- ARIA
The new blankets Brandon bought were thick, woolly, and smelled like a factory. They should have been enough, but I was freezing.
I tossed onto my left side, the old floorboards groaning in protest. The house was too quiet. But mostly, the space behind my back felt like an icy void.
I was used to a furnace. I was used to a heavy, possessive arm draped over my waist and a heartbeat that thrummed like a war drum against my spine. Without Luca’s heat, my own wolf felt sluggish, curled up in a corner of my mind and shivering.
"Go to sleep, Aria," I whispered to the dark ceiling.
I clutched Luca’s charcoal suit jacket—the one I’d been wearing like a shield all day—closer to my chin.
I buried my nose in the lapel, inhaling the fading scent of cedar and expensive spice.
