Chapter 17
The sun rose on something new.
I felt it before I opened my eyes—the warmth of bodies around me, the weight of arms and legs tangled together, the pulse of five heartbeats syncopated with mine. We hadn't moved from the ridge. Hadn't found beds or blankets or the civilized distance that humans usually kept. We'd collapsed together in the grass, exhausted, bonded, too connected to separate.
I blinked at the dawn. The sky was watercolor—pink and gold bleeding into blue. Birds sang in the trees below. The cliff's edge was inches away, but I wasn't afraid. I was held. Anchored. Safe in a way I'd never been before.
Cole's arm was around my waist. His chest pressed against my back, his breath warm against my neck. On my other side, Jax sprawled on his stomach, one hand thrown acro
