AURORA POV
I pulled the door shut behind me and forced my lungs to drag in air that didn’t smell like him. It wasn’t fair, really—every room he stepped into was saturated with him, pine and rain and something warmer, something that curled in my chest like a fire I couldn’t contain. My fingers itched to go back, to pretend I needed something, to look at him again even if only for a second.
But no. I had a task, and the task mattered.
Inventory. Supplies. What was left after all the chaos. My mind needed order, something I could touch and count, something that wasn’t made of broad shoulders and a voice that rattled through my ribs.
I headed straight to what remained of the pantry, my notebook tucked under one arm and a pen that already bore the marks of my anxious chewing. Shelves—half e
