Darkness clung to the hospital room like a second skin. The rain had slowed, but thunder still growled low across the horizon — distant and primal, like a beast circling prey.
Maya lay unconscious on the bed, her skin pale and glistening under the sterile hospital lights. Wires ran from her temples, monitoring spikes of brain activity that looked anything but human.
Liam sat beside her, one hand gently clasping hers. His thumb moved in slow circles over her knuckles, grounding them both. Yet his gaze was fixed on her face — soft, vulnerable, and terrifyingly still.
She'd whispered "Kai" before collapsing.
But there was no one by that name in their past. Not in this world.
Suddenly, the monitor spiked.
Maya's eyes flew open — but they weren't the deep brown Liam knew.
They were glowing.
A strange, ethereal silver-blue shimmered in her irises, like galaxies blooming in ink. Her breathing was shallow. Her back arched slightly, and her hand tightened around Liam's — unnaturally strong.
"Maya," he whispered, standing quickly, his heart punching against his ribs.
She blinked. The glow faded. She gasped and clutched her chest like she'd surfaced from drowning.
"I saw him," she choked out. "He had my face… my voice… but it wasn't me."
Liam held her shoulders. "Who, Maya? Who is Kai?"
Her eyes shimmered with unshed tears. "I think he's the version of me they erased. Or… maybe the one they created."
She sat up, sweat trickling down the side of her neck, catching in the curve of her collarbone. Her gown slipped slightly, revealing the delicate lines of surgical scars — glowing faintly now, like something inside her had been activated.
She looked at Liam, and something fierce ignited in her expression. "You need to see something."
She swung her legs over the bed and stood — not weak, but with unexpected strength. Graceful. Poised.
In a trance, she walked over to the mirror above the sink. Her fingers trembled as she lifted her hair away from the nape of her neck.
There, barely visible under the skin, was a tattoo that hadn't been there before.
A glowing symbol — rotating slowly like circuitry — pulsing in rhythm with her heartbeat.
Liam stepped closer. "What the hell is that…?"
"I don't know," she whispered. "But it appeared after I kissed you."
Their eyes locked.
The air thickened. Heat curled low in her stomach, and his breath stilled against her cheek.
"I think your touch is waking up something inside me," she said, barely louder than a breath. "Something they tried to suppress."
Liam's hand rose instinctively, brushing against the back of her neck. She gasped, her knees weakening — not from pain, but from sensation.
Their bodies stood too close now, heartbeats colliding.
His voice was husky. "Then maybe I need to keep touching you."
Their foreheads met. Tension coiled between them like a thread ready to snap.
But then—
Beep. Beep.
An alert flared on the wall monitor. Red light. Unauthorized access. A breach.
Liam turned sharply. "We're not alone."
Maya's reflection flickered in the mirror — for a brief second, another version of her stood there.
Colder. Smirking.
Then gone.
The heat that had sizzled between them was now wrapped in tension — seduction laced with danger, desire buried under mystery.
The past was clawing its way back.
And they had no idea how much of Maya was still hers.