Chapter 161

Lake POV

I woke from a dream that left me flushed and aching.

In the dream, Ramon and I had been intimate—really intimate, the way we’d been that one perfect time weeks ago before everything fell apart. Before Samuel, before the kidnapping, before whatever invisible wall had gone up between us. In the dream, Ramon had been present and hungry and completely focused on me, his hands and mouth everywhere, his voice rough in my ear telling me all the things he wanted to do to me.

It had felt so real that waking up was almost painful.

I became aware of warmth against my back, a heavy weight pinning me to the mattress. For one terrifying moment, panic flooded through me. *Samuel*. Samuel had me pinned, was going to hurt me again, was going to—

But no. The scent was wrong. This was cedar and alpha and safety. This was Ramon.

I forced myself to breathe through the panic, to let logic override the trauma response. I was in Ramon’s bed. In our bed. S