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He hung up, barely remembering he couldn't crush the device that served as a human lifeline to her. Heshoved clothes into the bagShe whimpered and the soundthen headed for the bathroom, pausing halfway.Subtle alarm twisted low in his gut. He’d only been gone fifteen minutes. Maybe less.And somehow, it already felt too long.

Obsession lined his body like gravity, forcing him to recalibrate everything.He turned sharply, rerouting back to the studio. He’d shower there. Inside the same space her breath and pulse lived.

****

Kaos stepped inside the studio, his eyes landing on Jaxi, standing before the far wall with a paintbrush in her fingers. “I know his name,” she whispered.

He shut the door and walked slowly in then froze at seeing the painting. It was him. Not Kohl. Kaos. Wings dripping with pain and shadow, hands blood-bright. Eyes like emerald ruin. And before him—her. Painted not in his arms, butbetweenhim and something unseen. Like she had stepped forward, facing a force not yet named. Shielding him.

Her head turned and she locked dazed eyes on him, her chest heaving with shaky breaths. “I know his name,” she repeated, the words raw. “It’s Kaos.”

****

The second his name left her mouth, a thread pulled straight from the center of her. Light pulsed in his chest—deep red and gold, weaving through cracks in a fragile shell. He stepped forward and black wings unfurled behind him.

“Oh God,” she whispered, heart hammering.

He stepped again, revealing onyx horns curled up from his head. Dark eyes locked on her.

The brush slipped from her fingers.

He moved closer, the shadows of his wings stretching across the studio walls. Every breath he took pulled the air tighter, binding them in a moment neither could escape or fully grasp. Her heart thundered in her chest, the tremor in her hands matching the storm building between them.

Kaos. The name turned inside her again—full and claimed. “Are you... real.”

His gaze flared with those red embers as he came to her, stopping exactly where he had in the dream. “You called me forth, Fleshling.”

Fleshling. She shivered, breath catching in her throat. She didn’t move, but everything inside her leaned toward him. A walking dream, vivid and impossible. “Where... is Kohl?”

His gaze held hers. “My human vessel remains apart from me,” he said quietly.

Jaxi blinked, trying to process while her eyes continued to devour him. “Are you… real?” She slowly reached out, needing to feel if he was. “Am I dreaming?”

He eyed her outstretched hand and pulled her back into his gaze. “I am no dream. I exist within him. I also exist beyond him.” His eyes narrowed. “But remaining here creates danger.”

His words and the shift of his wings stole her breath. “Why?” she wondered, her stomach twisting. “You can’t… stay?”

Her breath caught at the low growl he gave. Just like in the dream. “Bonding with me here exposes you, Little Human,” he said, the words rough against her skin. “Tell me—how did you summon me?”

She blinked around tears and gasped through the burn in her chest. “I... I don’t know,” she whispered, looking back at the image she’d painted. “I dreamed of you, but you were…blurry.” She looked back at him, stepping closer. “I thought... I was forgetting you, and... I wanted to remember. You said I would forget, but I didn’t, I remembered everything,” she swore, wiping tears. “I’ll never forget.”

“You spoke my name,” he whispered, his wings slowly moving behind her. “Who gave it to you?”

She regarded his wings, desperate to feel them again. “It…just came to me. After I painted you...” She slowly reached out and touched his wing, jerking her hand back when he growled.

She held both hands at her chest in fists. “Does it hurt?” She roamed her gaze over the sharp cut of muscle on his body. “You’re... so beautiful. And real.” She covered her mouth with a hand, looking up at him. “Areyou real?”

“I must leave,” he urged. “You're not safe with me here. I’ll find you in your dreams.”

She latched onto his wings with both hands, a sob choking her. “Please... don’t...” She shook her head, gasping for air, trembling. “Don't leave me.” Her lungs burned, her chest ached. “You said you were mine.”

Panic hit her and she threw herself into him, wrapping her arms around him as tight as she could. The connection of their bodies brought a surge of joy and hot energy. Oh God, hewasreal. His muscles burned like hot steel. She pressed her face, then mouth on him, tasting it was true, her dream alive and breathing in her arms, his breaths ragged and hot in her hair.

Chapter Eleven

Kaos closed his eyes at the feel of her mouth on him, body pressed fully against his. The unspeakable sensation lit a fire that consumed reason. He couldn’t explain how she’d reached him—drawn him from the divide into her space. Her call bypassed laws, ignored structure. It stirred something buried and unshaped.

He lifted his hands—slow, careful—and traced her spine with his claws, reverent around bone and heat. Her presence wrapped him, steadying every volatile current within. He tilted her head back and met her gaze. Wide. Bright. Trusting. “I cannot bond with you... not here, angel.”