~ Elara ~
I jolted awake, a scream dying in my throat as my claws—my claws—shredded through Egyptian cotton sheets. Heart hammering, I stared at my hands in the dim light filtering through the curtains. Where my fingernails should be, curved talons glinted in the darkness, sharp enough to tear fabric like tissue paper.
"Easy," a deep voice murmured beside me. "Breathe, Elara."
I jerked my head up to find Caleb beside my bed, bare-chested and wearing only sleep pants, his hair disheveled. I hadn't even heard him enter. He'd been sleeping on a makeshift pallet beside my door—his insistence after bringing me to this Lunaris "guest suite" following our hasty departure from the gala. Protection, he'd called it, though whether I needed protection from outside threats or my own changing body r
