"Every winter, we hold our breath." The words tumbled faster, urgency sharpening each one. "The young ones, the elders—they're vulnerable to human diseases in ways we don't fullyunderstand. A fever that would make you miserable could kill a child here. Every cough, every flush of skin..." I leaned forward, unable to stop myself. "We need someone with your training. Your instincts. Someone who sees my people as people, not curiosities."
She stared at me, moonlight painting her features in silver and shadow. "You're asking me to abandon everything I've built."
"I'm asking you to build something new." My voice dropped, gentler now. "I've watched you here, Jordan. Really watched you. When you're teaching the children about hygiene, when you're laughing with the weavers, when you're elbow-deep in the garden dirt—that's when you shine. Not when you talk about the hospital, about your life back there."
"That's not fair," she breathed, but the protest held no heat. Only something raw and frightened.
"Maybe not." I reached across the blanket, my hand hovering near hers—close enough to feel her warmth, far enough to give her space. "But tell me I'm wrong."
The waterfall's distant roar filled the silence between us. Jordan's gaze dropped to our hands—mine scarred and massive, hers small and precise—suspended in the charged air like a promise waiting to be made or broken.
"Is that the only reason?" Her words were barely audible. "Because the village needs a doctor?"
Every instinct screamed at me to retreat. To hide behind duty and practicality. To protect myself from the terrifying vulnerability of truth.
But I'd never been a coward.
"No." The word emerged rough, scraped raw from somewhere deep in my chest. "I've grown accustomed to your face."
Her eyes snapped up, wide and searching.
"When you leave..." I had to stop, force air past the sudden tightness. "There will be a Jordan-shaped hole in my days. In my mornings. In the silence before sleep." My voice dropped to barely a whisper. "I will miss you in ways I don't have words for. In ways that aren't wise or practical."
I lifted my hand slowly, telegraphing every movement, giving her every opportunity to pull away. When she didn't—when she simply watched me with those luminous green eyes—I cupped her cheek. Her skin was impossibly soft beneath my calloused palm, warm and alive andreal.
For a heartbeat, we simply existed in that perfect moment—her leaning into my touch like a flower seeking sunlight, my thumb tracing the delicate curve of her cheekbone, the world narrowing until nothing existed but the two of us and the thundering of my heart.
Then I leaned forward and kissed her.
Soft. Tentative. A question whispered against her lips rather than a demand. She tasted like starlight and wine and every beautiful thing I'd ever denied myself. Her mouth fit perfectly between my tusks as though fate itself had carved us to match, two puzzle pieces finally sliding home.
But Jordan—brilliant, fierce, impossible Jordan—had other ideas.
Her fingers fisted in my shirt with surprising strength, pulling me closer, and she kissed me back with a hunger that stole the breath from my lungs and replaced it with liquid fire. The tentative sweetness transformed into something molten and urgent, a wildfire catching in dry grass. I angled my head, deepening the kiss, and the small sound she made—half gasp, half moan, wholly devastating—ignited something primal and possessive in my chest.
I couldn't get enough. My hand slid from her cheek to her waist, fingers spanning her ribcage, and I pulled her acrossthe blanket until she tumbled into my lap with a breathless laugh that I swallowed with another kiss, then another, each one deeper than the last.
Her fingers threaded into my hair, nails scraping lightly against my scalp in a way that sent shivers cascading down my spine. I groaned into her mouth, the sound rumbling up from somewhere primal. Every nerve ending felt electrified and hypersensitive. Every place our bodies touched burned with delicious heat.
This was everything I'd denied myself during countless sleepless nights. Everything I'd convinced myself I couldn't have, shouldn't want. And now that I was tasting her, feeling her pressed against me, I knew with bone-deep certainty that I'd been a fool to think I could ever let her go.
Jordan shifted closer, her movements deliberate and achingly purposeful, and I wrapped my arm around her back, anchoring her to me like she might disappear if I loosened my grip. The kiss deepened, grew more desperate, more consuming. When her lips parted and our tongues met in a dance as old as time, pleasure shot through me like lightning splitting a summer sky.
She moved again, repositioning with an intent that made my breath catch, until she was straddling my lap. The world tilted on its axis, gravity reversing, stars realigning. The soft weight of her settled against me, her curves pressed to my chest, and my body responded with an urgency that bordered on painful—my cock hardening, straining against my pants with a need so fierce it made my vision blur at the edges.
There was no hiding my reaction. Not with her positioned like this, every shift of her hips a sweet torture. She had to feel exactly what she was doing to me, the effect she had on my body, my control, my very sanity.
And gods help me, that knowledge only made me want her more.
I deepened the kiss, my tongue sliding against hers in a rhythm that spoke of darker promises—of all the ways I wanted to worship her, claim her, make her forget everything but my name. She moaned into my mouth, her hips rolling slightly, and that friction nearly unraveled me completely.
My hands found her hips, fingers digging into soft flesh as I pulled her harder against me. I kissed her like I was drowning and she was air itself. Every stroke of my tongue mapped her mouth, every tilt of her body against mine stoking the fire threatening to consume us both.
Then she broke away, gasping, her forehead dropping to rest against mine.
"Ruka," she breathed, and the sound carried both hunger and hesitation.
I held her close, arms wrapped around her trembling frame as our breathing slowly found its rhythm again. My heart still thundered, my body still ached with want, but I forced myself to stillness—to give her room while keeping her safe in my embrace.