Cassian,” I whispered, my voice hoarse.

Nothing.

He didn’t slow.

Didn’t react.

I tried again, pressing a weak hand against his chest. “You have to stop.”

His grip on me tightened, as if I had just said something ridiculous.

“I’m getting you somewhere safe,” he growled, his voice gravelly, his red eyes still flashing with uncontrolled power.

I swallowed hard. “And then what?”

His jaw ticked.

I pushed harder. “Cassian, what happens when the next fight comes? When they send more?”

Still—nothing.

My patience snapped.

My fingers dug into his shirt, forcing his eyes to meet mine. “You can’t keep losing yourself like that.”

Cassian stopped walking.

The moment his boots hit solid ground, he lowered me onto the forest floor gently, but his hands didn’t move away.

They stayed on my waist, firm, unrelenting, like he wasn’t ready to let go.

Like he was afraid that if he did.

He would shatter completely.

The moonlight spilled over us, illuminating the blood on his face, the shadows still coiling dangerously around his shoulders.

His breathing was ragged.

I could feel the war inside him, the battle between who he was and what he was becoming.

And I hated it.

Hated that he thought he had to fight alone.

I lifted a shaky hand, brushing my fingers against his jaw, against the tension in his clenched muscles.

He flinched at the touch.

But he didn’t pull away.

He just stared at me, his red eyes burning with something raw, something desperate.

“You’re scaring yourself,” I murmured.

Cassian let out a harsh exhale, his hands flexing against me. “You don’t understand what I felt back there.”

“I do,” I whispered. “I felt it too.”

He stiffened, his fingers twitching against my skin.

I swallowed hard, forcing the next words out. “I saw what you were becoming, Cassian. And I’m not afraid of you.”

His entire body locked up.

I wasn’t sure what I expected.

But I didn’t expect him to grab my face, his grip urgent, his red eyes flashing with something unhinged.

“You should be,” he snarled, his voice barely more than a growl.

I blinked. “Why?”

Cassian let out a bitter laugh, his grip on me tightening. “Because I almost lost myself tonight. I almost became something else—something I can’t control, something I can’t come back from.”

His forehead pressed against mine, his breathing heavy.

“And the worst part?” His voice was low now, almost broken.

“The worst part is that I wanted to.”

A shiver ran through me.

Not from fear.

From understanding.

Because I knew what he meant.

That power had felt good.

It had felt right.

Cassian had spent his entire life holding himself back, refusing to become the monster the world already believed him to be.

But tonight...

Tonight, he had let go.

And part of him had liked it.

I lifted my hands, cupping his scarred, bloodied face, forcing him to look at me.

“That’s why you need me,” I whispered.

Cassian’s breath hitched.

I pushed closer, my fingers brushing along his jaw, his lips, the tension in his throat.

“I will pull you back, Cassian,” I whispered. “Every time.”

His chest rose and fell sharply, his eyes flickering to my lips, to my neck where his mark was still fresh.

I could feel it—the bond tugging between us, urging him closer, whispering to both of us that we were meant to be tangled together like this.

I could hear his thoughts through the bond, the raw desperation inside him.

Don’t do this to me.

Don’t make me want this more than I already do.

But I did.

And so did he.

I pressed closer, my lips barely brushing his. “We have to stop pretending.”

Cassian let out a shaky exhale, his grip crushing on my hips.

He was kissing me again.

Not like before.

Not like the rushed, desperate clash of fire and war we had shared when he first claimed me.

This was slower, deeper—like he was memorizing every part of me, like he was surrendering to the thing he had been fighting since the moment we met.

I melted into him, my fingers tangling in his hair, my body pressing against his as the bond flared brighter between us.

Cassian let out a low growl, breaking the kiss just long enough to drag his lips down my jaw, my throat, the place where his mark still tingled on my skin.

“I can’t lose you,” he murmured against my skin.

“You won’t.”

He pulled back, his eyes flickering with doubt.

“You don’t know that.”

I swallowed hard. “I do. Because you won’t let it happen.”

Cassian let out a slow breath, his forehead resting against mine again, his hands still gripping me like he was afraid to let go.

For the first time since we met, Cassian looked lost.

And I realized.

I wasn’t just his mate.

I was his anchor.

The thing keeping him from falling completely into the darkness.

Maybe he was mine too.