HELLLOO! This one seemed to go on and on--one of my longer posts. Hope you like it!

"Red envelopes are reserved for joining ceremonies," Jax said staring at my shaking hands. "Well, they are if they're from the Fire Circle."

"I just thought, after everything..." My thoughts drifted to the way Otis curled his lips as he dragged his searing fingers down my face.

"He'd change his mind about us?" Jax tilted his head and raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah." I flipped the card over just to be sure there weren't any other surprises waiting for me to notice. "It's not like he likes me."

Jax handed me the envelope. "Now that's where you're wrong."

"Oh? He decorates all of his favorite people this way?" I flipped my hair over my shoulder and tipped my chin in his direction.

Jaxon cupped my face and took a closer look with unblinking eyes. It was like he'd been afraid to check out his father's handiwork until now. He pursed his lips and let out a long breath.

"No." He released his grip and wrapped his fingers around mine. "But if he'd gotten this close to anyone else who'd crossed him? He would've killed them."

"Well, if that doesn't make a girl feel special, I don't know what does."

"You are special." He tapped the card in my hand. "There isn't anyone like you in the entire universe."

My body tensed and my breath caught in my throat. I was about to blurt something about his power-hungry father when Jaxon's chuckle caught me off guard.

"Always ready for a fight, aren't you?" He placed his hands on his knees and stood up. "Come on, get dressed. I'd like to take you somewhere if you're up to it."

He dragged some clothes from the dresser at the end of the bed and held them out. I pulled them into my lap from his outstretched hand, and half expected him to leave—but he wasn't budging.

Was he really expecting me to put these on in front of him? I looked for a washroom to change, but there wasn't one in the room. There he was, still staring at me.

I grinned and leaned back on my elbows. "Enjoying the scenery?"

His eyes sparkled with amusement and his lips turned upward into a faint smile. "God, you're beautiful."

His gaze lingered a moment longer then he turned and glanced toward opposite wall. "You better change quick, or I might change my mind and watch."

"You wouldn't." I flipped the shirt over the gown, just in case he decided to sneak a peek.

I quickly pulled my arms free of the stiff fabric and plunged my hands through the sleeves of the shirt he'd given me. The gown's ties held it in place so I slipped the pants on from underneath it.

"Oh, I don't know, after three years of searching for you?" He rocked back on his heels and stuffed his hands in his pockets. "This is taking all the willpower I have left."

I turned around and slid my other leg into the pants, then undid the ties letting the itchy hospital fabric drop to the floor. Jumping up and down like a jackrabbit, I tried to pull the gray slacks on as fast as I could.

"Willpower, for what?" I teased.

His arms wrapped around my waist from behind and he nuzzled my neck with his nose.

"This." He kissed my neck, making my skin tingle.

"Jaxon!" I fastened the top button, and my cheeks flushed hot.

"What?" He chuckled. "Just catching up for lost time." He hugged me into him, and his spicy aroma wafted over me. "Besides, I did warn you my willpower was destined for critical failure."

"You're cracked."

"I think the term is sleep deprived." He stretched his hands above his head and yawned. "Now don't get me wrong, I know that chair looks comfortable, but I think Astra's trying to send me the message that she doesn't like me."

I let out a bark of laughter when I caught sight of the chair she'd given him. The hard wooden seat would have made anyone squirm after only sitting in it for only an hour, forget a week.

"Still, I think I prefer Astra's methods to your father's," I said.

"Second that." He offered me his hand.

I stood there motionless, pondering at his open palm and not sure what to do.

"You love him, don't you?"

I lifted my gaze to match his. His bright eyes looked like they'd melt if I burnt any of the remaining of the hope he had left.

Like a chicken, I said nothing. Instead, I dropped my hand in his and yanked us through space. The walls vanished from view, and with some of my memories I knew how to steer and pinpointing our direction.

I eased us onto the mountainside grass just outside of the guild's gates. The lush valley chirped with songbirds, and a light breeze carried the scent of lavender growing nearby.

Jaxon, hunched over with hands on his knees sucked back gulps of air. "What do say we walk next time?"

Next time... His words echoed in my thoughts. I curled into a spot on the hill and wrapped my arms around my bent legs. The faint smell of crushed grass added to the lingering floral scents.

Jax lowered next to me in silence. He pulled a blade of grass and straightened it out in his fingertips, then gazed out over the valley.

Yeah, next time. Jax glanced at the stand of grass. "You don't have to answer my question about Kellan."

