Annika pursed her lips tightly. Even though this guy was powerful and handsome in a rough, dangerous way, he was clearly a pervert who took advantage of situations.But then, he had saved her from the Hux gang when no one else could have. Who knew what would have happened if he hadn't been there? The memory of being pinned to the ground, the rough hands on her arms, the threats—it sent a fresh shiver through her.Moreover, all Tyler was asking for was a kiss on the cheek. It was harmless, right? Just a quick press of lips to skin, and it would be over. She could do that much.Annika exhaled slowly, trying to steady herself. "Fine."She inched forward, trying to find her balance on legs that felt increasingly unsteady.The ground seemed to tilt beneath her feet. She lost her balance for a second, and Tyler caught her by the arm with an easy, firm grip, stabilizing her before she could fall."Easy there, girl," he said with a thin smile.Annika was feeling even more faint. Perhaps she w

Tyler scoffed at the challenge laid before him. The massive boulder with the ancient sword embedded in it sat in the center of attention like some relic pulled from a half-forgotten legend, and the old man's calm expectation that he would simply draw the blade free felt almost insulting after everything that had already happened that day."Is that all?" he said, his voice carrying easily across the quiet banquet hall. "You want me to yank that blade out of the rock? Old man, I can snap swords between my teeth and crush stone to powder with my bare fingers. You are underestimating me by a wide margin if you think this is some kind of test."Edward Salvatore smiled with quiet temerity, the kind of expression that belonged to a man who had weathered decades of hope and disappointment without losing his composure.The chandelier light caught the silver in his hair as he regarded the younger man. "Seems you do not even recognize the sword. It used to belong to you in a previous life. If yo

Morning broke over Sapphire City in ribbons of gold and glass.Tyler strolled down the boulevard with his hands in his pockets, a free man with an empty stomach and not a single coin to fill it.He had spent the night on a park bench, slept like a king, and woken to the smell of fresh bread from a bakery he could not afford."Free at last," he mused, watching the city wake around him. "Now I only need money, food, and a place to live. Details."The rebuilt city fascinated him. Towers of steel and greenglass, streets humming with electric cars, holoboards flashing advertisements over the intersections. The world had clawed its way out of the ice and dressed itself up nicely.Tyler stepped onto a pedestrian crossing.An engine screamed somewhere to his left.A white Bentley came tearing around the corner, running the red light like it was a suggestion for lesser people. The driver braked hard, the tires shrieked, but momentum was momentum.The car struck Tyler square in the hip.The Ben

"Continue compressions! Do not stop!"Dr. Moss's voice cracked like a whip through the cardiac suite, but there was fear under it now, and everyone could hear it.Vivian didn't stay to listen. She was already running.She burst out of the gallery doors into the corridor, and for the first time in her adult life, Vivian Anderson had absolutely no idea what to do.She was a doctor. She was the administrator of the largest hospital network in Sapphire City. She could summon award-winning surgeons with a phone call and move mountains of money with a signature.And none of it mattered, because the only man who had understood what was happening to that boy was the man she had thrown out like a criminal.Her father's voice rose out of her memory, the way it always did when she was drowning.Silas Anderson had signed over half his fortune to build these hospitals, and on the day he handed his daughter the administrator's badge, he had told her the only rule that mattered."We are not in the b

The nurse burst back in with the case. Tyler flipped it open, fanned nine long needles like a deck of cards, and pressed his palm flat against the child's chest."Stop the compressions.""If we stop, he's dead—""Stop."The nurse pulled her hands away. The room went rigid. The flatline tone just hummed on and on. Then, Tyler’s hands blurred. Nobody could keep up with his speed.He wasn't hitting normal medical points. Not the chest, not the heart. He traced the arms, slid under the collarbones, and found the soft spaces right beneath the ribs.He drove each needle home with a sharp, precise quarter-turn. Faster and faster, until nine needles stood vibrating in a pattern that didn't exist in any medical textbook on earth.Dr. Okafor’s hand drifted to her mouth, eyes wide. That’s not random. "Wait... isn't that the lost Dawn-bringer technique? How do you know that?"Tyler didn't answer. He pressed two fingers right under the kid’s ribs and shoved downward. The small body arched up off t