She turned to face him.
Water ran down his chest in rivulets that she wanted to trace with her tongue. But she needed to say this first. Needed him to really hear her.
"When I was a little girl, I imagined what my life would be like. I'd be powerful. Famous. A top-ranked Hunter with sponsorships and magazine covers and everything the world could offer. I'd marry someone equally powerful. Someone my father approved of. Someone who fit the perfect image I'd constructed."
"And then you got me."
"And then I got you."
She pressed her palm against his chest. Over his heart.
"You ruined everything. Every plan. Every expectation. Every assumption I made about who I was and what I wanted. You tore it all down and built something different in its place."
"Something better?"
"Something real."
His hand covered hers.
"I'm still a monster."
"You're my monster."
"I might not survive what's coming."
"Then I'll die with you."
"That's not—"
