She almost smiles.Almost.
I’m going to spend the rest of my life trying to earn the full version of that smile.
Rane’s hand tightens on my shoulder.
I still don’t move.
I deserve a fucking medal.
Chapter 6
Nova
I reach for the door.
It opens before I touch it.
And my brain stops.
He fills the doorway. Tall—taller than me by almost a foot—with broad shoulders that block out the light behind him. Dark brown hair, green eyes that lock onto mine and don’t let go. There’s a bruise fading along his jaw, yellowing at the edges, and his knuckles are scraped raw.
He looks like he’s been fighting. He looks like he won.
I forget to breathe.
He doesn’t say anything. Just looks at me like—
I don’t know. Like he’s been waiting.
“I’m—” I have to clear my throat. “I’m Nova.”
Something shifts in his expression. “Locke,” he steps back. Enough to let me through.
I’msuddenly very aware of how close I’ll have to pass to get inside. How much space he takes up. The way his shoulders taper down to his waist in a sharp V.
I walk through the door and don’t breathe until I’m past him.
The smell hits me first—something cooking, rich and warm, and my stomach cramps so hard I have to lock my knees.
Four days since I’ve eaten. Don’t think about it.
Then the rest registers. Warmth. Lamplight. A space that feels lived-in.
I can feel him behind me. Locke. Every inch of where he’s standing, like my body has decided to track him whether I want it to or not.
I step further into the room and there are more of them.
Four more.
My eyes catch on the one in the kitchen doorway first—impossible not to. He’s the biggest person I’ve ever seen. Golden hair past his shoulders, arms that look like they could lift me without effort, chest straining against his shirt. He looks like a statue someone carved out of sunshine and then supersized. He’s holding a glass of water, and there’s a stillness to him that doesn’t match his size at all.
“She’s beautiful.”
The words come from the couch, soft, like he didn’t mean to say them out loud.
My head snaps toward him. Heat floods my face.
He’s already blushing too. Auburn hair, warm eyes, and a face that’s going red so fast I can almost watch it happen. His mouth opens like he’s going to say something else, thinks better of it, and closes again.
