Morning comes before I am ready for it.
The dorm room is already stirring when my eyes open. Soft sounds. Beds shifting. Someone pulling boots on with more force than necessary. The air smells like disinfectant and cold stone, layered over the faint metallic tang of pack territory that never quite leaves this place. It sits in the back of my throat, a reminder that I am breathing someone else’s air, standing on someone else’s ground.
I lie still for a moment, staring at the unfamiliar ceiling, grounding myself by naming what is real.
I am here.
I chose this.
I am not trapped.
The words settle slowly, like stones dropped one at a time into water. They do not erase the tension, but they give it edges. Something I can hold instead of something that holds me.
Caleb is already awake besi
