I felt it the moment Lucian’s claws dug deeper into my throat. The shift in the air. The day everything changed.
Gabriel wasn’t moving.
He wasn’t fighting.
He was thinking.
And that’s when I knew — he was going to run.
The weight of it smashed into me, heavier than Lucian’s grip, heavier than the flames licking behind us, heavier than the betrayal crystallizing behind my ribs like a poison.
Gabriel stepped back slowly, one step.
Lucian laughed draped over my ear, low and teasing. "There it is," he murmured. “The moment she sees what sort of man you truly are.
Gabriel’s golden eyes glimmered, yet he didn’t deny it.
Michael went stiff, his face going from fury to disbelief. "Gabriel. Don’t."
Gabriel didn’t look at him.
He didn’t look at me either.
Because he knew.
“But if I did,
