PAULINE POV
I woke up slowly.
Everything ached.
And I mean… everything.
My neck. My thighs. My back. Even my hair follicles felt like they’d been tugged in every possible direction.
I blinked a few times, trying to get my bearings, but the first thing I registered was the coldness.
Not in the room.
In the bed.
The empty bed.
My heart dropped like a stone thrown into a frozen lake.
I sat up fast, immediately regretting it. A groan slipped from my lips as a dozen different muscles protested the motion. But the discomfort didn’t matter. The confusion, the sting in my chest — that mattered.
Where were they?
Robert. Rett.
They were always with me. Ever since that hike in the woods when I stumbled into their world—no, crashed into it—they had barely let me out of their sight. I hadn
