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CHAPTER 9

Author: Evey
last update Huling Na-update: 2025-07-22 20:51:58

My eyes fluttered open the next morning, adjusting slowly to the soft light filtering through the moth-eaten curtains. A stillness hung in the air, the kind that only comes right before everything changes. I tried to stretch, easing the sleep from my limbs, but a strange weight pinned me down, heavy and warm, like I was trapped beneath a thick blanket I hadn’t remembered pulling over me.

Then the hold tightened.

A low grunt vibrated against my back—deep, rough, and unmistakably male.

Panic shot through me for a split second. My breath hitched. Slowly, I turned my head, my heart thudding like a warning drum in my chest.

And there he was.

Damon.

Fast asleep, his arm draped over my waist like it belonged there. His impossibly perfect hair was tousled, dark strands curling over his forehead in a way that felt entirely unfair. Gone was the composed, calculated version of him I’d grown used to—the one with sharp eyes and sharper words. In his place was someone softer. Human.

Vulnerable.

His
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