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I shut my eyes and I tuned them all out — my father, Eve, the Elders, the muttering crowd, even my own racing thoughts.

I tried to focus on the one thing that mattered. Survival.

Water.

I pictured it. Cool, heavy rain pounding down. Waves crashing over the fire. A heavy flood wiping all of this away.

I held onto that image, clung to it with everything I had. But the more I focused, the hotter the fire got.

The flames hissed and crackled, the heat crawling up my legs, and began to eat away at my strength.

I groaned as my skin burned.

I bit down hard, refusing to scream.

I kept trying — water, rain, storm, anything.

But nothing happened.

Shortly after screams rang in my ears as the fire raced up my legs and leaped from me to the forest.

They started to run for their lives and leave me tied to the tree. To burn to death.

I yanked at the chains, the metal biting into my wrists, but they wouldn’t budge.

Was this how it ended for me? Helpless and burned alive like my mom?

My heart pounded so hard from the flashbacks that I thought it might burst from my chest.

Yet I persist in the imagination that it was raining heavily and I was soaked by water instead of the fire that was threatening to turn me to ash.

Rain.

I screamed as flames engulfed my dress and seared my thighs.

It was nearly impossible to breathe.

Agonizing burns and scorching pain spread across my body.

The world tilted and spun around me, my clothes drenched in sweat and blood.

For a second… I almost lost my belief. Almost.

But then… the sky split open.

Thunder rolled across the clouds like a warning.

And then it came.

Rain. Cold, sudden, and heavy.

It poured down from above, washing over me like a blessing, and magically healing my wounds.

I heaved a deep breath when the fire hissed and sputtered.

Smoke curled upward as the flames shrank beneath the downpour.

Through the storm, a distinguished, glowing figure appeared.

He was tall, radiant, and otherworldly.

He had a single, massive wing. It was snow-white and striking. Just one.

That alone told me what he was. A fallen angel.

His long hair matched the color of his feathers, pale as fresh snow, and his entire being seemed to glow with the soft, cool light of the moon.

He moved toward me with such quiet, effortless grace that it barely seemed real.

He was so beautiful, so hauntingly perfect.

I stood frozen and completely spellbound.

My mind was drifting, all thoughts of the fire and my near-death moment forgotten as our eyes met.

The chains clamped around my wrists and ankles snapped apart like they were nothing but fragile threads after a flicker of his hand.

Before I even understood what was happening, I was in his arms.

He had piercing silver eyes that seemed to see right through me, and a voice that resounded in my bones when he finally spoke.

“By Blackcroft’s decree, this is your Calling. It is now your time to earn your place among the Apex — if fate wills it.”

I was lying naked on a cold marble bed, inside a massive stone chamber lit by pale-blue fire when I opened my eyes.

I was no longer in the forest.

The rain was gone.

The air was warm, heavy with the scent of incense and old magic.

It didn’t make sense, but this place… it felt too familiar.

I sat up slowly, confused and recalling the last words I heard before blacking out.

“By Blackcroft’s decree, this is your Calling. It is now your time to earn your place among the Apex — if fate wills it.”

“I received a Calling to enter Blackcroft!” I practically screamed, the words tumbling out as the realization hit me like a slap.

I flinched to the side when I realized I was not alone. I looked around for anything to cover my nakedness but I saw nothing in the room but him— the one winged figure, standing just beside me like he’d been there the whole time, watching.

“Yes,” he said smoothly.

I gulped as I let that single word echo in my ears. I liked how low and hoarse his voice sounded.

Very sexy and unsettling.

“You have been called.”

My throat tightened.

I couldn't explain it but his voice stirred an overwhelming heat in my lower stomach.

I’d messed around with so many filthy dares from my so-called friends, but I never realized I had a thing for voices.

His eyes settled on my body. Dark and hungry.

He was checking me out!

No one ever stared at me with such intensity. No one ever bothered to notice me unless I did some stupid and humiliating challenges.

His gaze traced over me, not gentle, not polite but with a predator's patience, like he was hungry to have me.

Well, he was welcome…

Then, without warning, his single wing melted away. The pale feathers dissolved and vanished into the air as if they were never there.

But the heat of his stare? That stayed.

“Your Mana’s unlocked, Juno, but completely drained,” he murmured, a wicked smirk curling at his heart-shaped lips as he leaned in closer. “Want to know the fastest way to charge it?”

“Wow, do you always seduce damsels after saving them from distress?” I muttered even though my filthy mind was encouraging the thought of him pinning me down.

All because my name sounded so good rolling off his tongue.

His hand inched close to my face and my breath caught.

He gave a slow, dangerous smile. “I’m an angel,” he said. “Not your Prince Charming.”

I almost rolled my eyes at that. I never said I needed him to play the role of my Prince Charming. I could protect myself alright.

His fingers skimmed along my jawline, and it took everything in me not to flinch or lean in.

I kept my gaze locked on his, smiling and ignoring my nudity.

He thought he could charm me? Please. He clearly got the wrong girl. I was the one who knew seduction spells, I did the seducing.

Wait. He could be testing me.

What if this were a moral test or something?

Or… was he really after me?

“Easy now,” he warned in a low, rough whisper, and I caught the raw, guttural sound that slipped from his lips like he was barely holding himself together. “If you look at me like that, I might think you actually want me to fill you up… properly.”

I swallowed as the space between us shrank.

The air thickened with the scent of him and it was all I could breathe in at some point.

He smelled like rain, grace, and pure sin.

A shiver ran over my skin, and I trembled with need. I had never felt this horny for anyone in my entire 18 years of life.

He pulled back. His eyes drifted down, lingering on the slight shake in my thighs, then slowly traveled back up to meet my dilated gaze.

“Want me to fill you up?” He blurted out.