Rowan’s POV
I lay in the dark of our shared room, staring at the ceiling beams that seemed to press down heavier with every breath I took, the night stretching endless and cruel, my mind a storm of memories that refused to let me rest.
Ash slept across from me, his back turned, chest rising slow and steady, but even in sleep he looked tense, shoulders hunched like he was guarding something fragile.
I replayed it all, the bindings flashing in the locker room steam, tight and dark against his skin, the way he flinched when my hand brushed too close, the scent that clung to him like a secret, cool and metallic, pulling at my wolf until it paced relentlessly inside me, growling “mate, protect, claim,” over and over until my head throbbed.
Why no bond?
Why this pull without the snap, t
