He broke the kiss only to trail his mouth down her throat, over her collarbone, following the path his hands had blazed. When his lips finally closed over one taut peak, Yueshuang's fingers tangled in his hair, not to pull him away, but to hold him there, anchored to this moment, to this feeling. His tongue laved and teased, and the sensation was so acute, so overwhelmingly intimate, that it felt less like pleasure and more like a piece of her fractured soul clicking back into place.
He worshipped her this way, with his hands and his mouth, until she was pliant and boneless against him, her earlier fears drowned in a rising tide of sensation and a love that felt as ancient as the mountains. There were no more thoughts of cages or chains, only the undeniable rightness of his skin against hers, his breath mingling with her sighs, and the storm outside that paled in comparison to the one they were weathering in each other's arms.
Lian held her through the aftershocks, his own body thrumming with a need he would not yet state, for this, this reconnection, this silent romance of touch, was more important than culmination. He pulled the silken robe closed, wrapping her once more, and gathered her tightly against his chest, where her ear was pressed over the frantic, powerful beat of his heart.
"Sleep, my heart," he breathed into her hair, his voice thick with an emotion too vast for words. "I love you to the moon and back...."
The storm outside finally began to recede, its thunder fading into a low, distant grumble, as if heaven itself had conceded. In its wake, a profound silence settled over the room, broken only by the soft, shared rhythm of their breathing. The frantic energy that had crackled between them had melted into a deep, resonant calm, a settled warmth that seeped into their very bones.
Yueshuang lay nestled against him, her head pillowed on his chest. The whirlwind of fear, desire, and confusion had quieted, soothed by the deliberate, worshipful cadence of his hands and the steady, sure beat of his heart beneath her ear. The questions about the past, the anxieties about the future, they were still there, but they felt smaller now, held at bay by the fortress of his embrace. Her body, still humming with the echoes of his touch, felt both new and deeply familiar, a reclaimed territory of the soul.
Lian held her, his arms a living bond around her. The desperate edge of his hunger had been tempered, not gone, but transformed into a fierce, unwavering certainty. He pressed one last, lingering kiss to her forehead, a seal upon the peace they had forged.
"Rest now," he whispered, the words a soft command and a tender promise woven together. "I will guard you."
— — — — —
The corridor outside Yuwen Lian's quarters was silent, but the rain whispering against the eaves was loud and could be heard.
Yuwen Jian walked ahead, his steps steady, his composure unshaken. But beside him, Yuwen Lin moved like a shadow at his flank, head slightly bowed, eyes narrowed, the faint shimmer of his wolf irises still glowing in the dim lantern light.
"Ge," Lin said at last, his voice low, taut. "You smelled it too, didn't you?"
Jian didn't answer immediately. He exhaled through his nose, the scent memory still lingering, the charged, unmistakable trace of two wolves on the brink of heat. It clung to his senses like smoke, refusing to fade.
"I smelled something," he said finally, calm but guarded. " But that doesn't mean what you think it does. You shouldn't conclude things!"
Lin gave a short, humorless laugh, " Doesn't it? That wasn't ordinary contact, Jian-ge. You know the difference. Her pheromones were calling his. Luna-level heat, amplified by bond resonance. That doesn't just happen by accident. It's a mate bond..."
Jian's jaw tightened. " Careful, Lin. You're implying something dangerous. You'd better have proof to back up your insinuations."
Lin stopped walking, his gaze sharp as the edge of a drawn blade, "I'm implying what every wolf would sense if they stepped into that room, I'm not a weirdo. Tell me, since when does a Luna's scent blend that perfectly with a wolf who isn't her fated mate? Since when did that happen if they aren't mates?"
Jian's silence was answer enough.
He finally turned, meeting his younger brother's gaze, voice quieter now, carrying weight. "We don't know what this curse has done to either of them. Yueshuang has been sick, and Lian has been unstable since her fall. You said it yourself, her aura feels off from the moment she woke up from her unconsciousness. Until we know the truth, we speak of this to no one. Not even Father should know this! Absolutely no one, keep your mouth shut..."