​Damar reached for the handle, his eyes glowing with agitation, but he stopped dead. The scent hit him like a physical blow—sweet, floral, and unmistakably Arinya. It was the scent of a female in peak heat, radiating a ’call’ that was so potent it felt like a command to every male in the Palace. Especially towards her mates.

​"She’s in heat," Damar whispered, his voice trembling with a mix of possessive fury and agonizing need.

​The three men stood paralyzed in the hallway. They knew that if they opened that door now, with Thalor still mid-rut and Arinya in full heat, the palace would turn into a battlefield of instincts.

But the scent was a siren song, pulling at the marks they already bore, or the ones they were desperate to receive.

​"Five days," Noah groaned, leaning his forehead against the cool stone. "She’s going to be in there for five days. And we’re stuck out here."

He had never held me in my heat before. Unlike the other two who knew exactly what my body tasted like during my heat, Noah was the only one who hadn’t experienced the sheer, unbridled intensity of my heat. To him, the scent wasn’t just a memory—it was a maddening mystery.

The hallway felt like a pressure cooker on the verge of exploding. The air was saturated with a scent so thick it felt like velvet against their skin, a heady mix of salt spray and my blooming heat.

​Noah’s fingers clawed at the limestone wall, leaving shallow gouges in the stone. He had survived the wild lands, fought off red-scales, and braved starvation, but this was a different kind of torture.

​"I’m going in," Damar hissed, his scales rippling along his neck as his beast side fought for control. "He’s had his three days. The mark is set. My bond is screaming at me that she’s overwhelmed."

​"You step one foot toward that door, and Thalor will attack you before you even see her," Fenric growled, though his own voice was strained, his wolf ears pinned back against his head. "He’s in a rut, Damar. In the water. You should know what mermen are like when they’re protecting a female in heat. He’ll try to tear your throat out, and Arinya will be the one caught in the middle."

​"He’s right," Noah rasped, his eyes flashing a predatory gold. "But if I have to stand here for another forty-eight hours listening to them while she smells like that... I might be the one who tears someone’s throat out."

Damar felt like he was going to break someone. He didn’t care if Thalor would attack him; he just hated the thought of the merman spending my heat alone with me. 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

It was maddening.

And thus, this was one more reason for Damar to hate Thalor.

But you can’t really blame the guy. He and I had no idea my heat would suddenly bloom.

​Inside the room, the world had dissolved into violet light and warm, rhythmic waves.

I was barely conscious of the passage of time. The marking pearl had done its job—I could feel the new, intricate pattern of my feelings beginning to etch itself into his tail right where his ankle should be in human form—but my body had hijacked the ritual.

​Every time Thalor tried to pull away, sensing the three days were over, the fever in my blood would surge, and I’d pull him back down into the glowing depths.

The water magic he used to support me only made the sensations more acute; I felt every vibration of his voice, every shimmer of his scales, as if we were one organism.

​I was vaguely aware of the heavy stone doors at the end of the room, and the three powerful presences pacing just beyond them.

I could smell them, and my heat was calling to all of them, a primal command to fill the room and claim their place, but the water held me fast in Thalor’s grip, and I had no plans of escaping.

​"Arinya..." Thalor groaned against my neck, his voice melodic even in its gravelly, post-rut-driven state. "The sun... it has risen four times. The others... They are at the door."

​"Don’t care," I whispered, my fingers tangled in his wet hair as I arched against him. "Don’t leave. Not yet. Just...fill me. Please."

Thalor looked into my eyes, looked into the haze, and something bloomed in his chest.

Thalor didn’t hesitate. Hearing my plea, his pupils swallowed the last of the violet in his eyes, turning them into deep, endless abysses of bioluminescent hunger.

My request—my desperate need for him and him alone—seemed to act as a second catalyst, more powerful than the pearl itself.

He pulled me deeper into the center of the glowing pool, the water rising in a protective, swirling cocoon around us as he reclaimed me with a renewed, possessive vigor.

The fifth day passed in a feverish blur of steam and salt, but it did not stop there. The sixth day came, and we were still at it.

But by the time the sun began to set on the final evening, the fire in my blood had finally simmered down to a low, glowing ember.

The heat had broken, leaving me completely hollowed out, my mind finally clearing even as my body checked out entirely. I didn’t even feel Thalor lift me from the water. I was already drifting into a deep, heavy sleep as the cool air of the room finally hit my damp shoulders.

Thalor, exhausted but revitalized by the very element that had housed our marathon, draped a thick fur around my limp body.

His own movements were stiff, his scales dulling back into his tanned legs, but his expression was one of fierce, quiet triumph. He carried me toward the doors, his steps heavy but steady.

The moment he pulled the heavy stone bolt back and pushed the doors open, he didn’t even have time to breathe.

POW.

A fist connected with Thalor’s jaw with the force of a battering ram, sending his head snapping to the side. He stumbled back, tightening his grip on my unconscious body to make sure I didn’t slip from his grasp.