ADELE’S POV

His words hung in the air like smoke after a fire—thick and impossible to ignore.

“Mark me.”

I blinked, staring at him like I’d misheard. Lucien—my Lucien, the man who’d spent months holding back, guarding that final piece of himself—was lying beside me, naked and vulnerable, asking me to mark him.

I shifted so I was fully facing him, my heart slamming against my ribs. “Are you being serious right now?”

His eyes, still a little red from the tears he’d let fall only minutes ago, locked onto mine without a flicker of doubt. “Yes. We should have done this a long time ago. We’re mates. The fear…...