Page 22 of Bloodween

I shoved the thoughts away.

It would work.

I hadn’t given myself to him for nothing. We’d built something tonight—through sex, through his marks, through the way he trusted me with both his forms. I’d done all that the ritual required for success.

Yet, the fucking fear stayed. Why?

Why won’t you go away?

Was it because of the connection? I couldn’t deny that it felt too intense.

The kind of intensity that made my fingers tremble in his fur.

But ever since he bit me, tasted me, nothing had felt the same.

This was why you never let men in. They ruined everything. This was supposed to be strategic, calculated—not whatever this was becoming.

I needed to shake it off because there was no turning back. Someone had to be betrayed tonight.

I sighed as I laid down along the edge, his fur tickling my bare skin. He gave a low growl, eyes meeting mine—alert, trusting.

He had no idea what was coming. Just as I had no idea my thoughts would consume me like this—to try and make me feel when I’d learned long ago that power had no room for feelings.

Power, like red, meant sacrifice.

Power meant blood.

Power meant magic.

And apparently, power meant losing something you didn’t know you’d want to keep.

My hand extended, scratching behind his ear. “My little wolf,” I murmured.

He exhaled against my thigh, hot enough to make me shiver.

I smiled before I could stop it. “And I’ll always be your little witch.”

The words settled between us, a promise I had no right to make, a lie that tasted too much like truth.

His eyes drifted closed, breathing slowing as exhaustion claimed him. The tension bled from his body, muscle by muscle, until he lay fully relaxed.

The potion stirred inside me, aching for what came next.

My moment of truth.

While he slept, I could leave. Slip out of the cabin, go back to Marlowe, find Renna.

The original plan.

The one I’d spent months preparing for, cultivating the perfect friendship for.

It would be messy and rushed, but still possible.

Or I could stay and sacrifice the rawest, most intimate connection—one my blood whispered would yield infinite power.

Renna was perfect.

But this feeling I couldn’t rid, told me Dorian offered transcendence.