Painfullyreal.
“What the fuck?” I gasp, clawing at the scrub fabric like it’s the only thing keeping me here. It’s back—my body, the clothes, the unbearable weight of beingalive.
Everything resets.
But that’s not the end of it.
Reality hiccups again, and I’mupon my feet, like the past three seconds rewound and spat me back out mid-movement.
And then,my knees buckle.
I collapse like deadweight, straight into Nathaniel.
There’s no grace to it. Just impact. My body hitting his, our limbs tangling, both of us crashing into a precarious stack of medical supplies. Bottles clatter. Trays skitter across the floor. Something hard and cold clips my temple. A roll of gauze bounces off his face and lands somewhere behind us.
He grunts under me. One strained, breath-punched sound.
And I just… lie there.
Sprawled across him, chest heaving, muscles twitching like exposed wires. My skin feels scorched. My bones; if they’re even still bones, melted into something gelatinous and useless. I’m a raw nerve in a meat sack.
“Gods,” I whisper, my forehead pressed to the curve of his neck. “I think I died. Again.”
Nathaniel doesn’t move.
Not right away.
Then, quietly, he wraps one arm around my waist. His hand settles against my back, warm through the scrubs, holding me in place like I might flicker away again if he lets go.
And honestly? He might be right.
“I feel like… like someone microwaved me inside a bag of broken glass,” I mutter, burying my face in the curve of his neck.
There’s a beat. Then he exhales. Low. Ragged.
“Well,” he mutters into my hair, “they didn’t. They just turned you into an unclassified supernatural entity who blinks out of existence when it feels too much.”
A beat of silence.
Then, dryly from somewhere nearby, Talon adds, “Especially when horny.”
I go completely still.
Oh no.
He’s not wrong.
He’s notwrong.
The realization hits like a slap. I should shove myself off Nathaniel and punt Talon across the room just for saying it aloud.
But I don’t.
Because something shifts.
Nathaniel’s breath catches. Subtle, but unmistakable.
His hand tightens slightly on my lower back. His entire body stiffens beneath mine, drawn taut like a bowstring.
