Even in the Dark, I want them all.

Leo/Ryn

The door had just closed, and Ryn was shaking. His heart thundered against his ribs, not from fear but from something deeper, something rooted in the hollow space under his skin where Kael had pressed his mouth below his jaw.

He ran a trembling hand down his neck and let out a sound. It was part laugh, part moan.

What the hell was that? he thought.

Kael had wanted to kiss him, to claim him, and goddess, part of him wanted it. Badly.

But he hadn't. Kael had walked away. And now he was left drowning in his scent. 

Pine and storm—Kael's scent clung to Ryn's skin, mingling with Veyr's smoke and iron scent.

It caused a restless stirring in Ryn's chest, and his hands trembled as they gripped his coarse blanket, his fingers digging into the fabric as he tried to make sense of what had happened.

The kiss he had almost had burned into his memory, and the words he had spoken as his thumb brushed along Ryn's lips still lingered.