"Everything I built," I said. "One ordinary evening of it."
---
I found him in the kitchen at the end of the night.
Not unusual — the kitchen was where we found each other, always, the room we kept returning to, the one that had seen everything and kept providing counter space and cups regardless.
He was at the window. Not looking at anything specific, just looking at Ashveil in the dark. The way he did when the day had been too full for any single piece of it to dominate.
I stood in the doorway and looked at him the way I let myself look when nobody was watching — fully, without managing it.
He turned before I'd said anything.
My wolf: *He always does that.*
He heard me, I said.
*He didn't hear you. He felt you. There's a difference.*
I know.
*That's the bond.* A pause. Not smu
