ELODIE’S POV
“I need time.”
The words sat between us, steady and certain, even if everything inside me felt anything but. Nathan didn’t argue. He didn’t push. He just nodded once, like he had expected it.
“You have it,” he said.
That should have made it easier, it didn’t because now the decision was mine and I had no idea what the right one was. The silence after he left lingered longer than it should have. It followed me through the halls, settled into my thoughts, made everything feel heavier than before. Claim me, the words wouldn’t leave. They echoed in everything, in the way my chest tightened when I thought about the bond. In the way my body reacted when he was close.
In the way I still felt something I didn’t want to feel for someone I hated. Damon. I swallowed hard, shaking t
