Morning comes gentle this time and like gentle gold waves through my bedroom window. For once, I wake without that familiar ache in my ribs: fear ebbing, exhaustion replaced by a nervous sort of hope. The mate bond to Asher is quieter now, lingering just at the edges, no longer an iron grip on my heart.
I find Duke outside, boots up on the porch railing, a mug cradled between his hands. He glances over when I join him, smile igniting in slow motion. “Can’t sleep?” he asks, shifting just enough for me to sit beside him.
“Actually…I did,” I admit. “A real, dreamless sleep. First time in a while.”
His grin stretches wider. “Wish you’d told me. I could’ve celebrated.”
A beat passes, the hazy sunlight warming my cheek. The air between us isn’t the raw tension of yesterday but something ligh
