Page 36 of Freed By Wrath

When the waves finally slow, the blonde grips my jaw and kisses me again—slow, deep, and possessive. While our tongues tangle lazily, that same burning curiosity returns.

I need to see him. I need to see them both.

In a show of strength and courage, I deepen the kiss and reach up with both hands behind his head, releasing his mask.

He’s not shocked.

No.

That’s all me.

His eyes soften instead.

Relief. Pure, unmistakable relief that mirrors my own.

“Slash?” I whisper, needing to hear him confirm it.

The moment his name leaves my lips, a smile spreads across his face, but the body beneath me goes perfectly still.

“Fabien?” I breathe, turning my head toward the man still inside me.

Behind the leather mask, hazel eyes search mine, equal parts worried and hopeful.

“That’s us, trouble,” Slash says quietly. “Happy to see us?”

My heart forgets how to beat.

It can’t be. It simply can’t.

For months after that Halloween, I’d wondered whether I’d imagined it all.

The laughter. The conversations that lasted until sunrise. The feeling of belonging somewhere without having to earn it first.

Eventually, I buried those memories beneath the years I spent choosing someone else, convincing myself they’d only ever mattered to me.

Funny, isn’t it? The one night a year everyone pretends to be someone else was the only night I ever got to simply… be myself.

And yet, here they are. Looking at me with something I can’t quite name.

Desire. Ease. Wonder.

As though finding me again matters just as much to them as finding them again matters to me.

A thousand words crowd the back of my throat.

I want to ask them how? Why?

Fuck, I want to tell them I’d thought about that night more times than I’d ever admitted to myself. That for a few precious hours, they’d made me feel seen. Heard. Like taking up space wasn’t something I needed to apologize for.

Instead… All I can do is stare. And before I manage to say a single word, a shadow falls over us.

“Office. Now.” The command slices clean through the moment, and ice fills my veins.

I don’t need to see his face to know him. I’ve heard that voice enough tonight.

And now… I know I don’t have to fear it either.

Because if Fabien and Slash are here… Then the man standing over us can only be one person.