The air between them thickened, every breath charged with the unspoken pull that bound them. Aria didn’t move away. Instead, she leaned in, as if her body was already answering a call her mind hadn’t yet voiced. The warmth of Dante’s touch and the depth of his gaze were like gravity. Inescapable.
Dante’s fingers slid up her spine, slow and reverent, until his hand cradled the back of her neck. His forehead rested lightly against hers, and for a breathless moment, they stood there, held together by something neither could name.
“This bond,” he whispered, his voice rough with restraint, “it’s calling me to you, deeper than I’ve ever known.”
Aria’s lips parted, trembling. Her body ached, not with pain, but with an overwhelming need to be claimed, to belong, to tether herself to the one who
