Athena woke before the sun rose.
The bed was warm beside her, but Lucas was already gone. She sat up slowly, the sheets slipping from her bare skin, her body still humming from the night before.
But it wasn't the soft ache of pleasure that made her limbs tremble.
It was the heat.
Worse than before. Different.
She swallowed hard. Her skin felt too tight, like her bones were vibrating beneath her flesh. Sweat beaded across her collarbone, and when she reached up to brush it away, her fingers trembled.
A low, needy sound escaped her throat—unbidden.
"No," she whispered to herself. "Not again. Not now."
The bond was awake, glowing beneath her skin like a second heart.
But it wasn't just Lucas's touch that had triggered it this time.
