I was in the dining hall, pushing eggs around my plate, too tired to eat. He slid into the seat across from me without asking.
"I'm sorry," he said. "About yesterday. The way I presented everything—I should have been more careful."
"It's fine."
"It's not fine. I made you feel like a specimen. That was never my intention."
I looked at him. Really looked. The dark circles under his eyes. The way his hands fidgeted with his coffee cup. He'd barely slept either.
"I know," I said quietly. "I overreacted."
"You didn't. I would have felt the same way." He took a breath. "But Lumi... the data is real. Whatever's happening, it's not random. And I think—"
He stopped.
"What?"
He leaned forward. Lowered his voice.
"I don't think this is accidental," he said quietly. "The way you affect them. The patterns I'm seeing. It's too consistent to be chance." His eyes met mine. "I think you were always meant to do this."
The words settled over me like a shroud.
Always meant to do this.
Like it had been built into me from the start.
Chapter ten
Stone had been quiet for three days.
Not the dangerous kind of quiet. Not pacing, not growling, not fighting the wolf clawing beneath his skin. This was something else. Contained. Like he was holding something down with both hands and all his strength.
I sat with him.
His room had been repaired after the breakdown. New bed frame. Fresh paint on the walls. No evidence of the destruction except for a faint discoloration near the window where Martinez's blood had seeped into the floor.
Stone sat on the edge of the mattress. I sat in the chair by the door. Ten feet of space between us.
The bond pulled tight.
I felt the pressure of it—something building on his end, dense and heavy. He wouldn't look at me. His body was coiled, everymuscle locked, jaw clenched so hard I could see the tendons straining in his neck.
I didn't push.
I just waited.
An hour passed.
Maybe more. The light shifted through the window, afternoon bleeding toward evening. I stayed still. Let the silence stretch.
Then he spoke.
"White."
One word. Barely a whisper.
I didn't move.
