Was he out of his mind?They’re here! We have to mist!
But she couldn’t seem to find her wings.
Her ethereal energy was… was…gone.
Her heart began to race, her body trembling all over again as she fought to find her—
Balthazar kissed her, his mouth sealing over hers as he cradled her face between his palms. She grabbed him, trying to push him away, to tell him this wasn’t the time, but his grip was too strong.
“You’re safe,” he repeated once more. “I have you, Lee. It’s okay.”
None of this felt safe or real.
A reformation trick. It has to be.
“Touch me, Lee,” he said. “Feel my hair. The stubble along my jaw. My shoulders. I’m very real. And we are very much here. In Bulgaria. Sitting on a random sidewalk less than a mile from where I was born.”
She swallowed, her pulse still raging.I don’t understand. This… reformation…
“You had a panic attack,” he whispered, his hands still holding her face hostage. “You’re still on the vestiges of one. Just look into my eyes and try to breathe with me, all right?”
Leela continued to shake, uncertain. This could all be a horrible trick.But… but on the off chance it isn’t…
She lifted her gaze to his, allowing herself to dive into the chocolate swirls of his beautiful irises. He truly was a work of art.
So handsome.She lifted her hand to his cheek to trace the solid bone with her thumb, all the way along to the side and down to his chiseled jaw.Perfection.
“Inhale, Lee.”
She obeyed the soft command from his alluring mouth, her thumb moving to trace the bottom lip.
“Good girl,” he praised. “Now exhale.”
The breath left her slowly, her heartbeat gradually returning to normal, soothing the rhythmic beating in her ears.
“Very good,” he continued, coaxing more breaths from her. Each time she complied, he gave her a kiss. Either on her lips or her cheek, and also on her thumb and then her wrist.
She felt so young and vulnerable. So shattered and broken. But the way he looked at her with that appraising gleam in his pretty eyes made her feel alive and womanly.
“You’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever met,” he told her.
That wasn’t a line.
Because Balthazar never lied.
He only spoke the truth. It was part of what made him so charming. A person could always trust his words. He didn’t hold back, he didn’t hide, and he never seduced anyone with false platitudes.
Which meant he truly found her to be the most beautiful woman he’d ever met.
Normally, she’d just smile and say it was her Seraphim genetics.
But the moment felt too tender to spoil with an offhanded remark.
She craved his heat, his touch, his soothing nature. And therefore, she indulged it now, allowing him to fully calm the nerves firing within her.
His fingers brushed her hair away from her face, his opposite hand going to her neck.
“You fell from the sky after turning corporeal,” he told her softly. “Because you were having a panic attack. I caught you with Patreel’s help.”
