Ash’s POV
I pushed the door open with my shoulder, the wood creaking loud in the quiet hallway, my legs still shaky from the run through the forest, my mind a storm of words I couldn’t silence, mate, destiny, silver, Nana’s message, all of it crashing together until I felt like I was drowning in my own thoughts. The room was dark, curtains drawn, the air thick with that familiar scent of pine and smoke that always seemed to linger when he was near, and I froze the moment I saw him.
Rowan sitting on the edge of the bed, elbows on his knees, eyes locked on the door like he’d been waiting for hours, waiting for me, his posture tense, his jaw set in that way that made my stomach twist.
I tried to move past him, head down, voice low and clipped. “I’m tired, let me rest.”
He didn’t move, di
