23-COUNSIL
The corridor felt colder now. The walls, polished and gleaming, seemed to close in with every step I took behind him. Trenton didn’t look back once. He didn’t have to. His presence filled the space like gravity, inescapable, suffocating, and quietly furious. The air between us crackled with leftover energy from the bond, and though I tried to keep my distance, the pull was still there, humming faintly beneath my skin. Elias and Damien flanked us like sentinels, their steps measured and quiet. Lyric walked beside me, her shoulder brushing mine now and then—a small, grounding gesture that didn’t do much to steady the storm building inside me. He was keeping at least six feet between us. I could feel him every second of it. I hated that. “Done pretending I don’t exist?” I asked finally,
- Writer
