POV: Aria
I barely recognized the woman staring back at me in the mirror.
Her eyes were sunken from too many sleepless nights, and her once-glowing skin now looked pale and drawn, like the life had been drained from it. Even my hair—once wild and flame-kissed—lay limp across my shoulders. The bond was awakening, but it was poisoning me in the process.
Kael’s wolf stirred. I could feel it in flashes, like distant echoes of a thunderstorm rolling in. Sometimes I would catch him watching me with a question burning behind his eyes. Sometimes I’d feel the twitch in the bond when I entered the same room.
But recognition? True, unfiltered understanding? No. That hadn’t come yet.
And I was beginning to wonder if it ever would.
Still, I clung to what we’d managed to spark. The pain I’d endure
