I had built my life around solitary hunts, keeping everyone at arm's length with quiet certainty and a half-smile that revealed nothing.

Then Brigid's guarded laughter began to test the armor, and in the rain-slicked alley my fingers closed around her wrist without a word spoken. Water ran between our hands as the dusk settled heavier around us.

She had always met my steady gaze with defiance, but the way her pulse raced under my hold told a different story. I had refused the hunger for surrender for too long, yet here it clawed its way free with every raindrop that traced our skin. The case and our careers hung in the balance, yet I could feel the primal need rising to claim what she both resisted and offered in that single unbroken grip.