POV: Ariana Aldo

I didn’t know what being safe felt like until I was in his arms again.

Not in the way people say “safe” like a warm bed or locked doors.

I mean truly safe.

Like every monster had just been swallowed by his presence.

Like no one not even my own cursed fate could touch me as long as he held me.

He didn’t speak as we left the room.

He held me against him with one arm and his pistol drawn in the other, like I was something sacred and fragile and ...