Not shyly.
I want him to kiss me.
Right now.
“Serena?”
His voice wasn’t just sound.
It touched me.
Low. Rough. Like it slid across my skin instead of reaching my ears.
“Raven,” I murmured—and the moment his name left my lips, something inside me answered.
He moved toward me instantly.
No hesitation.
No distance.
Like I had called something ancient—and it had obeyed.
“Can I get you something?”
He loomed over me, and for a second I forgot how to breathe.
Up close, he was overwhelming.
Not just beautiful—though he was that in a way that didn’t make sense. Harsh angles and dark skin etched with faintly glowing runes, eyes burning with something too alive, too aware.
No.
He was other.
Like something carved out of storm and shadow and hunger.
A fallen angel.
A weapon.
Something that should terrify me.
Instead, my chest tightened with something deeper.
Something that felt like recognition.
Like mine.
The thought hit me so hard I swayed.
I pushed myself upright anyway, ignoring the lingering weakness in my body, ignoring the nurse’s orders, ignoring everything except the way he looked at me.
Like I mattered.
Like I was necessary.
“Yes,” I said, my voice softer than I intended. “You can get me… you.”
