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She didn’t doubt that for athe knot of heat that pulsed in her core Her nape tingled beneath the loose chignon of her upswept hair, the pulse points in her neck echoing in her ears with each heavy beat of her heart Warmth spread down her throat and across the tops of her breasts,as a winter sweater

"Hello? Earth to Jordana" Carys’s voice broke into Jordana’s thoughts like a splash of cold water "Did you hear a word I said?"

"Sorry," Jordana blurted "I was just finishing a note on this display"

Carys cocked her head and narrowed her eyes slightly, as if she didn’t quite buy the excuse "I’ve got the tes you asked for on the French tapestry displays" She tapped her tablet screen and sent the data to Jordana’s device

Jordana scanned the report and nodded her approval "This looks good, Carys, thank you I would like to see the lighting ht that ere losing so"

"Okay," Carys replied "Are you still rethinking the placelanced over to the display of ancient tiles encased in a las in the center of the exhibit She considered for a ave a nod "Yes, let’s have that switched with so Endymion would be a better focal point for that section of the exhibit, don’t you think?"

Carys sreat idea"

They walked over to the clear case that housed the Italian sculpture that was more than three hundred years old The terra cotta depiction of the mortal shepherd Endymion reposed in eternal sluoddess Selene, had enchanted Jordana from the moment she first saw it Donated anonymously, the sculpture had been part of the museum’s permanent collection for at least two decades

It wasn’t thethe most historically important pieces Jordana had known But the simple beauty of the work, and thedeep inside her

Jordana stared into the display at the handsome mortal who slept forever under the delicate sliver of a crescentat the piece lanced down at the inside of her left wrist, where she bore a small scarlet birth into its cradle

Her Breedmate mark

Unlike Endymion, she wasn’t fully mortal She, like the other half-human females born with the teardrop-and-crescent-elessly once blood-bonded with one of the Breed

Such an incredible gift, to entwine two lives forever And yet it could also be an inescapable shackle

"Can you ih your entire existence?" Jordanaat Cornacchini’s sculpture "Have you ever felt as though your life were taking place around you, outside of you? That everything wasfaster than you could catch it--as if you were asleep and anchored to the ground like Endymion?"

"No," Carys replied, zero hesitation "If I want so stop aze to her "Never?"

"Never"

Jordana gave a mild nod "It’s different for you, Carys You’re Breed You didn’t grow up in the Darkhavens, or with a father who’s been dru into your head since you were a child that he expected you to be blood-bonded to a suitable mate by the tih "If my father had his way, he’d have chained e Life is et one shot at it, whether we’re Breedmate, Breed, or basic Ho how sure Carys always see "I wish I had your bravery You’ve never been afraid to leap, no matter how deep or dark the crevasse beneath you"

Carys shrugged, grinning "It’s only deep and dark if you pause first to look down Besides, you’ve got your own kind of bravery, Jordana Ihere with the exhibit"

Jordana took in the collection she was so proud of, all the pieces she had lovingly, painstakingly, curated one by one It was her joy, and she threw herself into her holeheartedly

While she’dcareer for herself, sometimes she wondered if her father and Elliott would both be happier if she’d spent her time in philanthropic or social pursuits likeBreedmates of the area Darkhavens

But she’d been a disappointment to them there too She wasn’t like most other Breedmates, no matter how much she or anyone else wished she were Hell, she wasn’t even sure what her unique ESP ability ift most women like her cahts back to the exhibit and Carys’s bolstering praise

"This is all your vision, your work," her friend pointed out "No one handed this project to you--you wanted it, so you went after it and you aze drifted back to the sculpture under the glass "What if you don’t knohat you want? What if you wake up one day and realize that you never had a clue what you wanted? That so you what you needed or as expected, and now all you want to do is close your eyes again and pretend you’re still sleeping?"

Carys’s bright blue gaze softened "You want me to tell you what I think, honestly?"

"Yes" Jordana nodded "Tell me, please"

"I think you knohat you don’t want And I think that’s what you’re afraid to admit to anyone, even to yourself"

Jordana blew out a slow sigh as she glanced away "That’s what Nathan said to me too Well, not in so many words He was far less polite about it"

"Nathan," Carys said "So you did see hi the obvious lack of surprise in her friend’s voice, Jordana shot a frown at her "You knew?"