I sigh, letting the heat of my anger finally drain out through my limbs. The bond has settled back to a steady thrum, but it still aches faintly from those long, unbearable minutes he wasn’t touching me.
Caden kisses my temple gently, but I feel him hesitate before he speaks.
“Hey,” he says softly, brushing a strand of hair behind my ear. “Why’d it hit you so hard? When I stepped out.”
I pause, swallowing down the lump forming in my throat.
“It’s not just the bond,” I say, voice rough. “It’s… everything.”
He waits.
I sit up just enough to see him properly. His hands remain resting gently on my waist like he’s tethering me there—like he knows I need grounding.
“I just don’t know how the people I train with—who’ve seen me on my worst days—are ever going to see me as a Luna,” I admit.
