SERAPHINA’S POV
Imani didn’t move at first.
“Aaron?” Her voice trembled, barely holding together.
He was still breathing hard, chest rising and falling like he’d been dragged out of something deep and suffocating. His eyes locked on her with a raw, unfiltered clarity that hadn’t been there before.
“I—” His voice caught, rough and unsteady. “Imani, my mate.”
That was all it took.
Her presence surged, fragile and fierce all at once, as if something that had been held back for far too long had finally been given permission to exist again.
She crossed the distance between them in a heartbeat and dropped to her knees before him, her hand coming up to his face like she needed to confirm he was real.
“Aaron, it’s me,” she whispered, her voice breaking on every word. “It’s me, I’m here.”
“I know,” he said, and there was a certainty in his tone that made my heart clench. “I know you.”
Imani let out a gut-wrenching sob and threw her arms around him.
