Page 16 of Heart of the Rebel Mate

She stares at me, her lips parted slightly, her green eyes wide with shock.

"That's why Cassian is dangerous," I continue. "Because he's a threat to the Council. And if you align yourself with him, if you give the Council any reason to believe you're working against them?—"

"Then what?" she cuts me off, her voice trembling with anger. "What happens then, Adrian? Do they destroy me, too? Like they've destroyed so many others?"

The air between us crackles with tension, and I can feel my wolf stirring beneath the surface, responding to the heat in her voice, and the fire in her eyes.

"Elara," I start, but the words catch in my throat.

"No," she says, shaking her head. "You don't get to lecture me about threats, Adrian. Not when you're part of the same system that's trying to control everything I'm building."

"I'm trying to keep you safe," I say, my voice softer now.

Her laugh is bitter, hollow. "Safe? Funny how you keep mentioning this word. Who exactly are you protecting me from? From Cassian? Because it looks like I need protecting from you."

The words land like a strike, knocking the air from my lungs in a way I don't expect.

My mouth parts, instinct driving me to argue, todeny?—

But nothing comes.

No words. No quick rebuttal. Just silence.

Because I don't know the answer.

My fists clench at my sides, the nails biting into my palms. The air feels heavier, pressing in around me, thick with something unspoken, something I can't push away.

And then?—

Heat.

It starts as a slow, simmering warmth beneath my ribs, deep and steady, but then itgrows. The heat spreads outward, curling around my spine, and sinking into my skin. The world around us dulls—the flickering torches, the distant murmurs of wolves watching, whispering, plotting.

All of it fades.

All I can feel isher.

Her breath is uneven. The scent of her skin, something soft beneath all that fire. The way her pulse stutters, matches the erratic rhythm of my own.

My stomach tightens. My wolf, restless all night,awakens.

A deep,pullingsensation tightens between us, unseen butundeniable, like an invisible thread knotting itself into place. A tether—something binding, somethingfinal.

Somethingmine.

My vision sharpens, my instincts roaring to the surface.

Iknow.

And when my gaze locks onto hers, I see the same realization slamming into her.

Elara's breath catches, her pupils dilating as something flickers behind her expression—confusion, shock,recognition. Her hand trembles at her side before curling into a fist.

"No." The word is barely a whisper, her voice raw, uneven.

The warmth flares again, the connection pulsing between us. My wolfshifts,presses, urges me to move toward her, to claim what's already ours?—

But then she shakes her head, stepping back like she's trying to shake free of it.

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