Location: Vale Beach House – Garden Deck, Post-Midnight
The air was heavy with mist and salt. Everyone else had gone to sleep—except for Jace and Rico, who were mid-pushup contest on the back patio, shirtless, breathless, and trying way too hard not to lose.
Caelan watched from the steps, arms folded, waiting.
Rico dropped first.
Rico (groaning): "Okay, he's ready. Or I'm old. Maybe both."
Caelan: "Your ego will recover."
Jace (panting): "You sure? I feel like my lungs exploded."
Caelan (deadpan): "Good. That'll keep you honest."
Scene: The Offer of Trust
Jace sat down, catching his breath.
Caelan handed him a cold bottle of water and sat across from him.
"I want to tell you something," Caelan said, voice quieter now. "But it changes things."
"Only if you let it."
Jace raised an eyebrow, now serious.
Caelan laid it out—clean and raw.
The tribrid bloodline. The immortality. The truth behind their perfection. Their power. Their family.
He didn't sugarcoat it.
And Jace?
He didn't flinch.
Scene: Jace's Truth
He looked down at the bottle in his hand, twisting the cap slowly.
Then looked back at Caelan with something unreadable in his eyes.
Jace: "You know what's funny?"
"I already guessed."
"You think I didn't notice your reflexes? Your eyes? The way your family moves? You people don't flinch like humans. You react like apex predators."
Caelan (blinking): "…and that didn't scare you?"
Jace (smirking): "Nope. Wanna know why?"
He leaned forward.
"Because I've seen worse."
Scene: The Secret Revealed
Jace (quietly): "My family's not normal either."
"We're not vampires. Not wolves. But we've worked for people like you before. Protected them. Fought beside them. Died for them."
"And the moment I met your family—I knew exactly what you were."
Caelan stared at him.
Jace (grinning): "Still didn't run."
"I don't run from strong people. I run with them."
Final Scene: Brotherhood Sealed
Caelan stood and offered his hand.
Caelan: "Then welcome to the fire, brother."
Jace: "I never left it."
Their hands locked—tight, fierce, eternal.
And just like that?
The circle was complete.