CHAPTER TEN
The night pressed close around the cabin, heavy and alive.
Lila stood near the window, watching moonlight spill across the snow like silver ink. The forest no longer frightened her. If anything, it felt like it was breathing with her now—quiet, patient, aware.
Behind her, Darian closed the door.
The sound was soft. Final.
Her pulse answered it.
“You shouldn’t be standing in the cold,” he said, but his voice was different tonight—lower, rougher, edged with something barely restrained.
“I’m not cold,” she replied without turning.
She could feel him behind her. Not touching. Not yet. His presence wrapped around her like heat, like gravity.
“You’re unsettled,” he said. “I can feel it.”
She swallowed. “So can I.”
The bond between them hummed, no longer subtle, no longer i
