Damien
The silence after the storm never felt like peace. It felt like waiting.
Scarlet had entered her house with her parents, her body whole but her spirit... fractured. Everyone was confused and thought she needed time, but I could see that she wasn’t confused or tired, and what I saw in her was heartbreaking.
I watched her eyes during the ride—those eyes that once held a wildfire now looked like smoke trailing from something that had already burned. It gutted me, the way she didn’t even pay heed when I drove behind her. The bond flared alive again, yes—but she hadn’t acknowledged it. Not even once.
She was there. But not there.
And somehow, I knew this wasn’t about exhaustion. It wasn’t even fear. It was something deeper—something darker. Something had shifted inside her, and I d
