Waking Without Fear

PIPER'S POV

The sex wasn’t about urgency. It was about closeness, about reassurance and about two people holding each other like the rest of the world could wait.

Later, we lay tangled together, my head on his chest, listening to the steady rhythm of his heartbeat as it slowly returned to normal. I traced idle patterns on his skin, feeling calmer than I had in weeks.

“Whatever happens next,” Kella