Page 21 of Claimed By Fangs and Darkness

Never in my life had I channeled such power. Certainly not intentionally.

I wish I could say I was terrified—of the consequences of breaking the laws of reality, of my own capacity for world-bending—but there was a high to this power I couldn’t deny.

All my life, all I’d ever wanted was safety. Running and hiding hadn’t worked. But this?

This could work.

Iwasthe motherfucking Tower.

Ironically, I was thinking these thoughts in a half-conscious state. My body remained vulnerably mortal, my strength not without limits.

When I detected Kylo’s scent, I snuggled closer to him. I inhaled deeply and easily, letting the notes of mint, leather, and woodsy musk cocoon me in comforting familiarity.

Lips brushed across my forehead as arms held me tight.

Another mortal limitation made itself painfully apparent. I hadn’t forgotten what Kylo had done, but I pretended as if I had in this groggy state.

Because I wanted to be close to him. I wanted to feel safe in his arms.

I didn’t want to admit that I was glad I’d failed in my efforts to dig out our bond and leave him forever.

Thatwas my most mortal limitation of all.

“I hesitate to wake you,but it has been an impressive twenty-two hours,” Kylo murmured.

I stretched like a cat, basking in a pleasurable and strange groundedness in my body that only came from oversleeping.

Slow to process and remember, my gaze swept from Kylo to his familiar bedroom before I frowned deeply.

“Don’t you have a spare room?”

My voice was soft and kissed by sleep, effectively erasing the anger I’d been trying to conjure.

Kylo smirked, perched on the edge of the bed as he watched me. “Seeing as you never actually broke up with me, I thought it might be strange to make my sleepy, incapacitated girlfriend recover in the guest bed.”

“A poisoned needle in your abdomen wasn’t obvious enough of an ending for you?”

Kylo’s eyes narrowed for a split second before softening back to their gentle blue.

I braced myself for something cocky to leave his lips, something classically brazen and Kylo that would both make my body squirm and also wedge wider our divide of broken trust.

“Evie, I need to apologize,” he said instead. “Would you prefer coffee first?”

I blinked. I fucking loathed this man.

I glared at the ceiling and away from his deceptively earnest eyes.

“Coffee first,” I grumbled.

Kylo’s low chuckle felt like a defeat.

And of course, because Kylo was Kylo, he did effectively create a coffee hostage situation until I drank a glass of water and took my first bite of food.

“I don’t scare you at all, do I?” I muttered as I sipped my blessedly warm, caffeinated beverage at the kitchen island.

Kylo threw me a devastating grin from his place at the sink. “Aw, do you wish your big scary shadow powers frightened me, angel?”

I glowered.