Elias stirred before his eyes even opened, his body shifting restlessly, muscles twitching like a man waking from a nightmare he couldn’t shake. I sat beside him, watching, waiting. His breath came slow and unsteady, uneven—like he was struggling to pull himself back from somewhere deep, somewhere dark.
When his eyelids finally fluttered open, I saw nothing but confusion.
His gaze darted around the dimly lit hideout, his chest rising and falling with quick, shallow breaths. For a moment, he just stared, as if his brain couldn’t process where he was. His fingers clenched into the thin blanket covering him, his grip white-knuckled.
Then his eyes landed on me.
And something inside him broke.
Elias sucked in a sharp breath, his entire body going rigid. His lips parted, but no words came o
