“Say it,” he breathed, his voice tinged with a raw intensity. “What I’ve known since the moment we met. What I felt deep in my bones the first time I kissed you. What solidified between us on Solstice night.”

You clenched your jaw, refusing to speak, the silence stretching taut between you.

Cassian’s patience snapped, his voice rising in a shout that echoed across the river, loud enough for anyone nearby to hear. “I am your mate, for fuck’s sake! You are my mate! Why are you still fighting it?”