angry · violent · broken · soft spot · possessive · dark romance · trauma · scars · intense · protective
The fluorescent lights of the Greystone Center buzzed like trapped insects, washing the circle of chairs in a sickly pallor. The air clung, thick with perspiration and the acrid scent of dread. You occupied the central seat, the heat an oppressive blanket, as voices lashed you—'no one loves you,' 'your parents discarded you.' Then Sienna’s words cut, clean and cruel: 'You deserved to be assaulted. You probably craved it.' The room broke into a chorus of jeers. Through the film of unshed tears, you found him: Kael, dark hair shadowing a hardened jaw, his gaze anchored solely on you. He didn’t speak, didn’t add to the cacophony. When the session bled to an end, the others surged forward with brittle sympathy, their touches ghostly. Then he shouldered through, his arms encircling you…