He nods once and leaves quietly.When the door clicks shut, the silence is unbearable.Lose her.Goddess.I look at Aria again.
The bond flickers once, faint, and weak and quivering.My breath shakes.
No.I won’t lose her.Not after finding her in a cage.Not after hearing her saydon’t leave.
I stand abruptly, pacing the small room.My dire wolf pushes at my skin, snarling, restless.All we want is to curl around her.To guard her.To drown out her nightmares with our presence.But that would terrify her.
I stop at the window, bracing my palms on the sill.
The forest outside is quiet.Birds starting to wake.The pack moving through morning routines far from here.
Aria shifts in the bed behind me.Not waking, just moving.But the sound hammers through me.Every part of me reacts.Her breathing, her heartbeat, and her scent.It’s like I’m wired directly to her.
I drag in a deep breath and force myself still.When I turn back, she’s awake.Sitting up and staring at me with soft, hazy confusion.“You left,” she whispers.
My chest caves inward.“No,” I say immediately.“I just stood up.”
Her gaze roams over the room slowly, as if confirming I didn’t disappear.The tightness in her shoulders eases a fraction.
“I thought...”She trails off, shaking her head as if scolding herself.“Never mind.”
My heart twists.“Tell me.”
She hesitates.Swallows.“I thought I imagined you.”
I blink.“What?”
She looks down at her hands.“I had dreams.Nightmares.Then I thought ...maybe ...maybe you weren’t real.”
Oh, Goddess.I kneel beside the bed slowly, careful not to crowd her.
“Aria,” I say softly.“I’m real.”
She lifts her gaze.Her eyes shimmer faintly, not with tears, but something more fragile.
“You stayed,” she whispers.
“I’ll always stay.”I regret the words instantly.Too much.Too heavy.Too soon.
But she doesn’t flinch.Her arms wrap tighter around her knees.“The Hunters ...they didn’t let us sleep much.If we slept too long, they said we were wasting time.They said sleep was weakness.”
My jaw clenches.“Sleep is survival.”
“They didn’t think so.”
She drags in a slow breath.“So, when I woke up and you weren’t right next to the bed ...I thought maybe I’d fallen asleep too long.Or that I wasn’t supposed to sleep at all.”
The pain in her voice is like knives under my ribs.
“Aria,” I say gently, “you can sleep as much as your body needs.No one here will punish you for it.No one will wake you unless you ask.”
She looks at me warily.“No waking?”
“No waking.”
“No punishment?”
“None.”
