Damien doesn’t feel the stone beneath his feet anymore.
The path rises, steep and narrowing, but it might as well be air—because the only thing he’s aware of is her.
The bond doesn’t ache.
It burns.
Not pain. Not grief.
Need.
It crawls beneath his skin, coiling tight around his spine, dragging his focus inward whether he wants it or not. He clenches his jaw, breath going shallow as the silver pulse of it flares hard in his chest.
Lila.
Not her voice.
Not her scent.
Her body.
The sensation hits him without warning—heat, softness, awareness—so vivid it nearly knocks him to one knee.
“Damn it,” he mutters, fists curling at his sides.
This isn’t memory.
This is now.
He feels her breath hitch like it’s his own. Feels the tremor that runs through her when the bond tightens, the wa
