My breathing slowed. The crushing, suffocating weight of the Hellgate seemed to lift, just a fraction. For the first time in centuries, the ice in my veins didn’t feel like a heavy curse. It just felt like stillness.
I was drifting, hovering right on the edge of a rare, dreamless sleep, when the biometric scanner on the door suddenly beeped.
My eyes snapped open. Raiden growled low and dangerously in his throat, while Nate sighed loudly in profound irritation.
The heavy double doors hissed open.
Light from the hallway spilled harshly into the room, perfectly silhouetting a lean, muscled figure leaning casually against the doorframe. He was spinning a silver knife between his fingers, his silhouette distinct and sharp against the warm, golden light of the corridor.
“Well, well, well,”
