EMBER’S POV
Sleep won’t come for me tonight.
Knox is warm beside me, one arm draped possessively across my waist, his breath slow and steady against my hair.
I should be content here in this strange industrial cocoon we’ve made for ourselves — tangled together on the narrow bed like we’re afraid to let go, like the universe might try to separate us again if we leave even an inch of space between our bodies.
His heartbeat thrums soft against my back. His scent wraps around me like a blanket woven from trust and safety.
But my mind is a hurricane that refuses to settle.
The clock on the wall reads 3:20 AM, its red digital numbers burning through the darkness.
January 2nd now — the first full day of a new year — and I’m lying here with my eyes wide open while my brain replays every wor
