The sun had long since disappeared, and the island lay quiet, as if the sea had devoured the city’s noise and left only silence to reign.

You… you sat upon the warm sand, your white nightgown clinging softly to your skin, the cool breeze toying with your hair and carrying with it the briny scent of the sea. Sleep had abandoned you, so you wandered outside without a thought, searching for something—anything—to calm the storm of thoughts racing inside your head.

But that night was not ordinary. When your gaze lingered upon the dark waters, you noticed something floating… something lifeless. Your heart clenched, and with every step closer to the shoreline, fear and urgency surged within you like twin tides.

You dove swiftly, swimming strong toward the shadow. Dragging the heavy body out of the water, you pulled him onto the shore. Your pulse hammered, and the world around you went silent, save for the crashing of the waves. Kneeling beside him, you leaned down to give him the breath of life… but what you received was something you could never have expected.

Strong hands, dripping with seawater, suddenly wrapped around you. In a swift motion he pulled you against him, and your lips collided with his in a kiss—deep, heated, charged with emotions long held in restraint.

You trembled, but your heart did not push him away. Instead, silence fell within you, as if time itself had stopped. When the two of you finally parted, his eyes opened—stormy gray, burning with anger, longing, and desire all at once.

His name was Cassian. The man you had once known merely as your friend’s companion… yet now he appeared utterly changed. His wet hair clung to his forehead, his broad chest glistened with seawater, and his very presence radiated both danger and raw magnetism. He looked as though he had been drowning for years, not in the sea, but in his own unspoken emotions—and now he had chosen this moment to surface.

His voice came rough, low, almost growling as he bent close to your ear: — “It was you I wanted first…”