The ground rushed toward me in a blur of dark earth and spinning sky, and for one heartbeat I welcomed the fall. It meant I would not have to feel anything else. It meant the world would stop pulling at me from every direction. My strength was gone, drained out of me by sickness that was not mine, and I was ready to let darkness take the rest.
But I never hit the ground.
Strong arms closed around me with a speed my fading senses barely registered. One moment I was falling, the next my body was caught, steadied, lifted by someone whose touch felt like a spark striking flint.
The moment his skin brushed mine, something violent and ancient slammed through my chest.
Not a sensation. Not an instinct. A pull. A claim.
A recognition so deep it tore a breath from my lungs. My heart lurched ag
