Karina

I jolt awake, the sheets tangled round me. My coronary heart beats a frantic rhythm in opposition to my ribcage. I do not know what woke me, however worry clings to me like a second pores and skin, refusing to be silenced.

The place am I?

Blinking quickly, I attempt to orient myself within the dimly lit room nevertheless it is not acquainted. I look round, determined for one thing recognizable, something to anchor me again to actuality. The partitions are shadows, the air thick with the scent of rain and amber. It is a acquainted combine, one which teases obscure reminiscences from the corners of my thoughts.

A physique curled round mine shifts, and I freeze, my thoughts fully clean for a second.

Coda. His arms are a fortress round me, his breath a gradual rhythm in opposition to the nape of my neck.

Reduction programs via me in a rush. After all. I am in his mattress. As if that reminder set them free, reminiscences flood in like a breached dam—photos of my father along with his sq. jaw set in dedication, his grey eyes chilly and calculating as he clenches his cell in his hand. Me, hiding within the closet in his workplace, listening to each phrase.

He wears his badge like a defend, nevertheless it’s tarnished, corrupted by the crimes he is dedicated. What number of have there been? What number of has he referred to as justice? Everybody else sees the nice man, the charming cop who has served his metropolis for many years. However it’s a lie.

I am tangled in an online of his making, loyalty to my solely household juxtaposed in opposition to what’s simply and proper. Every thread is a suffocating reminder that blood may be as toxic as it’s binding.

My world crumbled immediately, in methods I by no means anticipated. And the one who shattered it’s the one who was supposed to guard me.

The one who put it again collectively is the one steeped in darkness. He wears it like a cloak. Or maybe it wears him. And but, proper now, I belief him greater than my very own father.

“No,” Coda mumbles, jolting beside me. His breath is available in shallow bursts, his brow furrowed with traces of unease. His sturdy arm, the one not draped round me as if he intends to guard me even in his sleep, twitches, the muscle flexing beneath his shirt. Even within the dim gentle filtering via the home windows, I see the strain gripping him, the silent battle he wages.

A nightmare.

Coda, the formidable, sleeping big beside me, is caught within the throes of a nightmare.

My coronary heart clenches for him. Even asleep his world is darkish, stuffed with issues that hang-out his thoughts. However even now, with misery carving grooves between his brows, he is lovely. So fierce, so untamed.

I shift nearer to him, my hand trembling barely as I prolong it towards his arm. The muscle mass beneath his pores and skin twitch once more, a choked groan vibrating behind his clenched enamel.

My fingers brush his arm, the contact gentle however deliberate.

“Coda,” I name softly, aching to attract him out of the darkness and remind him that he isn’t alone—not anymore. No matter haunts his thoughts, he does not have to hold it alone now.

His eyes snap open, a feral glint of their depths. For a second, he seems via me, nonetheless caught within the clinging shadows of his nightmares.

“Cazzo,” he rasps, his voice a damaged crack of sound that claws at my coronary heart. The vulnerability etched into his options is jarring—a stark distinction to the unyielding man I’ve come to know. On this second, he is stripped of all defenses, laid naked by no matter ravaged his sleeping thoughts.

I lean nearer, my very own issues swallowed by a piercing need to consolation him. “I am right here, Coda. You are protected.” My hand finds his stubbled cheek. “Discuss to me. Are you okay?”

His breath hitches, and for a second, I believe he would possibly shove me away, unseeing. However one thing shifts in his gaze. The wildness does not disappear—it by no means might from a person like him—nevertheless it recedes sufficient for him to acknowledge me, to understand the place he’s.

“Karina…” He pulls away with the desperation of a person on the brink. His eyes flicker with torment, darting round as if to find an escape that does not exist.

“Coda,” I say softly, refusing to let him go that simply. He clearly wants consolation. I believe he is simply afraid to let himself take it, to let himself want it.

I do not suppose he is a person who wants a lot. He does not permit himself that luxurious. He is an island, self-possessed and self-contained, any trace of vulnerability rapidly and ruthlessly smothered.

It is a devastating approach to stay.

I place my hand on his broad again, feeling the strain in his coiled muscle mass. “It is okay. I am right here.” I scramble to my knees, urgent myself up in opposition to him from behind. “You are protected.”

Earlier than I may even course of the way it occurred, I am on my again with him on high of me, my palms pinned beside me.

He stares down at me, wildness nonetheless glinting in his eyes. “Karina,” he growls, his voice gravelly and uncooked. “you are enjoying with hearth, little lady.”

I do not flinch. I am not afraid. His weight is a paradox—exhilarating but comforting, overwhelming but not practically sufficient. His laborious traces press in opposition to the mushy curves of my physique, and I really feel each ounce of his turmoil.

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