<h4>Chapter 320: A Bath Together (IV)</h4>


    <strong>River:</strong>


    I wasn’t sure who was more nervous - her or me.


    My chest ached from the force of my heartbeat, every thud was ricocheting through my ribs like a drum. My lungs were burning, but I couldn’t take in air properly. It was as if my whole body had gone still, suspended in this fragile moment, desperately waiting for her answer.


    She sat there, perched on the edge of the pool wall, with her eyes wide, lips parted, and her throat bobbing as she swallowed. She held her breath as tightly as I did, neither of us daring to move. The silence between us stretched, thick and suffocating, yet charged with something I couldn’t put into words.


    I needed her answer. I needed it more than my next breath.


    Her lips moved, opening and closing as if she wanted to speak, but no sound came out. My eyes followed every attempt, every twitch of her mouth, every flicker of hesitation across her face. And the longer she struggled, the more dread pooled in my chest.


    The thought hit me like a de - what if she was hesitating because her answer was <i>no</i>?


    What if she didn’t like me at all and simply didn’t want to say it aloud because she didn’t want to break me?


    The idea was poison, seeping through my veins and choking me. The thought burned in my head as cruelly as the word ’rejection’ had that evening. Maybe worse. Because this time, I had dared to hope.


    And I wasn’t strong enough to hear a no. I never could be.


    Before she could speak, before she could crush me with the truth, I pulled back. My body acted on instinct, desperate to retreat, desperate to put distance between us before her answer shattered everything. All I could think was to run, to escape before the damage was done.


    But I didn’t make it far.


    Her hands caught me... small, soft, and warm against my shoulders. She grabbed me firmly enough to stop me in ce, and before I could evenprehend what she was doing... her lips were on mine.


    It broke me.


    No, it remade me.


    For a split second, my body short-circuited. My brain stuttered, my heart stopped, and my wolf went utterly silent in stunned reverence. Her lips were soft, delicate, trembling against mine, and I was too shocked to even respond. The world itself seemed to fall away... there was no water, no pool, no air, no light. Only her. Only this.


    But just as quickly as it happened, it was over. She pulled back, ending the kiss almost as soon as it had begun.


    I just stared at her, unable to breathe, my world tilting violently as I tried to process what had just happened. Her eyes met mine, and for the briefest, most dangerous moment, I swore I saw something in them. Something raw, something fragile, something I could almost mistake as... <i>feelings for me.</i>


    I didn’t give myself the chance to doubt it.


    Before the moment could break entirely, I surged forward. My hand slid to the back of her head, tangling in her damp hair, and I crushed my mouth against hers.


    The kiss was nothing like hers - hesitant, fleeting, uncertain. No, this was mine. This was every sleepless night I had endured, every ache in my chest, every second of restraint I had forced upon myself since I realized I was developing feelings for her, since the bond tied me to her. It was desperate, hungry, consuming.


    I poured everything into it - all my feelings I had buried deep, all the desire I had caged, all the torment of wanting her but holding back. She tasted like fire and water all at once. Her lips were warm, her breath quick against mine, her body tensing then softening under my hold.


    Her hands trembled where they braced against me, her mouth parting beneath mine in a way that nearly undid mepletely. My wolf howled, wild with triumph, with need, with possessiveness. This was ours. <i>She</i> was ours.


    I only stopped when I felt her hands press lightly against my chest. Not pushing me away, not rejecting me... but signaling. A plea for breath.


    I pulled back just enough to see her, both of us gasping for air, our chests heaving. Her lips were kiss-swollen, her face flushed, her eyes dazed. Stars, she was breathtaking.


    But restraint? That word no longer existed for me.


    I dipped back in, stealing another kiss. Then another. And another. Each one deeper, slower, harder than thest, until I was dizzy with it, until I couldn’t tell where she ended and I began. I devoured her, worshipped her, lost myself in her.


    "River," she cried softly, her voice breaking on my name. It was a plea, a desperate whisper that somehow cut through the haze and reminded me that I was overwhelming her.


    I froze for a moment before pressing my forehead to hers, my breathing harsh and ragged. Her hands still rested against my chest, but she wasn’t pushing me away. If anything, she was clinging, trembling beneath the storm we had both unleashed.


    My voice came out low, rough, unsteady but unyielding.


    "You don’t have the option of turning me away anymore, Evaline." My eyes burned into hers, daring her to challenge me. "Not now. Not ever. I won’t let you change your mind. I won’t let you go, even if you beg me to."


    Her breath hitched sharply, and her eyes widened as my words sank in. But I didn’t soften them. I didn’t take them back.


    "It’s actually good," I added after a moment, my lips brushing hers again, my wolf growling his approval. "For you to learn early... I’m not the soft, sweet type. I’ll never be that. I’m selfish when ites to you. Possessive. Controlling, if I have to be. Because you are mine, Evaline. <i>Mine</i>."


    Her lips trembled against mine, her hands clutching weakly at my chest, but she didn’t argue. She didn’t run. And that was enough to set my soul aze.


    <fnb218> This text is hosted at Find~Novel</fnb218>


    Because she had kissed me first.


    And that one act had indeed rewritten everything.