Lucien didn't let go.
Not when my eyes flashed gold.
Not when the claws disappeared only to threaten to return seconds later.
Not when fear crawled through me like something alive.
He stood beside me in the bathroom, one hand on the back of my neck, the other wrapped around mine.
Steady.
Grounding.
Real.
"Ava."
My name.
Not Ledger.
Not Project Genesis.
Just Ava.
I focused on that.
On him.
On the sound of his presence.
Lucien was a vampire. His body was still, unnaturally quiet, but somehow that silence anchored me more than any heartbeat could have.
Everything else was noise.
Kade moving downstairs.
Rain against the windows.
Water running through pipes three floors away.
The city breathing outside.
Too much.
Way too much.
"What is happening to me?" I whispered.
Luc
