Mirabelle laughed into Lucien's kiss before finally leaning back, gasping softly for air. Her lips still tingled pleasantly, and for a few lingering heartbeats she could feel the ghost of his kiss every time she breathed.
The air tasted like him. Sunlight caught in cedarwood.
Yet... Something was missing.
She had noticed it with Kaelith and Silas.
How their scent had changed after she marked them.
How subtle new notes had woven themselves into their natural fragrance, completing it somehow.
She loved it.
Every slow breath filled something hungry inside her with quiet contentment, a part of herself that seemed to have waited a lifetime for exactly this.
A deep, ancient instinct inside her found profound satisfaction in breathing in the scent of her males... And knowing everyone else could smell it too.
But Lucien still carried only his own scent.
A powerful urge deep inside her decided that needed to change.
