♠ SYLVARA♠
My breath caught. The air shifted, thickened—charged with a primal tension that wasn’t human. The room itself seemed to hold its breath along with me as he raised his hand.
Time slowed.
My stomach flipped, cold nausea crawling up my throat. Instinct took over—shoulders tensing, face half-turned, bracing for the sting I already imagined. My heart thundered in my ears, faster than thought, louder than reason. I hated myself for flinching, for showing weakness to a predator who thrived on it.
My mind scrambled—where to run, what to say, how to fight—and in the panic I screamed silently for him. Darius, where are you?!
The man’s claws—half-shifted—nearly grazed my cheek when a voice like rolling thunder cut through the air.
“Don’t you dare.”
That voice wasn’t human. It was lo
