**DEREK POV**
I wake abruptly, breath punching out of my chest like I have been struck from the inside.
The bond flares sharp and wrong, not pain exactly, but something close enough that my body reacts before my mind has words for it. My hand comes up instinctively, fingers curling against my sternum like I can hold the sensation in place if I press hard enough.
There is no pain.
That is the problem.
What hits me instead is awareness. Overwhelming. Sudden. Like the world has snapped into a higher resolution without warning. Every sound in the room is too clear. The faint rustle of leaves outside the window. The distant call of a night bird cutting off mid-cry. Even my own breathing feels loud, intrusive.
The quiet presses in, not empty, but crowded with meaning.
I sit up slowly, for
