The ritual chamber fell into a heavy, ringing silence once the last of Elias’s enforcers were dragged away by the arriving neutral council guards. The ancient runes on the walls had gone dark, shattered by the final surge of shared power. The air still carried the faint metallic tang of blood and burnt magic, but beneath it was something new — peace, fragile and hard-won.
I stood in the center of the room, breathing hard, the glowing scalpel still clutched in my hand. The awakened curse no longer raged inside me like a storm. It flowed steady and warm, anchored through the five males surrounding me.
Ryker reached me first. He pulled me into his arms with bruising strength, one hand tangling in my hair as he crushed his mouth to mine. The kiss was deep, desperate, and victorious — tasting
