Aurora's POV
I hit the stairwell door and don't stop.
My feet are bare and the tile turns to concrete and then to gravel and none of it registers, not really, just cold and sharp and something to push against. Behind me the howling has gone quiet, swallowed by walls and distance, but I can still feel it in my chest, that thread, pulling.
I don't look back.
I trip once on the gravel path outside and go down hard on both palms, and I'm up again before the sting even reaches me, running crooked, one hand pressed to my ribs where the old fracture line still remembers pain even after it's healed. The guest suite is three buildings over. I don't remember crossing the distance. I just arrive.
***
"Mom?"
Noah's sitting up in bed, blinking against the hall light I've left blazing behind me.
