She could feel something shifting. The air seemed to shimmer around them. Hyde’s body trembled. Muscles rippling under skin that seemed to glow brighter.
“It’s okay,” she murmured. “I’ve got you. Both of you.”
The transformation started slowly. Hyde shrinking as his bones shifted and his skin fading from green to human. She held him tightly through all of it, offering what comfort she could as Hyde gave way to Victor.
When it was over, he lay curled against her, naked and shaking. His eyes immediately went to her face.
“Chloe,” he said hoarsely. “Did I—are you?—”
“I’m fine.” She cupped his face. “We’re both fine. You kept us safe all night.”
“But I lost control. I transformed completely.”
“In order to protect me.” She made him look at her. “You were never out of control. Not for a second.”
“But I?—”
“Protected us. You did your next to fix the cabin and you held us all night to keep us warm.” She kissed him softly. “That’s not losing control. That’s love.”
He stared at her for a long moment, and then he kissed her back with desperate intensity, pouring everything he couldn’t say into it. When they broke apart, both breathing hard, the sun was fully up, sunlight painting the damaged cabin in shades of gold.
The storm was over.
CHAPTER 22
Victor stared at Chloe wrapped in quilts, backlit by the morning sun streaming through the hole in the roof and a soft contented smile on her face, and his entire worldview shifted.
She’d said he never lost control, even though he knew he had. He’d transformed completely into Hyde—eight feet of raw power and inhuman strength. The thing his father had warned him about. The monster that would destroy everything he loved.
Except he hadn’t.
His hands were steady as he reached for her. No trembling. No fear. Just the bone-deep certainty that he would never—could never—hurt her. And with that certainty, the memories began to return.
“I remember,” he said slowly. “All of it.”
She tilted her head, waiting.
“Every moment.” He pulled her closer, needing the contact. “I was there. Conscious. Not watching from some dark corner but… present. Making choices.”
“What choices?”
“To fix the roof. To keep you warm. To—” His throat tightened. “To hold you all night instead of running into the storm.”
Understanding dawned in her eyes. “You thought transformation meant losing yourself completely.”
“My father lost himself. At the end.” He cradled her face. “He said that Hyde took over and he woke to destruction.”
“But that’s not what happened to you.”
“No.” The word came out fierce and certain. “Hyde and I—we were together. United. Both of us focused on the same thing.”
“Me.”
“You.” He kissed her forehead. Her cheeks. The tip of her nose. “On keeping you safe and warm and protected.”
She placed her palm over his heart. “What changed?”
Victor knew the answer immediately. Had known it since that first appointment, when Hyde had growled protectively at the thought of her alone in that cabin.
