HUNTER POV
I held her hand while she wrote the letter.
I didn’t read the words—would never invade her privacy like that—but I felt them. Every one of them. Her emotions bled through our bond like water soaking into dry earth. I didn’t need to see what she wrote to know what it cost her.
There was love in every stroke of her pen.
There was warmth. Affection. And then… fear. A slow, quiet kind of fear that made my chest tighten like I’d been shot.
I hated that. Hated that she still had to carry that weight.
I didn’t want her to be confused. I didn’t want her to hesitate. I wanted her to be free. Happy. Safe. I wanted her laughing so hard her eyes squinted shut and her little shoulders shook. I wanted her sleeping beside me every night, curled up in the cocoon of my arms, without worry,
