Kael's POV
Watching Elara sleep is both a blessing and a torment.
She is curled on her side with Luna pressed against her chest, one hand buried in the cat’s black fur as if she’s afraid to let go. Even in sleep, there are lines of pain etched around her eyes, a tension in her shoulders that never fully relaxes.
The mating bond pulses steadily in my chest—a constant rhythm that tells me she’s alive, she’s breathing, she’s mine. It’s the only thing that has kept me sane these past four days while she recovered. That connection tied me to her, proving she wasn’t slipping away despite how broken she looked when I found her.
But with the bond, I can also feel the emptiness in her. The hollow ache where her bright spirit used to be. Andrew didn’t only hurt her body; he shattered something
