Evaline:
When my eyes fluttered open, I half expected to find myself still cradled in Oscar's warmth. The faint weight over my waist, the steady heat enveloping me, the strong chest beneath my cheek... it all felt so much like him.
But when my lashes lifted and my gaze adjusted to the sunlight filtering through the curtains, the first thing I saw was not Oscar's familiar face.
It was River.
His face was inches from mine, bathed in the late-morning glow, and for a second, my breath caught.
It was strange, almost unfair, how different he looked like this.
His hair, always perfectly styled back in that commanding way that screamed Alpha, now lay messily across his forehead, strands catching the light like ink and silk woven together. The sharp suits he lived in were absent, replaced by the casual softness of sleep. His usual calm, cold mask - the one he wore like armor in front of everyone - had slipped away, leaving behind only tranquility.
