I found Amelia already in bed, curled onto her side facing the wall. I undressed quietly and joined her.She didn’t move. But she wasn’t asleep. I could feel it in the way she held her breath. I turned away and closed my eyes.AmeliaHe hadn’t brought it up again. The healer.I’d waited all day for
RichardWe’d been tracking him for three days. Every surveillance drone we could spare, every movement observed. Amelia had marked a weak point in the warehouse quadrant, where the patrols rotated just wide enough to allow passage. Darius had always been careful. Slippery. But that was the first tim
And then I leaned down, slow. Deliberate.My tongue ran the full length of the cut.He flinched hard. One hand slammed against the wall behind him. My eyes fluttered closed, and a low hum clawed up from my chest like a craving I didn’t know how to fight anymore.He flinched like I’d punched him. One
AmeliaMapping echo paths was supposed to be technical. Cold. Purely mathematical. It was about controlling space through sound, identifying how footsteps bounced off the concrete, how voices curved through narrow corridors, how to make an enemy hear what you wanted and miss what you didn’t. We were
AmeliaWe followed Darius underground.The stairwell behind the cathedral organ was older than anything else in the building. It reeked of dust, metal, and long-dried blood. The panel hiding the stairs had been smashed in. Not forced with brute strength, cut with precision. Someone had wanted him to
He didn’t speak. Just let the door fall shut behind me.It was slow this time. Careful. His hands traced every inch of me like he was trying to memorize something, but when I kissed him, his restraint cracked.He deepened the kiss instantly, fingers sliding up my spine like he needed to relearn the