That kiss hit me so hard my mind went blank.
I couldn't think at all. I could only nod, again and again, clinging to him like I'd forgotten how to stand on my own.
That night, I stayed quietly in his arms.
The awkwardness I used to feel was gone.
The invisible wall in my chest the one I never knew how to explain started to crack.
Little by little, I let Lewis in.
From the start, our mateship had been an arrangement.
A strategic pairing.
He needed my connection to the Ashbourne s.
I needed his protection within the Hales' territory.
We both thought it was clean. Simple. Temporary.
But somewhere along the way, it changed.
What he wanted was never influence or leverage.
He wanted me.
And my heart once shattered by Juilain, sworn never to trust again began to mend under Lewis's quiet care. Slowly. Carefully.
For the first time in a long while, I felt safe enough to hope.
I wasn't afraid of what came next, because I knew he would always be there.
