“I wasn’t going to say anything.”
“You were.”
He smirked. “Yeah. Was.”
We stood there for a beat.
“He’s safer in here than anywhere else,” I said eventually.
Grim scratched his jaw. “You sure that’s the only reason?”
My jaw tightened. “Go check the north cameras.”
He didn’t push further.
“Try to sleep,” he said.
“I’m fine.”
“You’re lying,” Grim said, not unkindly. “But okay.”
He turned and walked away, leaving me in the doorway with the weight of his words in the air.
I closed the door quietly and leaned back against it for a second, breathing out hard.
Sleep wasn’t happening. Not unless someone knocked me out first.
I stepped back toward the bed.
Kellan had shifted again, just slightly, his hand was near the edge of the blanket now, fingers half-curled like he’d reached for something in his sleep…
I sat down on the edge of the bed before I could talk myself out of it.
Not close enough to touch him. Just near enough that if he woke up disoriented, I’d be there.
But as soon as I sat, my body relaxed.
Like my instincts finally got what they wanted.
Calm rolled through me in a slow, unwelcome wave.
I tried to lean back, to create distance, but it didn’t matter.
Being near him… settled something.
It pissed me off.
But I stayed.
The room was quiet except for his breathing and mine.
And somewhere halfway between a breath and a heartbeat, the truth slid in, quiet and sharp:
This wasn’t leverage anymore.
Not to my instincts. Not to whatever part of me had carried him inside like he was something fragile. Not to the hand that brushed his hair back without permission.
War was coming.
