The faint glow of dawn crept through the curtains. Athena stirred, her lashes fluttering open to a silence that felt heavier than the night before. Her body tensed immediately as her last memory was of Xavier's large terrifying teeth at her skin.
Her heart raced as she jolted upright, her hands flying to her shoulder and down her body frantically feeling for a wound, for the piercing sting of his claim.
Nothing.
Just her own skin, bare and untouched.
"I didn't do it."
Her head snapped toward the sound, her chest heaving.
Xavier sat on the couch across the room, no longer the furious Alpha who had pinned her beneath him. His broad shoulders were slumped, his hair disheveled, eyes rimmed with shadows as if he hadn't slept all night.
Athena had the sinking feeling that he had been awake the whole time, watching, waiting for her every move with unreadable eyes.
Athena's throat felt dry. "You… you were about to…"
