CHAPTER 74: OURS

Sweat slicked every surface of her bronze skin as she pushed the smallest of the three sizes of boulders for the third time through the entire training court. The training court itself was nearly as wide as a full-sized football field.

The boulder she was pushing was not significantly large, but it carried the weight of a grand piano because of its Hemanite core—an extremely dense iron ore.

From the moment she touched it and it moved just an inch on her first try, I knew we were off to an encouraging start.

She had the innate strength.

She just needed to push it to the surface. To hone it. To forge it into ammunition for the arsenal of skills she was gathering.

She had it in her soul. She just needed her body to be the conductor for it.

Electricity existed but needed wires to flow.

Music existed in the mind but needed an instrument to be heard.

Magic existed in the soul but needed a trained body to manifest.

Watching like this was undiluted torment. Arms flexing, core tight, back straight, face hardened in focus. I could not deceive myself and say that I stood where I stood now because I wanted to observe her during training while another man guided her on how not to put the weight on her back.

I did it because I needed to put some space between us.

Because being down there—close enough to touch, close enough to scent—would have been a mistake.

The incomplete bond hummed between us, a constant, grating presence like a live wire buried under my skin.

Every breath she took, I felt it.

Every grunt of effort, every muscle tremor, every drop of sweat—

Mine, the Zver whispered. Ours. Go to her. Help her. Touch her.

My hands clenched around the railing. Ice spread from my palms, crystallizing across the metal.

I forced it back. Barely.

This was why I couldn’t be down there.

Couldn’t stand beside her. Couldn’t guide her form or adjust her stance or do any of the things a proper Alpha would do for his bonded mate during training.

Because if I got that close—if I touched her—I wasn’t sure I’d be able to let go.

Below, Lilith planted her feet. Shoulders dropped. She shoved. The boulder scraped forward, inch by agonizing inch.

Her face contorted with effort. A sound escaped her—half growl, half sob.

But she didn’t stop.

Strong, I thought distantly. Stronger than she knows.

Dmitri stood off to the side. Hands behind his back. Patient. Waiting.

He was good at this—training, teaching, being gentle. All the things I couldn’t be. All the things she needed.

Which was why I’d chosen him as beta. Why I’d assigned him to her specifically.

Not because I trusted him, but because gods knew I didn’t trust myself.

Lilith reached the far end of the training court and collapsed against the boulder, chest heaving.

From here, I could see the tremble in her arms. The way her legs shook.

Three times across the court. Nearly a mile of pushing five hundred pounds.

For someone who’d barely trained like a Lycan a day in her life?

Remarkable. I didn’t need the mark on her to know how invincible she could become. My instincts about her had not been off the mark. They had struck true.

Dmitri approached, offered her water. She took it. Drank. Didn’t complain.

Didn’t ask to stop.

She’ll survive this, I realized. The training. Maybe even the duel.

But would she survive me?

My rut was coming. Closer every day. I could feel it building—the restlessness, the edge to everything.

Elder Erwin had said two weeks.

Days until I lost every shred of control I’d spent centuries building.

Days until the bond stopped being a suggestion and became a command.

And Lilith—beautiful, stubborn, mine—would be caught in the middle of it.

I should send her away. Far from here. Far from me.

Let Dmitri take her somewhere safe until my rut passed.

But the thought of her leaving—of putting distance between us—

Zver snarled. The light-hearted, charmer, incessant teaser was angered at the thought alone.

No. She stays. Ours.

I gritted my teeth. Forced the wolf down.

This was the problem with incomplete bonds. They were unstable. Demanding. They didn’t accept logic or reason.

They only knew want.

And I wanted her. Gods help me, I wanted her so badly it was starting to hurt. For the first time, I wished that Veronique had decided to interrupt far before the marriage bonding had been initiated. This agony would not exist if it had been the case.

Below, Lilith straightened. Set down the water bottle.

Looked at Dmitri. Nodded.

And turned back to the boulder.

Again? I thought, surprised.

She was going for a fourth lap.

Even Dmitri looked uncertain. "Lilith—"

"I can do it," she said, voice hoarse but steady. "One more."

"Your muscles need rest—"

"One. More."

She braced against the boulder.

And pushed.

Something in my chest twisted.

She was breaking herself down here.

For what?

To survive Veronique?

To prove herself?

Or—

For us, the bond whispered. She’s getting stronger for us. So she can stand beside us. So she can—

No.

I shut that thought down immediately.

I watched her push. Watched her struggle. Watched sweat pour down her spine, muscles screaming, body breaking—

The ice spread further down the railing. Creeping. Growing.

I forced my breathing to even. My hands to release.

Control.

She completed the round in less time than before, panting and dripping sweat onto the polished floor. She should have collapsed. Instead, she grinned—wide and unguarded—and sauntered toward Dmitri, victory in every step. Then her legs gave out. One moment she was walking, the next—her knees buckled.

I moved.

Just leaped from the observation deck, ice spreading from my hands as I—

She caught herself.

Palm shot out. Found purchase on the nearest surface.

It was the largest boulder—three thousand five hundred pounds of Hemanite-cored stone.

Her hand pressed flat against its surface.

It happened in an instant.

The boulder didn’t slide. It flew. Like it weighed nothing. Like she’d struck it with a battering ram instead of an open palm.

It shot across the training court—thirty feet, forty—

And hit the far wall with a sound like thunder.

Concrete exploded. Spiderweb fractures spread across the wall.

The boulder embedded itself in the impact crater.

Silence.

I landed on the training court floor, halfway to her.

Frozen.

Lilith stared at her hand.

Palm still raised. Trembling. The mark on the inside of her wrist was glowing, the crescent moon lighting up like a real moon.