Page 116 of Marked By His Hunger

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They were safe there.

Fantasy.

Now?

I didn’t know what any of it meant.

Because this wasn’t a book.

This wasn’t some trope I could flip past if it got too intense.

This was real.

Messy.

Terrifying.

And mine.

I glanced at him again.

He hadn’t looked at me directly since the nurse left.

But I knew he was aware of me.

The same way I was aware of him.

Constantly.

Relentlessly.

The cord between us vibrated faintly, like it was waiting for something.

Or someone.

Say something, I told myself.

Ask him.

Demand answers.

But the words wouldn’t come.

Because the truth was?—

I wasn’t sure I wanted them yet.

Not if they confirmed what my body was already starting to understand.

A strange heat curled low in my stomach, unexpected and unsettling.

The connection shifted. Sharpened.

Clarity came with it.

I want him.

Not metaphorically.

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