Nikolai

The first thing I was aware of was the ache in my bones, a deep, restless thrum that had nothing to do with the previous day’s sparring and everything to do with the woman locked in a room two floors above me.

Her proximity was a constant, low-grade hum in my blood, a string pulled taut between us. I’d slept fitfully, my dreams a chaotic swirl of red eyes and the scent of jasmine, the beast within me pacing, unsatisfied and agitated.

I was already pulling on a pair of training ...