“No.”His voice is calm.“But I can feel when something’s wrong.With you.With the bond.”
I close my eyes.
“This is how it starts,”the voice of memory whispers.“Curiosity.Concern.Fear.”
“I’m not ready,” I say hoarsely.
“I’m not asking you to tell me anything,” he replies.“I’m telling you that whatever it is, you don’t have to carry it alone anymore.”
The ghosts shift uneasily, their whispers turning anxious.
“Tell him,”one urges.
“Not yet,”another warns.
I open my eyes and meet Grayson’s gaze.He isn’t demanding.He isn’t offended that I am keeping something from him.He’s just waiting and offering support.
“I need time,” I say.
He nods immediately.“Then you have it.”
The ease of his acceptance hits me harder than any accusation could have.As we walk back toward the compound together, the dead fall silent but not satisfied.This isn’t over, not by a long shot.
****
Hours later the packgathers around the bonfire in the center of the compound and plans begin to circulate in low, careful voices.There are rumors of hunter movement and whispers of a possible raid to rescue captured shifters from the clutches of the Hunters.I sit quietly beside Grayson, my smile practiced and my heart pounding.
Because now I know something they don’t.And the dead are counting on me to decide whether the truth saves them...Or costs me everything I’ve just begun to build.
Chapter Six
Grayson
The bond doesn’t protest when Trinity omits something.It throbs and tightens.
It’s subtle enough that anyone else would miss it, but I feel it the way I feel a storm shifting before the clouds roll in.With pressure building, air thickening, and instincts prickling without a clear target.
