LORETTA

His hands were burning into me, and my heart, the poor beating thing, had already suffered more palpitations today than it had in her entire twenty-three years of existence put together.

Still, I found my breath catching somewhere between my lungs and throat the second I collided with Elion's big, warm body.

My eyes naturally lifted to his dark ones, a small shudder rippling through me.

He's alive; he didn't die because of me; he's here. I could feel his heartbeat pounding beneath my palm, just as violently as mine was pounding beneath my ribs. My fingers curled into his chest, and more tears threatened to burst out of...