And the terrifying part was…
It felt right.
It was the first right thing in the slew of wrongs that had assailed me since I woke from the reset.
Wolfe’s kiss stole everything from my mind, leaving only him. His mouth, his heat, and the way my body leaned into his without asking.
For one reckless heartbeat, I allowed myself to forget everything.
I even forgot myself.
And the fact that this kiss could ruin me.
I was truly lost to him.
But then his body betrayed him. A sharp gasp tore from his throat, and he doubled over, one arm wrapping around his ribs as agony crashed through him.
Bright red blood bloomed across his chest.
Damn it, the sudden movement had torn at his wounds.
His face went ashen, sweat beading along his hairline as he fought not to cry out.
"Wolfe!" I caught his shoulders as he swayed. "You need to lie back down.”
He flopped back onto the bed. “Ziyka, come back to me.”
Delirium had taken him.
“It’s gonna be okay.” I found his hand again and held it, watching him drift back into that state of unconsciousness.
“I… love you.” The words barely made it past his lips, but they cut straight through me.
He was the second man to say that to me in just a handful of days.
Thayden’s declaration had felt like a death sentence.
Wolfe’s felt like a truth I wasn’t ready to survive.
A reckoning I couldn’t outrun.
Chapter 14
Wolfe
“Where Power Awakens”
Darkness wasn’t empty.
It pressed in around me, layered with echoes I couldn’t place and memories that didn’t feel like mine. I drifted through it without form or weight, untethered, unsure whether I was dreaming or already dead.
Time meant nothing here.
Neither did my body.
I was aware without being awake. Present without being whole. Caught in a space between worlds where thought dissolved before it could take shape.
Then something shifted.
