His hands were open.
Empty.
Waiting.
I swallowed.
“Do not make this a performance.”
His voice was quiet. “There is no one here to watch.”
That was the problem.
Without an audience, there was no easy role to hide inside.
No Luna.
No Alpha.
No council.
No Vivienne.
No Brecken.
No pack.
Just Sarai and Darius.
Wife and husband by covenant.
Strangers by fate.
Something more complicated by firelight.
I looked down at my torn sleeve.
Then back at him.
“Fine.”
The word left me smaller than I intended.
Darius did not smile.
He only nodded once and went into the marble bathroom.
Water started running.
I listened to it fill the silence.
A bath should not have felt like surrender.
But everything tender did when you were used to surviving without asking.
Darius moved quietly
