The soft rap on the door cut through their post-intimacy bliss like a blade through silk. The knock was neither urgent nor hesitant—it carried the confidence of someone who expected to be answered, regardless of the circumstances.
"Callum," came a voice that was silk and smoke, honey and fire, speaking his name with the familiarity of someone who had once known every inch of his soul. "I know you're in there. We need to talk."
The temperature in the chamber seemed to drop several degrees despite the Dragon Realm's eternal warmth.
Callum's entire body went rigid against Samantha's side, his dragon nature responding to the voice with a complex mixture of recognition, wariness, and something that might have been guilt.
"Who," Marcus asked with a deceptively calm tone of someone who was already calculating potential threats, "is that?"
