Cierra
Smoke still lingered where the creature had vanished, curling upward in thin, acrid ribbons. The air crackled with leftover magic, the stone floor scorched dark beneath our feet. My pulse hammered against my ribs, still synced with theirs—two rhythms, two lives, fused to my own.
Dane sagged against me, breath trembling, but his smile—soft, stunned—was real.
“We… did it,” he whispered again, his voice barely more than a thread.
This time, I believed him.
Dominic didn’t turn. His body remained taut, shoulders squared toward the shredded doorway, gaze fixed on the ruined wards and the darkness beyond. A predator watching for the next threat. A warning incarnate.
“Don’t relax yet,” he murmured, voice low, wolf still thick in his throat. “That thing wasn’t here to kill us.”
I stro
