Kaelen:
The office is too quiet.
Not the usual kind of quiet—the calm after the pack settles or the silence of early morning before the world wakes up. No, this is hollow. A quiet that presses in around me like the walls are closing, suffocating.
The moment I step inside, I know something's changed. The air is wrong—thinner, still, like it's holding its breath, waiting for something that won't come. I can feel the void not just in the room but in me, and it's cold.
She's gone.
She's really gone.
I cross the threshold, and it hits me like a punch to the chest. That gnawing, the open wound where Ariane used to be. The imprint of her lingers—like a ghost. Her scent is faint but clings to the space like it's trying to hold on.
Just like I am.
I should be angry... I want to be angry.
S
