Aurora's POV
Zayn's expression hardened into something dangerous. “He’ll never touch what’s mine,” he said quietly, deadly. “Not while I’m alive.”
His words sent a shiver through me, not because of fear, but because of the promise in them.
Zayne was not the same man Jake once intimidated. He was colder now. Sharper. He’d lost too much to let anyone take what little he still had.
But the sadness in his eyes told me what he didn’t say: He knew his time was running out.
I cupped his face. “Don’t talk like that. You’re not going anywhere.”
He smiled again, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “I just need you to believe that, even if I can’t.”
The storm outside deepened. Lightning flashed across the windows, and for a moment, I thought I saw movement at the tree line. A figure watching.
Zayn
