Then he dragged a hand down his face, exhaling like it gutted him.
“Damn it,” he muttered. “Damn it,damn it.”
He didn’t argue with us anymore.
For the first time since this whole thing began, I saw the exact moment Roanstoppedtrying to fight his nature—and started trying to figure out how tocontrolit, for her sake.
Not to deny what she was.
But tomeether in it.
To meetusin it.
Roan dragged both hands over his face, like he could scrub the war out of himself by force.
Then, voice low and raw, he asked, “What exactly did your cousin say? About… the heat. How bad it could get? How long?”
I blew out a breath and rubbed at the back of my neck. “Not much. That’s the problem. No one reallyknows.There aren’t enough controlled studies because no one’ssupposedto use suppressants that long. But what research exists says there’s a pattern. A dangerous one.”
Roan’s stare locked onto mine, and it hit like a steel bar across the chest.
“She’s already past the 36-hour mark,” I said quietly. “And her reactions are intensifying. You saw her—this isn’t tapering off. This is climbing.”
“And if it keeps climbing?” he asked, jaw clenched.
“Then it’s going to get worse.” I hesitated, then added, “There’s no map for this, Roan. No clear line. No guarantee. All we can do now is whatshewants. What she needs.”
Roan’s expression turned colder, sharper. “That’s not an answer.”
“It’s theonlyanswer we’ve got,” I shot back. “We don’t decide how this plays out.Shedoes.”
He didn’t like that, obviously. Roan thrived on control, on strategy, on being the one with the plan. But there was no plan here. No command post, no playbook. Just the heat and the ache andher.
Jay’s voice came from the far side of the room, calm and deliberate. “You don’t have to stay, Roan.”
That pulled both our gazes to him, sharp and fast.
“She wouldn’t blame you if you left,” he said. “None of us would.”
“The hell I wouldn’t,” I muttered.
Jay ignored me. “You’ve been shouldering this since the second we smelled her. You’ve been trying to protect her, protect us,andkeep yourself in check. But if you can’t be here for what she actually needs, then?—”
“I’m willing,” I cut in sharply, eyes locked on Roan. “Whatever she needs—however she needs it—I’min.” I paused, just long enough for the lie to come out with teeth. “And if she pushes me away after, if she never looks at me again? I can live with that.”
We all knew that was bullshit.
EvenIdidn’t believe me.
Then Roan looked at me, reallylooked,and something in his expression cracked.
“I’m not going anywhere,” he said finally, voice low and solid. “Don’t care if it kills me. I’m staying.”
That admission hit like a shot of adrenaline, lighting something up in my chest. Not relief, not exactly. Just… certainty.
Jay tilted his head slightly, like he was studying the two of us. Then, after a long moment, he said, “Then we stop pretending this is normal. We stop tiptoeing around it.”
Roan arched a brow. “And do what, exactly?”
