Raine POV
My eyes snapped open air rushed back into my lungs like it had been gone for years.
Light. Golden, rippling light.
The river was no longer dark and silent; it glowed like liquid sunlight had replaced the water. My vision blurred for a second before I realized something else something far more alarming.
I was in someone’s arms.
Lucian’s arms.
And not in the casual, oh-I’m-saving-you kind of way. No. His chest was pressed against mine, his shirt clinging wet to every sculpted line, and his hand his annoyingly warm hand was splayed across my waist, holding me tight like I was something fragile.
“Raine! Raine! Raine....” his voice cracked with something dangerously close to panic. Before I could respond, his mouth was on mine.
Cold. Soft. Desperate.
It took me a heartbeat t
