The rain fell soft and steady outside, a lullaby for the city. But sleep brought no peace for Stacy.

  She tossed beneath her sheets, breath uneven, tangled in the silk of her own dreams.

  In her dream...

  She stood in a mist covered forest. Moonlight pierced the canopy in scattered beams, and everything was quiet... too quiet.

  Then she heard him.

  Not his voice, but his presence. She turned.

  Kalil.

  He stepped out from behind a tree, shirt unbuttoned, the moonlight catching on the sharp lines of his chest. His eyes glowed faintly, not quite silver, not quite human. He didn’t speak.

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  He didn’t need to.

  Stacy walked toward him, her bare feet pressing into damp earth. She should’ve been afraid. Instead, her body moved like it had always known him... known this.

  His hand lifted to her cheek. Warm. Calloused. Gentle in a way that made her knees weaken.

  "You don't belong in my world," he whispered, his voice like velvet and thunder all at once.

  "And yet here I am," she replied.

  He leaned in slowly, lips ghosting hers. Her heart pounded. But before he could kiss her, the forest lit up behind him, and he turned away, shielding her from the light.

  The sound of a howl tore through the air.

  She reached for him.

  And woke up gaspinggasping.

  Across town…

  Kalil jolted upright in bed, chest heaving. The sheets were tangled, damp with sweat. The dream clung to him like heat.

  In his dream...

  Stacy stood before him, glowing like starlight, wrapped in white. Her hair danced in an invisible breeze. She reached out to him without fear.

  He tried to step back, but his feet were rooted.

  “You run from what you already feel,” she said softly.

  His hands curled into fists. “You don’t understand what I am.”

  She came closer. Close enough that he could smell her. Vanilla. Skin. Warmth.

  “I don’t care,” she whispered. “I see you.”

  She pressed her palm to his chest—and his wolf howled. His eyes turned silver. His control cracked like glass.

  And just before he shifted into something dark and ancient-

  She kissed him.

  Full. Deep. Like she’d been his forever.

  And he woke up, heart racing, fists clenched, blood hot.

  Kalil sat at the edge of his bed, jaw tight, breathing hard.

  This can’t continue.

  But even awake, he swore he could still taste her lips.