(Kieran POV)
I found her huddled by the broken window, soaked and shivering, looking smaller than she ever had in the silk-draped comfort of her chambers. The storm had turned her dark hair into wet ribbons that clung to her face, and her thin dress was plastered to her body in ways that made my wolf surge with possessive hunger.
"Catherine." Her name came out rougher than I'd intended, scraped raw by the terror that had driven me up those treacherous stairs with inhuman speed. "Are you hurt?"
She shook her head, but I could see the tremor in her hands, could smell the adrenaline that spoke of genuine fear finally breaking through her stubborn courage. The tower was a death trap—stones loosened by centuries of weather, windows that wouldn't survive another lightning strike, stairs that
