I didn’t sleep.
Not because I couldn’t—but because sleep meant losing awareness of the man beside me. Of the truths he had forced into the open. Of the way my body still ached from the imprint’s pull, his touch like heat that refused to fade.
Asher watched me in the dark.
Like he didn’t trust the night not to take me.
Or maybe he didn’t trust me not to run.
“You should go,” I whispered.
“No.” His voice was low, deadly calm. “I’m done pretending you belong anywhere but with me.”
I sat up slowly, the blanket falling from my shoulders. I felt raw—like the air itself was too sharp, like my skin didn’t quite fit anymore.
“You erased my memories.”
“To protect us both,” he said. “You weren’t ready to carry what we were.”
“And now?”
He stood. The muscles in his back flexed as he walked
