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Instead, I tried to regulate my own breathing, carefully inhaling the air.

Her scent hit me differently this time, more intensely, sending another tingle through my stomach.

I pushed aside all self-hatred because there was no room for that now. None of that mattered in this moment. I could curse myself later, hate myself later for letting it get this far.

Julie needed someone to calm her down. Someone to get her through this stressful situation.

When her sobbing subsided, all that remained was her steady, albeit troubled, heartbeat, which I could feel on the palm of her hand.

I loosened my grip, let my hand wander down the back of her hand to her wrist, placed index and middle finger on her pulse, and felt the soft throbbing.

With caution, I looked down.

Julie stared at our hands.

That was the moment when my face filled with warmth and the pleasant feeling in my stomach rushed down again.

Her skin was so damn soft, her shallow breathing so quiet, everything about her so delicate and fragile. But the force inside her was lethal.

“Buddy...” she whispered, her voice full of panic, and suddenly she pulled away from me. “Where is...”

She looked around frantically, and I turned my head to look for the dog.

He was cowering under one of the tables, and he must have dragged the leash with him because it was lying loose next to him.

“He's fine,” I said, but it wasn't until the dog got up and trotted over to us with his tail tucked between his legs and his head down, whimpering as he leaned against Julie and sank into her lap, that she seemed to calm down.

She pulled her hand away from mine to pet the dog, and the strange feeling in my chest returned.

Julie sat in front of me, her back to me, fully focused on the puppy.

And suddenly, exhaustion hit me.

I sat down completely on the cold, partly icy, partly wet ground, propped myself up with my arms behind me, and watched Julie and the dog as I sorted through my thoughts and emotions.

“I'm sorry, Buddy,” Julie whispered, wiping her face as if she were still crying. “I'm sorry...” Her upper body rose and fell heavily, as if she were in pain. “I'm sorry, Quentin...”

My breath caught in my throat. And it didn't come back, because she looked over her shoulder, looked straight at me, with those goddamn aventurine eyes, platinum blonde tousled hair, and reddened cheeks. Her lips were swollen and red, like her eyes.

Had she just apologized to me?

There was a gleam in her eyes, very slight, and I couldn't help but stare, so that I didn't even have time to wonder what it was she was doing to me.

Loud footsteps sounded, causing Julie to tear her gaze away from me and forcing us both to look toward the door.

When I spotted the men in suits, I quickly rose to my feet.

“What's going on here?!” demanded the dark blond head of the security team.

Bastien DeLoughrey.

The people, all of them Transformed, looked around the lab suspiciously, and I wondered if the other labs had noticed anything.

The Legacy Ruisangor approached me.

“What's the deal with this girl's powers?” he demanded to know, pointing to Julie, who had also stood up.

The dog ran excitedly toward the security guards and sniffed them as well. They all backed away, and the image was almost bizarre.