When the last embers of the ritual fire dimmed and the crowd began to drift toward their huts, Charlisa tugged Kael's hand. His body still carried the tremor of the beast, his breath uneven, but he followed her silently through the narrow paths of the village until they reached the shelter they shared.
Rain drummed softly on the roof, the rhythm steady and calming, like a heartbeat above them. Inside, the fire crackled low, casting amber shadows across Kael's broad shoulders. His tunic clung damply to his frame, but he didn't move to strip it away — he only watched her, as though afraid that if he blinked, she might vanish.
Charlisa stepped closer, her bare feet whispering against the woven mats. She reached up, her fingers brushing the damp hair from his brow. His skin was warm, flushed with the aftershock of transformation, and she could feel the wild energy still humming beneath the surface.
"You carry so much," she murmured. "For the village, for me… for yourself."
Kael's jaw tightened. "I fear one day the beast will take more than I can give."
Her lips curved into the faintest smile. She leaned in, pressing her forehead against his chest. "Then let me carry some of it with you."
That broke him. His arms wrapped around her, fierce and desperate, pulling her against him as if she were the only anchor in his storm. She felt the strength in him, the tension of restrained power, but also the tenderness that only he showed her.
Slowly, carefully, she tugged at his damp tunic until he let it fall away. The firelight painted his body in bronze and shadow — scars etched like stories across his skin. She traced them with her fingertips, reverent, not of the pain but of the survival they marked. His breath caught when she lingered on the deepest scar near his ribs, and he caught her hand, pressing a kiss to her palm.
"Charlisa…" his voice broke on her name, half a plea, half a confession.
She silenced him with a kiss, soft at first, then deepening as her fingers tangled in his hair. The beast within him stirred again, she could feel it in the way his muscles tightened, but he let it flow into his touch — not violence, not loss of control, but an intensity that belonged only to their love.
The rain grew heavier outside, but inside the hut, time slowed. They moved together with a quiet urgency, the fire's glow illuminating their whispered promises, their sighs, their unspoken vow that no matter what form Kael carried — man or beast — her heart belonged wholly to him.
When at last they lay tangled in the warmth of each other, the world outside seemed far away. Kael pressed his lips to her temple and murmured, "You make me more human than I ever thought I could be."
And Charlisa, drifting in the cocoon of their shared breath and heat, whispered back, "And you make me stronger than I ever thought I could be."