Ss’s POV


    s


    I watched Freya Thorne closely, my chest tightening with every word that passed between us. Her gaze didn’t waver; those amber eyes were fixed on me, steady, unyielding, burning with a fire I knew could consume me if I misstepped. I could feel the weight of her expectation pressing into me, testing me.


    “I.. why wouldn’t I be able to remain indifferent?” I murmured, my voice low but firm. I needed her to understand. “Freya, I am not a child anymore. I know the difference between gratitude and love.”


    Her brows furrowed slightly, but she didn’t interrupt. Good. She needed to hear this from me directly, without shadows of doubt. “I am grateful to her,” I continued, feeling the words weigh heavier than I expected. “The world around me… it’s always full of people who want something from me. My father wanted to use me to control my mother, to manipte and bind her. My grandfather…. he wanted me to be the perfect heir, a shield to guard the SilverTech Forgeworks name. But that girl… she never wanted anything from me. She only wanted to save me.”


    I took a slow breath, letting the memory flow over me. The memory wasn’t clear, not the face, not the features–but the essence of that moment remained, sharp as a fang against my ribs. “And after I met you… Freya, my gratitude to her became even deeper. Because if not for her, I might have died in that chaos. I wouldn’t have met you. I wouldn’t have understood… the depth of what love can feel like. How much one person cane to mean.”


    I saw her chest rise and fall slightly faster. Her lips pressed together, a telltale sign of her tension. She was holding back something. I could feel it in the air around us–sharp, fragile, like the scent of rain before a


    storm.


    “But…” I hesitated, each word deliberate, measured, absolute. “Beyond that gratitude… I will feel nothing else for her. Not love, not longing. Even if she is my life–saver, even if fate had brought her back to me, my heart… my soul… they belong to you. If you have doubts, Freya, I swear it: should I ever find her again, I will not see her. I will let my people handle her, repay the debt of her bravery, and that will be all.”


    Her eyes didn’t leave mine. I could see her weighing every word, the intensity of her gaze burning through me like wildfire. She believed me. At least, I hoped she did.


    “If we ever do find her…” she said softly, and my heart skipped a beat. “…I want to go with you.”


    I blinked, momentarily surprised. I hadn’t expected that. The thought of her being part of that moment…


    it should have been unnecessary, yet the way she said it, the way her voice held steadiness amid uncertainty… it warmed something in me I hadn’t dared to name.


    “Because… I want to thank her too,” she continued, her amber eyes softening, fierce even in that tenderness. “For saving you. For letting me meet you.”


    My throat tightened. I wanted to tell her she had no need to worry, that she was the only one my heart could ever seek, but the words were already caught in the tension of the moment. “…You…. really don’t mind?” I muttered, barely above a growl.


    “I am not so easily thrown by shadows of the past,” Freya replied. Her voice was firm, unwavering. “Besides…. you have done nothing wrong. Wanting to repay a life debt, seeking the girl who saved you, there is no crime in that. I do not concern myself with what hasn’t yete to <b>pass</b>. But-” She paused, drawing in a slow, steady breath. “…if one day, you truly find yourself drawn to someone else… and cannot


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    09.23 Wed<b>, </b>17 Sept


    love me fully, I will not cling. I will leave.”


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    A pang shot through me. I knew exactly what she feared–Caelum Grafton’s ghost still haunted her memories, a man who had taken without giving, a man who had betrayed every trust. But I was not Caelum. I would never be.


    “Freya,” I said, moving closer, my voice dropping to a growl that only she could hear. “You are the only one who could ever make me feel this way. No past, no debt, no shadow from the world… nothing can ever change that. You, and only you, can awaken what my heart seeks.”


    Freached out, sping her hand, feeling the warmth of her skin seep into mine, chasing away the cold emptiness I had carried for so long. Her warmth… it had been absent, even for a heartbeat, and I had realized just how much I needed it.


    I drew her hand up, pressing it to my cheek, feeling the heat and life in her palm. This… this was what I had craved, the brilliance of life itself. It had once been a curiosity, a light I could notprehend in that distant, violent chaos. A little girl’s courage had shown me that. But with Freya… it was no longer curiosity. It was hunger. Greed, even. I wanted that light all to myself, wanted to shield it, to hold it, to never let it go.


    And I would.


    Even when that fear tried to w its way into me–insecurities about shadows of the past, memories of helplessness–I would not let it. Her brilliance was mine to protect, mine to keep. I would give her everything I had: my anger, my joy, my very life. And I would not let her go.


    “Freya,” I whispered, my voice rough with emotion, “you spoke of me feeling for someone else….. that will never happen. And you… you cannot leave me. If you saved me once, you have already saved me again, over and over. Do not ever let me fall back into that darkness. Do not ever abandon me.”


    She met my gaze, unwavering, and in that moment, I knew–our bond was forged, tempered in fire and loyalty, sharpened by the wolves we were. No shadow, no debt, no distant memory would sever it. I had found my mate. My heart. My light. And I would defend it with every fiber of my being.


    <b>09:24 </b>Wed<b>, </b>17 <b>Sept </b>OW