Chapter 73

• I woke to the weight of sunlight spilling through the curtains, warm across my face. My lashes fluttered, body sore, skin still humming with the ghost of his claws, his teeth, his everything.
• When I blinked fully awake, he was there—Lucian Vale. Towering, shirtless, ink scattered across his chest like beautiful sin, the kind that begged to be touched, licked, worshiped. Each tattoo drew my eyes lower, past the ridges of muscle, to the dangerous promise beneath his waistband. Heat coiled low in my belly, my body aching to press against all that raw strength and let him ruin me the way only a man like that could, but instead of tearing me apart, he was… setting down a tray.
• “Eat.” His voice was low, rough from the night before. He slid the tray onto the mattress, right beside me—eggs, toast, coffee so strong the scent itself made my throat tighten.