----Elaine----
When I woke the next morning, the space beside me was empty. The sheets still held Kave’s warmth, and the faint scent of pine and leather lingered in the air, but my mate was gone.
I stretched beneath the covers, arching like a cat in a sunbeam, and allowed a smile to curve my lips. Last night hadn’t been full of fireworks or passion, yet somehow it had been more intimate than anything else. We had simply talked. Shared pieces of ourselves. Then we had fallen asleep side by side, breathing in rhythm, our bodies pressed close. It was ordinary in some ways, but it made me feel closer to him than I had imagined possible.
He wanted a future with me. He wanted to build something real. That thought alone made me stronger. Strong enough to face the Carlas of the world, or anyone
