The world narrowed until there was nothing left but breath.
His.
Mine.
White mist colliding between us in the frozen air.
Snow drifted down in slow, silent spirals, settling against dark earth and bare branches like the aftermath of something sacred. But nothing about this felt like aftermath.
It felt like the beginning.
Kael stood before me, still and commanding, yet something about him vibrated beneath the surface. His eyes weren’t normal. They weren’t entirely human.
There was something deeper there.
Something watching me.
Something was waiting.
And still, I stepped closer.
The cold should have bitten my skin. Instead, heat radiated between us, wrapping around my body until I could barely tell where I ended and he began. My pulse throbbed at the base of my throat. My skin fel
