Page 153 of Savage Crown

The pain.

I lift a trembling hand and press it to my chest. My heart beats, but it is… slower.

Too slow.

My skin feels colder.

The air moves differently around me.

I swallow hard, trying to push the sensation away, trying to tell myself that I am still me.

But I don’t know if that’s entirely true.

A low groan rumbles beside me.

Rylan stirs, his body shaking.

His head lifts. His eyes meet mine.

"Seraphina."

My name shatters from his lips, hoarse and wrecked, as if he’s choking on it.

Before I can move, before I can make sense of anything—he’s on me.

His hands are fisted in my hair, in my clothes, pulling me against him so hard that I can barely breathe.

His body is shaking from something raw and primal and desperate. His forehead collides with mine, his breath hot and uneven against my lips.

"You're here," he murmurs, voice rough, unbelieving.

His fingers trail over my jaw, skimming down my throat—a touch meant to confirm that I am real, that I am solid beneath his hands.

That he didn’t lose me.

That I didn’t slip away.

Then, he kisses me.

Hard. Brutal. Possessive.

His lips crash into mine, teeth clashing, breath stolen, fire and ruin and relief all bleeding into one.

It is not careful.

It is not soft.

It is wild, uncontrollable, unhinged.

It is a claim.

A vow.

A desperate, wordless scream that I am his, that I belong here, that I will never leave him again.

I don’t hesitate.

I kiss him back with just as much fury, just as much hunger.

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