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Trevan grinned. “It’s our favorite song.”

My grin was unstoppable. “I thought you hated it. You know, since you have horrible taste, Heathen.”

I couldn’t help but tack on the last.

He chuckled low, though his expression softened. “Anything you like is my favorite, Elena Mercer.”

There went my heart bashing at my rib cage again.

Why did he have to be so freaking sweet?

Trevan hesitated, his tongue stroking out over his lips, before he finally pushed to standing.

He towered over me high.

A mountain.

A fortress.

My safe place.

Covering me in shadow and warmth.

He stretched out his hand. “Dance with me.”

Surprise took me over, and I raked my teeth over my bottom lip as a rash of excitement blistered through me.

With a shaky hand, I set my cup aside and let him help me up.

He gathered me in his massive arms.

Lightly when I wanted to plaster myself against him.

But this would do.

I let myself get lost in it.

In his soft smile and the tender way in which he moved. A soft, mesmerizing sway as he rocked me back and forth.

In it, it felt as if we were elevated above all the worries that threatened to suck the hope from our lives.

Like for this sacred moment, we were normal and there weren’t five bikers standing guard to protect our lives right outside.

Like he wasn’t a criminal, and I wasn’t the little sister of the head of that secret society.

I burrowed myself into it.

A balm.

My joy.

“I truly am so proud of you, Elena,” Trevan rumbled. “Watched you become an unconquerable force these last few months, and it was one of the best things I’ve ever had the honor of witnessing.”

Redness crawled to my cheeks, my pulse running wild yet somehow content.

“Thank you.” I kept the side of my head rested on the ravaging in his chest as he swayed me, and my brow furrowed as I tried to pare down the complexity of what I felt into something manageable. “I think I surprised myself. How determined I could be and the hard work I was willing to put in. It…felt good.”

Trevan grunted. “You didn’t surprise me one bit. I knew that tenacity was waiting to come out. Most resilient person I know.”