AUTHOR NOTE: Try the song "We Fall Apart" by We As Human while reading this chapter. It's the song that speaks Etan's heart to me in this scene.
*****
ETAN
Holding her, finally, was a balm to Etan's soul. All the questions, all the doubts still swirled in his head. But his heart… his heart broke open like a ripe plum. He had to caution himself before he squeezed her so hard he stopped her breath.
"Ayleth," he whispered into her hair.
She nodded against his chest and clung back just as tightly. "I know. Me too."
He clawed both hands into her hair from her temples, drawing her head back so she looked up at him, then he took her mouth and a shudder rocked through his entire body—the tingles of thrill and joy, the tectonic shift of fear, the primal drive to possess.
She was his and only his and he couldn't live without her.
