The silence after the elder’s final words did not last long.
It broke in waves—first the low murmur of formal acknowledgment from the witnesses, then the more practical sounds of a secured perimeter beginning to stand down from its highest alert. No one approached the center of the stone circle immediately. Protocol and caution held them at the edges while Tristan and I remained where we were, palms still pressed together, the new marks on our throats burning with a deep, settling heat that had nothing to do with ordinary pain.
I could feel him through the completed bond with a clarity that almost buckled me.
Not just emotion. Not just the general direction of his attention. Something finer and more constant—an undercurrent of fierce satisfaction, residual adrenaline, and a possessivene
