“That sounds… permanent,” he said slowly.
“It isn’t,” I replied without hesitation. “But it is secure.”
He nodded, absorbing that. “I don’t remember knowing anything about places like this.”
“That could be the memory loss,” I said. “Or it could just be unfamiliar.”
I didn’t elaborate. I wouldn’t—putting too much on him too soon might do more harm than good.
For a brief moment, my attention drifted—searching instinctively for that presence I had seen before. That shadow that had hovered so close to him, that wolf…
There was nothing.
Just a man sitting on a bed, wrapped in bandages and uncertainty.
“How are you feeling?” I asked.
“The pain’s there,” he said. “But I can handle it.” He hesitated. “That’s not the worst part.”
I listened.
“Not knowing who I am,” he finished quietly.
