Page 62 of Grim

Sophia laughed, leaning her head against his shoulder. He wrapped an arm around her, pulling her close. His thumb brushed slow circles on her arm, warm and intimate.

They sat like that for a long time, watching the sky shift from gold to pink to deepening blue.

Eventually, Sophia sighed. “I work tomorrow night.”

Grim’s jaw tightened slightly, but he nodded. “I’ll take you.”

She looked up at him. “You don’t have to.”

“I want to,” he said, voice low.

She smiled. “Okay.”

He brushed a thumb along her cheek, his expression softening. “Stay with me tonight?”

“Yes.”

And as the last light faded, Sophia realized something she hadn’t let herself think before:

She wasn’t just stepping into Grim’s world.

She was becoming part of it.

Chapter 19

Grim

Grim drove Sophia to the hospital for her night shift, the late afternoon sun sinking low and casting long amber streaks across the windshield. The world felt warm and quiet, the kind of quiet that settles right before a storm.

Sophia leaned across the console, brushing her fingers along his jaw. “You’re staring.”

“Can’t help it,” he murmured, voice low and rough.

She smiled and kissed him, slow and lingering, her hand sliding into his hair. Grim kissed her back with a tenderness that still surprised him, thumb brushing her cheek like he couldn’t believe she was real.

They kissed again at a red light. And again when he parked. And again when he got out and walked around to open her door.

They were openly in love now, no hesitation, no hiding, no pretending.

Sophia stepped out of the car, smoothing her scrubs. Grim took her hand, lacing their fingers together as they started toward the hospital entrance.

“See you after shift,” he said softly.

She leaned into him. “You better.”

As he kissed her forehead, a shadow shifted behind a parked SUV. Sophia didn’t see it. Grim did.

His entire body went rigid. “Sophia, behind me.”

But the warning came a second too late.

A Reaper lunged from the side, grabbing Sophia around the waist and yanking her backward. Her scream tore through the quiet lot, her bag hitting the pavement with a thud.

Grim’s vision went red. Grim didn’t think — his body executed. Distance. Angle. Weapon. Threat hierarchy. He processed all of it in a single breath, the way he had in sand-blown alleys where hesitation meant death.

He didn’t hesitate. He launched himself at the man holding her.

Another Reaper came from behind. A third from the left. A fourth stepped out from between two cars.