ONLY IN THE DARK

NO WALLS LEFT

Aurora didn’t remember deciding to follow him. One moment she was back in her room, staring at the crack in the ceiling, and the next she was moving quietly, sure, pulled by a thread only he could see.

Saint was waiting at the far end of the corridor, half shadowed, like the light itself had chosen to stay away from him. When their eyes met, he didn’t speak. He just held out a hand.

Her pulse thudded in her ears as she took it.

The air between them was thick, humming with everything they hadn’t said. His fingers brushed over her jaw, tilting her face up, and the faintest ghost of a smile curved his mouth before it vanished. Then his lips found hers firm, certain, tasting faintly of smoke and something darker, something that made her knees weaken.

It wasn’t gentle. It was claiming.

Her back met the wall, cool and unyielding, while his palm flattened against her waist, drawing her closer. The faint scrape of his stubble against her skin made heat curl low in her belly. When his hand slid higher, fingertips skimming the edge of her ribs, she didn’t pull away.

Aurora’s breath caught as his mouth traced the line of her jaw, the tip of his nose brushing her ear.

“Tell me to stop,” he murmured, voice hoarse enough to make her shiver.

She didn’t.

Instead, she tangled her fingers in his shirt and pulled him closer. The heat between them built his body pressed against hers, her lips parting under his, the taste of danger and want mingling until it was impossible to tell them apart.

Saint’s hand slid to the back of her neck, his thumb stroking once, twice, before his mouth claimed hers again hungrier this time. The kiss deepened, tastes of restless nights and unspoken things.

She could feel his heartbeat against her chest, a fierce, steady rhythm that matched her own. Heat spilled through her veins as his fingers traced the line of her spine, pulling her closer until there was no space left between them.

Her breath came faster, shallow against his lips. His scent ; smoke, rain, and something uniquely him wrapped around her like a tether. She didn’t know when her hands had slipped beneath his shirt, only that his skin was warm under her fingertips, muscles shifting as he moved.

He broke the kiss only to press his forehead to hers, their breaths tangling in the narrow space between them.

“You’re playing with fire, little star,” he murmured, voice low and dangerous.

“Then burn me,” she whispered back.

The corner of his mouth lifted, just barely. His hand slid lower, settling on her hip before guiding her back into the shadows where the light couldn’t reach.

The world outside that moment blurred no walls, no guards, no rules. Only the sound of their breathing, the heat of skin against skin, and the shiver that raced through her as his mouth found the hollow of her throat.

Her fingers curled tighter into him. The space between his words vanished, and so did hers.

And when the moment tipped over into something that couldn’t be pulled back from, the night swallowed the rest.