Evangeline's POV
The door clicked softly behind him, and for a second, I held my breath.
I waited, ears straining for footsteps to fade down the corridor before I finally let out a breath I hadn’t realized I was holding. My legs gave way beneath me and I slumped onto the bed, pressing a hand to my chest.
I hated him. I hated Damien Hunter more than I’d ever hated anyone in my entire life.
And yet, the way my heart betrayed me each time he was near… the way my body reacted when he stood too close, when his voice dipped low and cold, when his eyes locked onto mine as though I belonged to him…
I couldn’t explain it.
“God,” I whispered, my voice shaking, “what the hell is happening to me?”
The bed creaked beneath my weight as I shifted, curling in on myself like I could protect whatever was slowly breaking inside me. The air was thick with his scent, wild and foreign, dark and unrelenting. It clung to the room, to my clothes, to my skin. I wanted to scrub it off, peel every
