Page 107 of Untamed

“You shouldn’t be,” he says finally, but there’s no heat in the words. Only conflict. And something else I can't name.

“You said that last night,” I murmur. “Didn’t work then either.”

His eyes close briefly. Like he’s fighting something. A thought. A feeling. Both, maybe.

“I don’t know how to do this,” he says, barely audible.

“Do what?”

His hand lifts slowly, hesitates… then tucks a strand of hair behind my ear. “Let someone stay.”

My breath catches.

“Don’t worry, I’m not asking for forever, Ares Russo.” I whisper, placing my hand lightly over his. “Just the morning so I know you’re okay, then I’ll go.”

Ares doesn’t answer.

He doesn’t push for me to leave.

But doesn’t ask me to stay either.

The pain in my shoulder bites deep, sharp enough to drag me from whatever restless sleep I managed to claw. My vision is still adjusting to the dark, shadows moving like smoke across the ceiling. I shift slightly, jaw tight, trying not to let the groan escape.

That’s when I feel her.

Jordyn.

She’s curled beside me, one hand resting against my bare chest, her breathing soft and even. Her hair spills across the pillow, strands brushing my skin with every rise and fall of her breath.And for a second, just a second, I let myself lie still and watch her.

She looks so goddamn peaceful. Like the world hasn’t touched her. Like she doesn’t know she’s lying in bed next to a man who’s bathed in blood more times than he’s bathed in sunlight.

Her fingers twitch faintly in her sleep, grazing the edge of my ribs. I flinch. Not from the pain, no, this kind of touch is its own agony.

She murmurs something in her sleep, soft and incoherent, but it hits me anyway. Right in the place I’ve spent years trying to cauterise.

I shouldn’t have let her stay. Should’ve kicked her out the second her stubborn little feet crossed my threshold wearing that goddamn red satin nightdress and matching robe like she just stepped right out of my dreams. But she did that thing, where she looked at me like I was worth something, like I was still human.

And fuck, maybe I wanted to believe in that for one night.

So I lie there. Still and quiet, letting her warmth seep into my bones while I count the ways I’m going to burn for this come morning.

Because whatever this is, whatever it’s becoming, it can’t end any way but ruin. And I’ll be damned if I let it ruin her first.

She stirs beside me, her warmth still pressed into the curve of my side, her hand resting lightly over my ribs. The soft flutter of her breath against my skin, the subtle shift of her fingers as her consciousness begins to stir.

And then, slowly, her eyes blink open.

Blue.

Sleepy and disoriented, until they find mine.

“You sleep like a kitten,” I murmur, my voice low and husky, rough from sleep.

She blinks up at me, eyes still cloudy with dreams. “And you watch people sleep like a stalker.”

A faint smile tugs at my mouth. “Only when they sneak into my bed in the middle of the night.”

“You were bleeding out,” she says softly.

---