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"Yes," she admits finally. "I have."

I step closer, lower my voice. "You knew what you weredoing."

"And what exactly was I doing?" she asks, chin lifted in challenge.

"You're not some reckless girl from nowhere. You were raised in this. Polished. Dangerous. The kind of woman who knows better and walks into the fire anyway."

She doesn't deny it. She just stares at me, something shifting in her gaze—something like recognition. And I know I'm right.

"So what now?" she asks, voice steadier than it should be. "You've caught me in a lie. What happens to liars in your world, Beckett?"

The sound of my name on her lips sends an unexpected heat through me, a current that runs straight to my cock. I lean in, my voice a whisper over her skin.

"Careful," I murmur. "Keep looking at me like that, and I'll start thinking you're a threat."

She meets my eyes—steady, wild. "Maybe I am."

I grin, slow and dark. "Oh, baby. I hope you are."

"Don't call me baby," she says, but there's no real fight in it.

"What should I call you then?" I ask, fingers trailing along her collarbone.

She shivers but doesn't pull away. Instead, she leans in slightly, an unconscious response that makes my blood heat.

I step back and take in the sight of her—long legs with their constellation of scrapes, full lips and dark lashes and stubborn chin.

She doesn't glow. She burns. And she walked into a world of chaos and thought she could walk away.

"Your name," I say, voice lower now.

She swallows, hesitates for a heartbeat, then, "...Luna."

It hits harder than it should.

I tilt her chin up with my thumb, holding her still. "Luna,"I test it on my tongue, watching how her pupils dilate slightly. "Is that another lie?"

"No," she whispers, a tremor in her voice. "That's the one true thing I have left."

"You don't even realize what you are, do you?"

She exhales. "What am I?"

I smirk. "Dangerous."

"I'm not the dangerous one here," she counters, eyes locked on mine.

"Aren't you?" I ask, thumb brushing her lower lip. "Walking into this place knowing exactly what it is? Knowing what men like me do to girls like you?"

She scoffs.

I step closer, pushing my body flush against hers, my voice dropping lower. "Too fucking pretty for a room full of monsters. Too wild to belong to anyone."

She tries to look away, but I hold her still, my grip firm but not cruel.

"And what does that make you?" she asks, voice barely audible.

"The monster who caught you," I say, something possessive unfurling in my chest. "And now that I've got you?"