The storm had finally broken, but the world still felt like it was shaking.
Lucien carried me down the lighthouse steps as if I weighed nothing, his arms solid and warm around me. Rain clung to his hair, blood streaked his jaw, and his breath came slow and controlled — the kind of control that only barely hides fury.
Behind us, Rhett and Jax dragged the bodies of the Hollow Men toward the cliff’s edge. Cole followed, limping slightly, one hand pressed against his ribs. The ocean swallowed the masked figures one by one, waves crashing over them like the sea itself wanted to erase their existence.
Lucien didn’t look back.
He didn’t need to.
His focus was on me.
Only me.
When we reached the base of the lighthouse, he set me down gently, his hands lingering at my waist as if he wasn’t r
