The first rays of sunlight slipped through the blinds, painting streaks across the floor of my room in the safe house.
I stirred, reluctantly leaving the warmth of the sheets, but even as I tried to shake the lingering grogginess, his presence followed me.
Not physically, he wasn't here, but a trace of Adrian lingered in my mind, subtle and maddening.
A pulse of calm, of control, of danger, all at once.
I blinked, trying to focus on the mundane, on the steady breathing of the children still asleep down the hall, but the psychic brush of him refused to let me settle.
A memory brushed through my mind the sensation of the mission yesterday, the fear, the adrenaline, the way he'd moved beside me, instinctively protective. It left a heat crawling up my spine, a tension I couldn't name, yet couldn't ignore.
Dragging myself out of bed, I pulled on yesterday's jacket, feeling the fabric brush against my skin in a way that made me overly aware of every nerve ending.
