The door is ajar. I push it open.
Sera is in bed. Curled up on her side. Still in her robe, too exhausted to put on proper clothes.
Her hair is wet, spreading across the pillow. Her face is pale. Even in sleep, she looks troubled.
I watch her for a long moment.
This woman. This complicated, stubborn, infuriating woman who married me against her will. Who's carrying my child. Who almost died today because of me.
Who looked at me like I was salvation when I walked through those doors.
I should leave. Let her sleep. Tomorrow will be difficult enough.
Instead, I find myself moving to the bed.
Sitting on the edge.
Reaching out to brush a strand of wet hair from her face.
She doesn't wake. Just makes a small sound and shifts closer to where I'm sitting.
"I will keep you safe," I murmur. "Whatever it takes. Whoever I have to destroy. You and our child will be protected."
It's a promise. To her. To myself. To the universe.
I'll burn this entire city to the ground before I let anyone hurt her again.
Starting with Gabriel Romano.
CHAPTER 18
Sera
I wake to warmth.
Not the suffocating heat of panic or fear, but the solid, steady warmth of another body.
Adrian's body.
I'm wrapped around him like a vine. My leg thrown over his hip. My arm across his chest. My face buried in the curve of his neck where I can smell cologne and something distinctly him.
We're skin to skin.
I'm still naked. The robe must have come loose in the night.
I barely remember getting out of the shower. The warmth and steam burned away all of the adrenaline, and when I'd fallen into bed, I'd been bone tired.
I didn't even flinch when Adrian came in.
Not surprising since he's incredibly light-footed. He's naked beneath me, and I can feel the hard planes of his body pressing against me.
My body responds before my brain can catch up. Heat pooling low in my belly. A pulse between my legs that has nothing to do with logic or self-preservation.
It would be so easy.
To shift my hips. To reach down. To take him inside me and let everything else fall away. We hadn't slept together since that first night, and there's so much unresolved between us—questions, secrets, betrayals—and yet, I want him.
Badly.
