Chapter 15: The Friction of Dawn

The ride back from the clearing was a silent symphony of seismic shifts. The air in the car was thick with the aftermath of the kiss, a potent mixture of lingering passion, shell-shocked awe, and the cold, creeping tendrils of reality. My lips still tingled, a phantom brand of his claim. My body hummed with the echo of the bond, now a vibrant, completed circuit rather than a frayed, painful thread. We had crossed a line, and there was no map for the territory on the other side. He didn't take...