Page 71 of Bloom in Darkness

“Give me one day,” he says. "Let me walk into the Night of Scarlet and choose you because I want you, not because you paid for the right to take me out the door. I know where I'm sleeping tomorrow night. I know where the boxes from my apartment are going. I know who I want. I just need this one thing to be mine."

“What if she changes the rules or takes your phone again?”

“Then I find another one and call.”

My hand tightens once at his waist. “And if Silas touches you?”

Astra doesn’t hesitate. “Then he loses a hand.”

My grip on his waist loosens. He rises on his toes and kisses me in the middle of the staircase. I hold the back of his neck without pulling him closer, because if I do, I'm not sure I'll let go.

“Tomorrow,” he says against my mouth, and I make myself nod instead of dragging him down the stairs with me.

Forrest and Lorcan are in Caelan's office by the time we get back to the Forge. Astra's copied paperwork covers half the desk, and Lorcan has the Night of Scarlet rules open on a tablet while Forrest reads the participant list already flipping through pages like the paperwork personally offended him.

"Silas and Rourke are both registered Valla," Lorcan says once we sit. "A couple of established pairs are listed as interested too. Nothing unusual about that part."

"The debt notes are unusual," Forrest says. "Sabine is advertising settlement like part of the match."

I look at the screen. “Can she make him choose?”

Lorcan shakes his head. “No. They can offer whatever they want, and Astra can carry every rose in the room if he feels like it. Nothing happens until he gives one back—or two, if that’s what he chooses.”

Caelan leans against the desk beside me. "And if Sabine decides she doesn't like his answer?"

"Then she has a problem with the Night of Scarlet organizers, not just with us." Forrest folds the participant list. "No fights. No coercion. No taking an Omega who has not chosen you. Those rules are the reason the gala has survived as long as it has."

“I’m going.”

Caelan gives me a sideways look like that was never in question. “Obviously.”

Lorcan makes a quiet sound that might be a laugh, but Forrest keeps going. "So are we. Quietly. We don't turn this into a siege because Sabine wants you angry enough to look like the threat. We have people inside, people outside, and eyes on Astra from the second he walks in."

I stand before he finishes the sentence.

Caelan looks up. "Where are you going?"

"Locker room."

"To punch something?"

"Yes."

Forrest leans back in the chair. "Use the heavy bag. I just replaced the drywall."

I make it to the hall before Caelan catches my arm. He doesn't try to stop me this time, only waits until I look at him.

"Go hit something," he says. "Then come home."

I do both. Caelan is at the dining table when I get there, laptop open, jacket gone, sleeves rolled to his elbows. He's got three documents open and another stack beside him. Of course he's working. Caelan gets scared and starts making lists.

I close the laptop. He looks up slowly. "Hello to you too."

I sit and grab his hips before he can move away, pulling him across my thighs until he straddles me.

"Why are you so calm?"

Caelan looks up at me. “This is my freaking-out face.”