Total pages in book: 123
Estimated words: 119846 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 599(@200wpm)___ 479(@250wpm)___ 399(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 119846 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 599(@200wpm)___ 479(@250wpm)___ 399(@300wpm)
But he knew this—he would never let her out of his sight again—not if he could help it.
And if that little orange freak ever tried to take her again, Burn was going to tear the fucker limb from fucking limb.
20
BRIGHT
Bright didn’t know how long they lay like that—tangled together on the cold metal floor, both their bodies curved protectively around Noelle, holding her as though they could shield her from whatever had happened.
He only knew he didn’t want to let go. Not now. Not ever.
She felt so small between them…so breakable. Her body trembled faintly even in sleep, as if her muscles had forgotten how to rest. Her scent had changed—richer, sweeter, more potent—but under the surface, he could still taste the lingering edge of trauma. It clung to her like a second skin.
What had been done to her? Whatever it was, Bright was sure it had been bad. The strange connection between the three of them had told him that. It had been agony to feel her pain and be unable to go to her—it had almost driven Burn to the edge of madness.
Bright’s heart ached when he remembered the relentless pacing…the way Burn had punched the cell door and pulled against the bars like an animal desperate to escape. And that was only what he’d seen on this end—what had been happening to Noelle?
He tightened his arm around her shoulders, nestling her closer, tucking her tenderly against the curve of his body. Her head rested on Burn’s shoulder but she had one arm flung loosely back against Bright’s waist, as if she couldn’t decide which of them to hold.
You don’t have to choose, he thought. We’ll both hold you, sweetheart. Always.
He looked past her, to Burn.
His friend lay stiffly, eyes fixed on the wall beyond them, but Bright could feel the tension vibrating through his massive frame like a wire stretched too tight. Burn wasn’t shaking exactly—but he wasn’t calm either. His hand rested on Noelle’s torso, his fingers flexing every so often, as if they couldn’t decide whether to hold her tighter or let her go.
The pain rolling off him was quieter now, dulled by Noelle’s return. But it hadn’t gone away—not by a long shot.
Bright could still feel it—that deep, echoing ache that came from someplace so old and broken, Burn didn’t even have words for it. He never had—not since the day they met.
Burn had told him once—just once—that he’d been an orphan since the age of twelve. His voice had been flat and matter-of-fact. But when Bright had gently asked what happened, his friend had shut down so completely, it was like watching a door slam in his face.
He’d tried again once or twice, over the years. Soft questions…careful prodding. But Burn always recoiled, anger sparking behind his midnight eyes, retreating into himself with clenched fists and a steel jaw.
It’s not your business.
Drop it.
Forget it.
And so Bright had..mostly.
But that haunted look in Burn’s eyes tonight—the panic when Noelle was gone, the desperation in his voice, the cracked whisper of they never came back—it all told a story Bright didn’t have the full shape of yet. Just broken pieces…shadows of a nightmare too old and too deep to name.
He didn’t know what had happened to Burn’s family. But he knew this moment—this loss, even though it had only been temporary—had dragged it all back to the surface.
And now Burn was drowning again.
Goddess, Bright thought. Please let us keep her…let us keep each other. Please don’t take it all away.
He closed his eyes and breathed her in.
The scent of Noelle filled his lungs—sweet and intensely feminine. He didn’t know what the treatments had done to her, but it hadn’t changed who she was. She was still strong beneath the fragility…still Noelle.
And he cared for her—more than cared. There was something blooming inside him, slow and inevitable, something that had started the moment he laid eyes on her and had only grew stronger with every heartbeat they shared.
She was his—theirs.
He didn’t know how this would end—whether the Goddess would allow him and Burn to truly Bond her to them, or whether the curse of being two loners would damn them to failure.
But he knew what he wanted.
He wanted this. The three of them, together…safe and whole.
Bright opened his eyes and looked down at her again, brushing a strand of glossy black hair away from her cheek.
She sighed in her sleep and burrowed closer between them, sighing contentedly.
Burn still hadn’t spoken—he lay there like a statue, carved from pain. But at least he wasn’t alone.
None of us are alone anymore, Bright thought. Not if we stay together.
And he swore to himself he would die before he let himself be parted from either one of them.
21
NOELLE
Noelle woke to the sound of a loud metallic clunk and the hiss of the cell door sliding open.