Page 200 of Celestial Combat

“I kissed you first,” he said, his lips brushing mine, eyes softening. “Loved you first.”

My heart squeezed, full to the brim.

“I’m looking forward to you loving me again,” I murmured.

“It’s a promise,” he said, capturing my lips in another kiss, slow and grounding, like a vow sealed in the quiet of the room.

Then he pulled back and stood, his hair tousled from my hands.

“I’ll be waiting,” I said, voice a little breathless as he walked toward the bathroom.

He looked over his shoulder with a smirk. “Five minutes.”

I laid in the quiet, the wood-paneled ceiling above me warm from the fire below. The steady rhythm of the shower rang out behind the bathroom door – a reminder that Zane was close, even if I couldn’t see him. I closed my eyes, letting the steam and soft drips anchor me in this moment.

Suddenly, a single beep broke the silence. Zane’s phone, resting on the nightstand, lit up with a notification.

Curious, I reached for it under the blankets and tapped the screen. A message glowed in the dark: coordinates. The coordinates.

Aleksandr Ivanova’s location.

My heartbeat sped up.

I sat up slowly, gathered every scrap of courage within me, and pressed the call button. Zane’s phone slipped into my palm; I tapped Trevor’s name.

The line clicked to life.

“Zane, you fucking traitor–” Trevor’s voice cut through me like ice. It had to be corrected.

“Trevor.It’s Kali.”

There was a silence that stretched long enough I wondered if I’d lost the line. “Kali? Are you okay? Did he hurt you–”

“I’m okay. Everything’s fine,” I said firmly, swallowing hard. “You need to stop looking for me. This is bigger than you. Than all of us.”

There was a crash of something – angst, confusion – from my brother. “What the fuck are you talking about? Has he gotten in your head?”

My voice softened. “I will see you soon, alright? You, me and Zane are going to sit down and talk everything out like adults. Goodbye.”

His voice rose, urgent and fractured. “Kali, don’t you dare fucking hang up on me–”

The call ended with a silent click.

I got up from the bed, heart still beating unevenly, and padded across the warm floorboards to the bathroom. The door was cracked open just enough for steam to curl through, and the scent of cedar soap drifted out. I pushed it open slowly.

Zane stood under the rain of hot water, his back to me, muscles taut and glistening. When he heard me, he turned slightly, water dripping from his skin. “Hey,” he said, voice low and rough with steam. “Everything okay?”

“I just got off the phone with Trevor.”

He stilled. Just for a breath. But I saw it. The way his shoulders locked up, the slight tightening in his neck. I knew that look. A storm held behind his eyes.

Before he could say a word, I cut in. “You also got a message. The coordinates came through. Aleksandr Ivanova is at a bar just outside town. Regular schedule. We have a window in a couple of hours. We’ll be long gone from Siberia before Trevor or anyone else finds us,” I added, softer this time.

I watched his posture shift, his muscles loosen, the air between us settling.

Steam curled in soft tendrils around my legs as I stepped into the shower behind him. The glass door clicked shut, sealingus inside the warmth. The water hit my shoulders like a sigh, trailing down my spine, but my eyes were on him.

Zane stood with his hands braced against the tiled wall, water streaming down the powerful lines of his back. I reached forward, slowly, and ran my hands along the muscles there – familiar and tense, but slowly easing under my touch.

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