Chapter 83 Reality

• Alissia POV
• I wake slowly, becoming aware of someone’s arms wrapped securely around me. There’s a warm, steady rhythm beneath my cheek—A heartbeat. Memories drift back in pieces, a tangle of intense emotions, and then a feeling of crashing, like panic, had swept over me from nowhere. I glance up, my gaze meeting Lucas’s soft, steady expression as he watches me wake. He doesn’t speak or even move, just waits with a calm patience that soothes the lingering fragments of confusion in me. I lean up and kiss him, slipping my arms around his neck, pulling him closer until his body melts against mine, returning the kiss gently.
• When I pull back, he smiles, his eyes glinting with a mix of affection and relief. Reality settles around me, and I feel the weight of how I must have reacted. “I’m sorry,” I whisper, a wave of vulnerability washing over me.