a

sleep with

he was trying to hold her own pieces together. The next, her head dropped sideways and her breathing went slow and even

dn't

n my head. Cover

t over her shoulders. My hand stopped an inch from her arm. I d

ha

an angle. Cold air came through the gap where the frame had splintered. The rogue was gone - I had dragged

walls. Outside, I could hear boots on pavement. Voices. The ordinary

legs out and

oing to slee

n't s

sh

as to watc

ew that wasn't the real

age and instinct and grief flooding into me at once with no warning and no one to explain it. Since then, sleep mea

was. It felt like mine. But I

ed at

s her face. One hand was open on the blanket, palm up, finger

ous. Not gone. Just... resting. Like it had done wh

not sa

t now, but satisfactio

sunrise. She had pulled away from our kiss herself - which told me she had a conscience and a spine,

have th

ning a hole in the back of my mind. I had a wolf who hadn't shut up in four hours. And now I had a m

Raven

oba

away. She d

ave in the

she com

ain spread across it in the shape o

ll figure

und - not quite distress, not quite peace - and curled onto her side, pulling the bla

smooth

eathe. In, out.

ee, without meaning

rest w

ike it would give way under my feet if I stood still too long. The cold that cam

here a hu

all hands broke the surface, reaching up. I moved toward them the way I always did,

m pressed aga

top

now, steady and quiet, against my left side. Like a hand. Like a presence. L

n the water

er didn

th would disappear. The small hands below the surface were just flo

pulled ba

oke

es before sunrise when the sky hasn't decided what color it wa

rmth w

g in my chest all night had gone quiet in a different way - not rest

at

ried not to disturb it. Her dark hair had left an impression on the pillow. Her scent was everyw

was

kind. The kind that comes after something has alre

r. I rolled my shoulder and looked at the brok

was

ut drama. Just a fact. A weight I

d the door an

she had set them down with intention. Not forgotten. Left. There was a dif

ked t

ightly bent from the struggle earlier. I held

n purpose, Rave

kno

know she was here

m carefully on the mattress. I pulled out my phone and called Torres. H

ir

er Crest. I need everything. Where she lives, who s

th me for three years and I had never once called h

said carefully.

t was getting lighter. Somewhere outside a car started up. The city

ng had

the shoes on

than usual. Certain in the way he got sometimes, whe

from the floor and s

ure if I b

g out of that room except her scent on my clothes and the echo of

ugh to build

, it ha