LUCIAN
It was late at night when I finally made it back home. The pungent stench of the hospital—a suffocating, persistent mix of antiseptic, sickness, and death —clung heavily to my skin and clothes, a grim, painful reminder of a perfect day that had derailed into an absolute trainwreck.
Diana had suffered a terrible allergic reaction, coming within inches of an anaphylactic shock. Every time my mind drifted back to that image— her eyes bulging in terror, her pale skin breaking out in angry red hives, her clawed hands scratching at her throat... Goddess, my heart seemed to stop and race at the same time.
I hadn’t hesitated. I’d scooped her up and sprinted from the greenhouse straight to the emergency room. The only thing that had briefly managed to stop me in my tracks was the look on
