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Then...

He breathed.

A sharp, ragged intake of air shuddered through his chest, vibrating straight against my ribs. I slowly pulled back a mere inch, my pulse racing as I studied his stunned expression. His dark eyes darted over my face, completely fascinated, tracking the slight tremble of my lower lip. His fingers rose slowly to his own mouth. He brushed them over his lower lip, tracing the warm skin where mine had just rested. His brows drew together in utter confusion and wonder.

"...Again," he said quietly.

"Again?" I gasped softly.

"I did not understand it." His thumb brushed my cheek, the pad of his broad thumb rough against my skin, sending a shiver straight down my spine. "Now I wish to."

He leaned forward cautiously.

His lips brushed mine once—a clumsy, featherlight touch. Then again, slightly firmer, adjusting to the contour of my mouth. He was experimenting. Learning the physics of a gesture that had no practical purpose, trying to decode the sudden, violent surge of warmth pulling at his gut.

Then... he paused. A low, soft exhale hit my lips as he suddenly realised.

"Oh..."

And then instinct completely took over.

He kissed me with the raw curiosity of a hunter discovering something dangerously addictive, as though every brush of our mouths answered one question and created ten more.

Then the curiosity vanished beneath something darker. Possessive. Feral.

His mouth pressed hard into mine, no longer asking, no longer tentative. His tongue swept past my lips, tasting me deeply as his chest rumbled with a fierce, possessive vibration that shook my entire body.

I gasped into his mouth, my hands flying up to wrap around his broad shoulders, pulling him down until there wasn't a single whisper of air left between us.

Then, abruptly—he yanked himself back.

The mouth that had been tearing into mine vanished. His hands shoved against the mesh on either side of my head, locking his arms straight and ripping his body away from mine so hard the silver threads shrieked under the sudden shift.

I hit the back of the net with a soft thud, gasping for air, my swollen lips burning and wet.

Kaelen hovered over me, his chest heaving as he’d just run through a wildfire. His golden markings weren't glowing anymore—they were wild, erratic flashes of harsh copper light that ran up his neck and across his cheekbones like crackling lightning. His nostrils flared, his pupils blown so wide his eyes were almost solid black.

For the first time since I'd met him, the Huntmaster looked genuinely unsteady. He looked almost... frightened. Not of me. Of himself. Of the wild, untamed instinct that had just seized control of him.

He stared down at me as if I had just slipped a venomous blade into his ribs.

Snap.

The illusion was shattered. In a single heartbeat, the intoxicating, feral warmth vanished, instantly locked away behind the impenetrable wall of the Huntmaster.

"Enough," Kaelen growled, his voice a harsh, rasping snap that sliced cleanly through the heavy air.

He didn't linger. He didn't look at my mouth. He practically tore himself out of the deep pocket of the net, his movements sharp, disciplined, and violently efficient. He stood upright within the sagging mesh, his stance rigid and cold, looking anywhere in the canopy except at me.

"The day is done," he announced, the gravel in his tone completely devoid of the heat from seconds ago, though the erratic pulse on his neck betrayed him. "The heights were merely the first trial. Now, you learn to move when the light fails. The forest changes when the shadows grow long, and the Alu’un does not wait for those who lose their senses."

He reached down, his hands clamping around my waist—no softer than iron clamps—and yanked me to my feet in one fluid motion, barely giving my trembling legs a second to find their balance in the net.

I looked at the nearest solid branch—a good fifteen feet away across a terrifying gap—and felt my knees give a treacherous wobble. The high-tension heat of our bodies still felt like it was branded into my skin, my lips were still tingled from his mouth, and my head spun from the whiplash of his personality.

"Right. More training. Because falling into a giant spiderweb wasn't enough for one day," I muttered, trying to find my voice and my dignity. "What's next? Wrestling a 'Stalker' with my hands tied?"

Kaelen turned back to me, the stoic mask fully back in place, though his eyes burned with a dark, dangerous tension. He held out his arms, a clear invitation that felt like another test.