Chapter 18: Taming the Alpha
{Serena’s P.O.V.}
"The safeword is still 'Nightingale,' isn't it?" I asked, my voice a velvet whisper laced with dark intent, the sound wrapping around him like a silken noose. It was a question and a reminder, the predator’s tease to the prey ensnared in its gaze.
Gabriel turned slowly, the weight of his gaze heavy with a storm of emotions—anger that burned at the edges, shame that simmered just beneath the surface, and beneath it all, a raw, undeniable hunger that threatened to consume him. He said nothing, but in his silence, I heard everything. He needed this. He needed me to strip away the layers of his defenses, to carve him down to his most primal self.
Without a word, Gabriel moved to the center of the room, each step deliberate, like a man walking
