POV EMMA BELLE
The air in the cellar was thick with the copper tang of blood and the acrid stench of burnt ozone, but my senses were tuned to a completely different frequency. Every time I moved, every time I took a breath, I could still taste him. The ghost of Félix's lips lingered on mine like a brand of fire, and my soul was vibrating at a pitch so high it was almost painful.
"Emma! Focus!" Félix's voice snapped through the haze, but even his shout sent a traitorous jolt of heat straight to my core.
He was a whirlwind of motion, his daggers flashing as he dismantled the silver cage that held the children. But my inner wolf wasn't interested in the cage. She was pacing at the edge of my consciousness, her fur bristling, her golden eyes fixed on the curve of Félix's back, the way his muscles rippled under his damp tunic. She didn't just want his protection anymore. She wanted him. She was hungry, a primal, ancient need that had been awakened by that kiss and now refused to be silenced.
"The Inquisitors are down, but more are coming," I said, my voice sounding breathier than I intended. I raised my hands, and the violet light that erupted from my palms was brighter, more aggressive than before. It wasn't just power; it was a reflection of the fever burning in my blood.
"Get the kids out of here, Lixie," I commanded. The name felt like a caress on my tongue. "I'll hold the door."
Félix paused, glancing at me over his shoulder. His green eyes darkened as they swept over me, taking in my flushed cheeks and the way my chest was heaving. He felt it too. The air between us was practically humming with a physical pull that felt like gravity. For a second, the rescue, the Spire, and the Council disappeared. There was only the roar of my blood and the answering heat in his gaze.
"Emma..." he started, his voice a low, gravelly rasp.
"Go!" I urged, pushing a wave of kinetic energy toward the corridor to collapse the archway and buy us time.
As the children scrambled toward the ventilation shaft we had used to enter, I felt a sharp, possessive ache in my chest. My wolf was whining, a low, needy sound. She hated the distance. She wanted to mark him, to bury her face in his neck and never let go. It was more than love; it was a biological mandate. I was the White Queen, and he was the one who had unlocked my heart.
The rescue was a blur of adrenaline and desperation. We moved through the lower levels of the Obsidian Spire like ghosts, guided by Vincent's shadows and protected by the distant, thunderous distractions created by Damon and Nathaniel. But throughout it all, I was painfully aware of Félix's presence behind me. Every time his hand brushed my lower back to guide me through a turn, or his shoulder bumped mine in a narrow hallway, I felt a jolt that nearly brought me to my knees.
My skin felt too tight. My clothes felt abrasive. I was a vessel of light, but the light felt like liquid fire, and only Félix seemed to be the cooling rain I needed.
Finally, we reached the hidden exit near the base of the cliffs. The cold mountain air hit my face, but it did nothing to quench the fire inside. The children were safe, whisked away into the shadows by Vincent to a secondary fallback point.
We were alone in a small, ice-dusted ravine, hidden from the Spire by a massive outcropping of rock. The sounds of battle were distant echoes now.
Félix leaned against the stone wall, gasping for air. His blonde hair was matted with sweat and dust, his chest heaving under his torn tunic. He looked raw, lethal, and devastatingly beautiful.
I stood a few feet away, my hands trembling. The silence was heavy, charged with everything we hadn't said since that kiss in the dark.
"We did it," he whispered, wiping a smudge of blood from his lip. He looked at me, and the playful mask didn't return. His green eyes were filled with a raw, naked longing that mirrored my own. "You were incredible, Little Bird. The way you held that corridor... I've never seen anything like it."
"I couldn't have done it without you," I said, stepping closer. The distance felt like an insult. "I couldn't do anything without you, Lixie."
The name acted like a spark to a powder keg. Félix was across the gap in a heartbeat. He didn't hesitate this time. He grabbed my waist and hauled me against him, his mouth finding mine with a ferocity that stole the air from my lungs.
This wasn't the soft, questioning kiss from the ventilation shaft. This was a claim. It was desperate and hungry, a collision of two souls that had been starved for a lifetime. I wrapped my arms around his neck, my fingers tangling in his hair, pulling him closer until there wasn't a single atom of air between us.
My wolf let out a triumphant roar. Finally.
The white light flared around us, not as a weapon, but as a cocoon. It wrapped around our tangled bodies, shielding us from the cold. I could feel his heart thudding against mine, a wild, irregular rhythm that I wanted to dance to forever.
He pulled back just an inch, his lips brushing against mine as he spoke. "Emma... I can't... I can't think when you're like this. My wolf is screaming for you. I've never felt a pull this strong. It's like you're my sun and I'm just a planet finally falling into your orbit."
"Then fall," I whispered, my voice thick with a need I no longer cared to hide. "Don't stop, Lixie. Please."
He groaned, a low, animal sound that vibrated against my chest. He buried his face in the crook of my neck, his teeth grazing the sensitive skin right above the rejection mark Caleb had left. The pain was gone, replaced by a sensation so intense it made my toes curl in the snow.
He inhaled deeply, taking in my scent—the smell of ozone, moonflowers, and something uniquely me. "You smell like home," he murmured against my skin. "You smell like everything I never thought I deserved."
I pulled him back to me, my eyes searching his. The green was gone, replaced by a solid, glowing emerald. His wolf was at the surface, and mine was rising to meet him.
But as he leaned in to kiss me again, the golden tether in my soul gave a sharp, agonizing yank.
Damon.
I gasped, the connection to the other kings suddenly flooding back. I could feel Damon's fury, Nathaniel's cold focus, and a new, sharp pain. They were in trouble. The distraction had cost them.
Félix felt it too. He stiffened, his hands tightening on my hips. He let out a frustrated growl, resting his forehead against mine. "The others," he rasped, his eyes slowly fading back to their human green. "They're at the North gate. The Council... they brought out the High Guards."
The bubble burst. The heat in my blood didn't vanish, but it was tempered by the cold reality of the war. I looked at Félix, seeing the same struggle in his eyes. He wanted to stay here, in this ravine, and let the world burn as long as he could hold me. But he was a king, and I was his queen.
"We have to go," I said, the words feeling like ash in my mouth.
Félix closed his eyes for a second, taking one last, deep breath of my scent before stepping back. He didn't let go of my hand, though. He held it with a grip that promised he would never truly be far away.
"After this," he said, his voice regaining its steel. "After we get them out and burn that Spire to the ground... I'm not letting you go again, Emma. Not for a second."
I nodded, my heart still racing, my body still humming with the need he had ignited. "I'm counting on it, Lixie."
We turned together and began to run toward the sounds of the battle. The white light was no longer just a soft glow; it was a shimmering armor around both of us.
My inner wolf was still pacing, still hungry, but now she had a purpose. We weren't just fighting for the children or the throne anymore.
We were fighting for the right to belong to each other.
As we rounded the corner of the Spire and saw Damon and Nathaniel surrounded by a dozen silver-clad warriors, I didn't feel the fear of the Omega I used to be. I felt the fury of a woman who had finally found something worth living for.
"Lixie, left flank!" I shouted, the violet light exploding from my hands like a supernova.
"With you until the end, Little Bird!" he roared, leaping into the fray.
The war for the North was entering its bloodiest hour, but as I watched Félix move through the enemy like a golden storm, I knew that no matter what the Council did, they had already lost. Because they had given me the one thing they couldn't control.
They had given me a reason to be a monster. And I was going to be the most beautiful monster they had ever seen.