He rubbed my finger where his diamond ring should have been, then eyed the piece of Kellan's mark peeking above my shirt's scooped neckline. "I already know."

I felt like I was probably the most horrible person on the planet. My throat tightened, and I lowered my forehead to my knees. And you're still here?

"Always," he answered in a soft tone.

My stomach twisted into a tangled ball of yarn. Now I feel a million times worse.

"Sorry. I wasn't trying to..." He tugged at my arm loose and interlaced his fingers with mine.

"You're being sweet to me?" I blurted. "Why don't you hate me? God knows I would if I were you. It's not like I haven't given you a million reasons."

I lifted my head from my lap and stared into the vastness of the landscape before me searching for answers it didn't hold.

"You want to know why I don't call it off."

Every muscle in my body froze. That was exactly what I wanted to know. Only I hadn't been brave enough to ask.

He placed a gentle kiss on the back of my hand, then slid his fingers from mine. He plucked another stand of grass and twisted it around his thumb.

"Truth?" he paused as if not sure what to say next. "I've asked myself that hundreds of times over the past three years. I've even learned something about myself in the process too."

"What's that?"

"I'm not my father." He unwound the green stem and rolled it between his fingertips. "I can't marry for the good of the nation, without holding an ounce of compassion or love for my partner."

My eyes dampened, and I licked my lips.

"I didn't search for you because I had to. I couldn't live with the consequences you'd face if you were caught by one of my father's men."

The more I listened to him, the more my chest hurt.

"The throne left me with two options. Partner with you or terminate the contract with cause. Sounds simple, right?"

With cause... I searched my memories knowing there would be consequences with the Fire throne if found guilty, but Jax continued before I made sense of it.

"My father's a planner. I'll give him that much. One of the clauses in our contract stipulates I wouldn't get my inheritance until after the pairing ceremony."

"This is about money?"

"What? No—" He let out a groan and wiped his hands down his face. "That didn't come out right."

I crossed my arms and hugged them to my chest, waiting for him to continue.

"I only meant if I could have claimed, no cause and freed you from the contract, I would have. But to do that, I needed the money to pay the penalties."

"Oh—" I made a mental note to invest in some duct tape. That way I could use it to cover my mouth before I said another word that would make me feel any worse.

"If I claimed with cause, you'd have to make restitutions, which I knew you didn't have. That meant once they found you, you'd be sentenced to a lifetime on Racine trying to earn the sum."

"You were trying to protect me?"

"Tried." His sight drifted to the cream covered mark on my face. "Apparently, I'm not good at it. My family is better known for wreaking havoc than saving people."

"So what I don't get is if you wanted out of the contract, then why fight Kellan?"

His hands went still and in the faint sunshine dusting his face I could see the dark circles under his eyes. "I thought that was obvious."

That was the moment I realized he loved me—heart and soul. "But you can't possibly..."

"When you kissed me, and your ankle lit up in my colors?" With his neck bent, he peeked up at me through his long lashes. "The possibility of any other match for me disappeared. My saawel chose you."

His soul chose me? My breath hitched. "What about Jessica? Her and Kellan—"

"That was different." He studied the envelope in his hands. "Not all promises are saawel made."

"You can't..." All the things that had happened between us slammed my thoughts.

"What about this?" I pulled my shirt exposing more of Kellan's ring. "You'd take me for your partner with this wrapped around me?"

"Do you really need me to answer that?" he said not taking his sight from the mark. "Wren, I love you. I don't know what else to say. In a world where matches are made for bettering the nation, that's a rare thing."

He brushed the tips of his fingers back and forth over my arm sending shivers through me.

"Kellan introduced me to the Water circle," I blurted out trying to shock him.

"I thought he might have." He gave me a faint smile. "But it looks like you're not talking to him right now."

I guess the frozen mark made that obvious. "He kissed me in front of everyone. Doesn't that bother you?"

"Of course it does, I'd be lying if I said it didn't. So Kellan got one kiss," he said forcing a smile like it wasn't a big deal. "I'm hoping for a lifetime of them."

"Oh you are, are you?" I lay back on the grass and propped myself up on an elbow facing him.

"The way I figure, that mark," he paused to gesture to my ankle, "wouldn't be there if you didn't want me."

"Sure of yourself much?"

"That's fine. You don't have to admit it." He brushed a lock of hair from my face and tucked it behind my ear. "But I know it's true."

