The gunshot tore the world apart. Lucian didn’t think. He moved. One moment Marek’s finger tightened on the trigger, the next, Lucian’s arms were around Ayla, dragging her into his chest, his body the only shield he had to give. The bullet slammed into him with brutal force. Fire ripped through his ribs, hot and merciless, stealing the breath from his lungs. Ayla’s scream burst from her throat, muffled against his blood-soaked shirt, her fingers clawing desperately at him as if she could hold the life inside him by sheer will. Marek laughed. A jagged, hollow sound that echoed off the ruined marble walls. “You can’t save her,” he snarled. “Not from me. Not from death itself.” The second shot came. Lucian grunted, his knees buckling. Pain thundered through his body, but still he held her. His hand fisted in the back of her shirt, his body the wall between her fragile frame and Marek’s gun. “Lucian!” Ayla’s voice broke, raw with terror, with love, with the unbearable fear o
Last Updated : 2025-09-08 Read more