I leaned forward like I was going to tell him a secret and whispered, "You're delusional."

He flopped back on the grass and rolled over to his side. "Sweetness, anytime you're ready to prove me wrong, just let me know."

There was no way he was winning this bet. "And when you lose?"

"I'll help you find Kellan. But if I win?"

I could only imagine what he'd demand if he dangled the one prize I sought within my reach. I squinted my eyes shut waiting to hear the worst.

"Okay, tell me."

"You agree to follow the Acklemarian courtship customs, and I'll do what I can to help you find your father."

Either way, I win? I pushed up to cross-legged and weighed what he just told me. It sounded too good to be true. "You really know where my dad is?"

He shook his head. "Only that my father has him locked up somewhere. I'm not supposed to know. But before I left Acklemar to look for you, one of my informants said he had news of your dad that I'd be interested in."

"And if I take your wager, you promise to help me find Kellan when you lose?"

"I'm not going to lose." He brushed the stem of grass he was holding across the tops of the ones still growing in the ground. "But yeah, I will."

I tilted my head, and let my thoughts drift out searching for the truth. Would he really take me to Kellan? The white stone on my necklace lit up and then faded without a trace of a lie.

"Okay, so what do I have to do to prove you wrong?"

The edges of his lips turned up into a smile. "Like I said, I'm not wrong."

I raised an eyebrow. "We'll see about that. Either way, I win, don't I? How do we prove your theory?"

"I think you already know." He rolled over, pushed up, so he was situated across from me.

"You want to kiss me."

"I didn't say that." He dragged the tip of long grass down my arm leaving a trail of goosebumps in its wake. "But it's the only way that I know of to test my theory."

"Of course it is." I wiped my palms on my pants.

A wide grin spread across his face. "Afraid?"

"Why, are you?" I said trying to the feign confidence I wasn't sure I had.

He took my hand and ran his thumb across my knuckles. "Well, the last time you kissed me, you fainted."

"I was ill."

"Right." With a bemused smile on his face, he gazed at our hands. "And how do you feel now?

I paused for a moment before answering. "Fine."

He leaned forward, until his nose brushed my ear, and whispered, "Good, I wouldn't want there to be any confusion."

Before I could ask what he was talking about, his fingers laced my hair and he tipped my head back until the warmth of his breath lingered with mine.

Jax lowered his mouth slowly to my lips, parting them with his tongue. Cradling me in his arms, he leaned forward deepening his kiss. My lips burned, and my breath quickened. I was doing everything in my power to resist him.

You're not going to win, I said in my thoughts.

In the background of my mind he chuckled, then he poured himself deeper into our kiss. Tendrils of passion swept from him tearing through the wall I'd built to keep him out. I crumbled beneath him, tipping onto my back. His presence called to the flames inside of me, coaxing them to find him, acknowledge him.

Answering his call, his ring on my ankle ignited, its fire spun through my core, carbonizing the truth of his words. His spicy cinnamon scent, an aphrodisiac that lured me in like a siren's cry, and demanded I kiss him with the same relentless passion.

My parched throat gasped for air as I surrendered to his kiss, letting my tongue meet his, I yanked him closer to me. He grabbed my hands and pressed them to the ground above my head as he straddled me. He pulled back panting for breath with his green eyes faintly glowing.

"You drive me crazy. But I said we'd follow Acklemarian courting customs, and if we continue like this?" He licked his lips and let out a long breath like he might change his mind. "We'll break more than a few."

He dragged his leg over me and flopped down onto the grass.

"What? That kiss proves nothing," I said still not wanting to admit he had any power over me.

"Sweetness, you can't lie your way out of the truth." He plucked at his shirt trying to cool off. "There's no denying you and I work together. But if you need proof."

He tugged at my pant leg like I should have a closer look.

I rolled up the hem of my pants to my knee and stared at his handiwork. His flames spiraled around my leg past my knee and my thoughts spun out of control.

A HUGE thank-you to everyone who has followed me and voted on my work! LOVE you all. IF you're one of my silent readers, I'd love your votes and follows too. I'm pretty friendly, so you likely hear from me if you do. :)

I'm now working on revisions for a print version of this book. I'm looking at removing the guy's perspectives and keeping everything in Wren's only. (DON'T freak out. I was thinking of writing a couple novella's one from Jaxon's POV and one from Kellan's...so the details you've read won't disappear.)

**What do you think? Would you want to read them? If so, which should I write first?**